Rating: 
Summary: The Summons is no summons to read this book
Review: I Love John Grisham books, I would love to know who wrote The Summons, it doesn't read like any Grisham book I've ever read.I felt extremely disapointed in this book. The story rolled around like a roller coaster and in the end it didn't make enough cents to buy coffee. It's really a shame.
Rating: 
Summary: The End ( thankfully ).
Review: Unimaginative and uninspired writing. While it is written the main character agonized upon finding $3 million, I am hoping, but doubting, Grisham suffered similar agony in accepting a fee for this plodding tale. Fleshing out and involving the secondary characters such as the King of Torts or Harry Rex could have made for an interesting plot and ending. Overall, a weak and tiresome effort, perhaps Grisham has hit the writer's wall. This 'coulda been a contenda'.
Rating: 
Summary: What happened to the end?
Review: The Summons is another great specimen in Grisham's line of great law enriching novels. It had a thoroughly pleasant read that carried each chapter without any bumps...at least in my opinion. However, the last chapter or the very last page in fact dropped me from 10,000 feet in the sky without a parachute. What was Grisham thinking? Well, perhaps his next novel will be one that might have a gratifying ending. Although this novel's ending did provide originality...I give it that. =)
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed by this one, he's written better.
Review: I found this book to be far from the typical Grisham lawyer-esque "can't put down" novel. The first half was slow, boring and repetitive. I thought it lacked the character development, vivid description and the interesting plot twists so many of his other books have (Time to Kill, Runaway Jury, The Brethren, etc.). The ending was anticlimactic, but I was so apathetic as opposed to entertained by the story at that point that it was just a relief to finish.
Rating: 
Summary: still very good
Review: Although there is a lot of criticism for this Grisham book
as not being up to his normal standard, it is, nonetheless,
a very good book. The puzzle is one we should be able to
identify with because it poses the question of what to do
with three million dollars in cash that turns up with, apparently,
no strings attached.
The hero of the story agonizes over his responsibilites
considerably more than most of us would, but the author
makes a good case for all the worry and guilt his hero
feels as he struggles with the question of what to do
with the money. The more he worries, the more trouble
he encounters, until he is being pursued completely by
both his paranoia and genuine bad guys.
The premise of the story is very engrossing, and the
characters are life-like, and the action moves along at
a good pace. This is a very interesting read.
However, it isn't up to the best Grisham work because of the
ending; it was puzzling, but not satisifying at all, and,
amazingly, most readers could work out a better ending.
You should read the book for all the fun a good story gives,
but then after the ending, try to work out an ending that
is more fulfilling.
Then you will have a good book.
Rating:
Summary: Suspenseful
Review: I have read all of Grisham's legal thrillers and am delighted that he returned to the setting of A Time to Kill (his first and best novel), Clanton, Mississippi. I was equally pleased that this was a pure thriller with lots of suspense. I found the moralizing of the Street Lawyer hard to get through. I flew through the first one hundred pages- forcing myself to slow down. Grisham quickly pulls the reader in with great characters and fast action. It slowed down a little, but it was truly supspenseful. The ending was lacking- I liked the plot twist, but found it a little hard to swallow. This was fast, fun- definately one of Grisham's better novels!
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing...
Review: The Summons has to be the most disappointing story yet that I've read by John Grisham. I've read just about every work he's written and am a follower of his. However, the story about Ray Atlee was interesting and suspenseful but only to a point. It is as though Mr. Grisham was anxious to end his book and sort of rushed through the last several chapters just to finish it. When he did finish it, he just stopped. Period. Point blank. I don't know what else to say except that Mr. Grisham needs to work on his endings. A lot of his conclusions, not all, end the same way - very abrupt with nothing to savor. Mr. Grisham, you are a wonderful storyteller, but please give us some better and more lingering endings - like the one in the Painted House which causes you to think of it days after you finish the book....
Rating:
Summary: Shallow, uninteresting, waste of time
Review: I read many of Grisham's books. I liked most, loved some. But this one, my god, is a book which feels like written just for publication's sake. Uninteresting plot, unnecessary and boring details (why on earth that much detail about flying lessons, and was it really necessary for the brother to be an alcoholic?). I bet anybody can write a book like The Summons. Please do not bother to buy it or read it.
Rating:
Summary: Shabby ending spoils good first three fourths of money story
Review: We see now why literally half a thousand reviewers either panned or expressed their disenchantment with Grisham's latest. Obviously his name and rep make it a best seller regardless - the book's been out a little while, which is why a bazillion people have weighed in. Indeed, at first, we were captivated and entertained, almost in the style of The Firm or The Partner. Grisham sinks a hook early with the discovery of three million in cold hard cash by law professor Ray Atlee in his dead father's house. He hides it before Forrest Atlee, his ne'er-do-well younger brother, either in addiction or rehab from booze and drugs virtually his whole adult life, gets to the house in answer to a deathbed summons from Father, who wound up unexpectedly dead on arrival. While the new will (subject of the summit meeting) included the previously disowned Forrest, the estate was little more than the house without the cache of cash! What follows is a somewhat humorous and rather suspenseful "won the lottery" story as Ray frets over what to do with all that cash physically, where he hides it, what he does to discover its origin, etc. Then he starts getting notes that one person also knows about the money, at which point Ray is hassled and followed at every turn as he tries to figure out who knows and what to do about it. So far, we're turning the pages pretty rapidly, with not much book left. Then suddenly, all becomes obvious, and here's where it all goes sour - too many clues prematurely reveal the "mystery", with a terribly silly ending that will please no one. No doubt Grisham is to the point where his books receive little editorial criticism or revision, and there's probably few wanting to risk tweaking his money machine. But somebody needed to fix the last quarter of this story to give us the great tale we know Grisham can produce at his best. Without that, this one goes in his also-rans.
Rating:
Summary: The Summons
Review: The Summons (2002): After a two year hiatus from legal thrillers Grisham is back big time. Ruben V Atlee is a former trial judge who has been very sick for quite sometime now and has retired to the comfort of his house in Clanton Mississippi. He types a summons to his two sons (Ray a teacher and Forrest who redefines the notion of a families "Back Sheep") and mails it out to each of them requesting their presence at Maple Run, the family home. Ray Atlee the eldest brother gets there first and discovers his father dead. What he also discovers puts him in harms way, as it appears someone else knows the explosive secret Ray has just uncovered. Grisham's last two books were a major gamble on his part and it showed that he was willing to take chances. This one will please fans that enjoy his style of writing. The plot is typical Grisham with great writing and exceptional characters that really feel life like. The twists and turns are slick and well laid out and the end is satisfying. All in all another great Grisham novel.
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