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Summary: The Summons by: John Grisham
Review: The Summons is a good piece, by John Grisham, one of his best. When the two boys get together with their father one unexpected event leads to another. It is one of my favorites. I just never wanted to put it down. This book was one of my favorites because I loved the plot with him finding the money and everything. Unexpected events in this story made it so I never wanted to put it down. Better than Skipping Christmas this was one of my favorite reads. On a scale from 1-5 I would probably give it a 5.
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Summary: Oustanding novel!!!
Review: This book was a quick read, about one day for anyone whom is an avid reader. This book is as great as all his others. ..Gets you into the life of the characters until, you, yourself feel like one of them. This is defintely a must read for anyone who enjoys suspense or law novels.
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Summary: It is not a thriller
Review: This book is not a thriller but is a good book to read although is not the best work from John Grisham, but it has a mistake, when you are about half the book you can suppose who has the money, but you don't know why. Is a nice reading.
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Summary: In All Honesty, I Didn't Think It Was That Bad
Review: As of 4/10/02 I've read all of Grisham's novels. Four days earlier, when I got a copy on-reserve of *The Summons*, I figured that it would be just as enjoyable as his earlier books were--and I'm happy to admit that I wasn't let down by Grisham's latest work. I was a little surprised, though, when I turned to the first page and discovered that the book sports a style of one and a half spacing rather than single spacing; but, as a result, the text was *much* easier to read. Consequently, however, the book seemed to be a tad short for it being a 'full-length' novel (it took me only four days to read it, whereas earlier I would take up to two weeks to finish reading each of his books); therefore, I feel that Grisham could've put a little more into it. Indeed, what could have made the book more attention-grabbing was if it had been written in First-Person point-of-view, as I like books written in First-Person.
Not desiring to get into specifics, I found the overall story of *The Summons* to be very good, though it was really no different from the overall stories found in his earlier works--not that all the stories Grisham has created over the years haven't been enjoyable, they have been.
But the book did keep me entertained and I was satisfied when I finished reading it. Granted, the pages didn't exactly fly a mile a minute from 1 to 341, but overall I didn't think the book was that bad--I certainly couldn't have made it any better! And I'm glad that I decided to read the entire novel before being voluntarily exposed to reviews of it.
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Summary: Disappointed
Review: John Grisham is an exceptional writer, but his heart clearly wasn't in this book. The suspense Grisham so masterfully created in his previous novels is clearly absent in The Summons. Grisham's vivid character descriptions were also absent in this story. I never developed a clear picture of Ray Atlee.In addition, while Judge Atlee's loyalty to Southern culture and nineteenth century Mississippi was well-established, his charity and sympathy for poor native blacks didn't seem to fit his character. Perhaps Grisham was attempting to portray the Judge as a schizophrenic old man who was tired of living. How else could one explain the Judge's civil right mindedness and also his affection for Nathan Bedford Forrest, founder of the KKK? As an aspiring novelist, I still hold John Grisham in high regard. Nonetheless, I believe he missed the mark on this one...
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Summary: Not sure what the negatives are all about...
Review: I thought this novel was great. John Grisham is my favorite author. Although I will admit, he went off on a unnecessary tangent with 'A Painted House' and 'Skipping Christmas', but he's back with a vengeance. This book was a little slow starting, but picked up soon, and I found it hard to put down. I cannot wait his next novel.
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Summary: So little detail...Admittedly a little Boring
Review: I took in this book in about 6 hours of total reading and as a Grisham fan I anticipated this book being a legal thriller that was full of suspense and had a thick juicy plot. Unfortunately, I was really let down when all I found was a very basic plot without the real "thriller" part and a disappointing ending (to say the least). There were very few characters and it lacked the "warmth" build up to Ray Atlee the main character. In other words I never felt very close to him at all which is really too bad since this is usually what makes a book.
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Summary: A Waste of Money!!!!
Review: I read an interview with John Grisham in USA Today in which he stated, (paraphrased) "...If I could make the same kind of money for writing books like A Painted House, then I would not write any more legal thrillers." Well JG, just because your heart is not in legal thrillers anymore doesn't give you the right to make your true fans waste their hard earned money. This was the absolute worst Grisham book. I couldn't believe the fluff that is considered "thrilling". I buy all Grisham novels in hardback because he is one of my favorite writers. From now on, I am waiting until they are out on paperback and I am checking them out of the library.
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Summary: Grisham didn¿t summon all his thriller skills for this one.
Review: Imagine your father summons you to his death-bed for a final reviewing of his will and his funeral arrangements, and you find him dead...along with a mysterious three million bucks that are completely unaccounted for. What would you do? This is the scenario that confronts Ray Atlee in John Grisham's latest thriller. Ray keeps quiet about the cash, hiding the secret from both the authorities and his chronic alcoholic & dope-pushing brother Forrest, while he tries to uncover the truth behind this bizarre mystery. On the way, he explores and discovers intriguing truths about casinos and the judicial system. Both have been frequented by his father the Judge, but neither can seem to be source of a cool three million dollars. But someone else knows about the three million dollars too, and soon Ray isn't just doing detective work about the origin of the money, but is on the run. The trademark Grisham suspense is present, but not quite as convincing and heart-throbbing as we might expect. The conclusion offers a surprising and satisfying twist (albeit somewhat brief), but in the end this isn't the best novel Grisham has written. Even so, aside from a few profanities, it is mostly free of offensive material and still stands head and shoulders above most contemporary thrillers. Even though Grisham didn't summon all his thriller skills for this one, you will still find that once you start, you will need to summon all your powers of self-control to put it down. It might not match Grisham's best, but it still matches the best thrillers that most printing presses are printing.
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Summary: "The Summons"
Review: Grisham changes his writing to a leaner style which fits the fairly simple plot. The protagonist is flawed, the supporting characters are colorfully delineated, and the ending succeeds by both resolving the story at hand, but leaving the reader pondering the fates of the characters. Not his biggest or best, but still better than just about any popular fiction.
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