The Summons

Rating:
Summary: A race for cash
Review: The Summons is a different kind of story by John Grisham, one that doesn't have many courtroom scenes. It's about Ray Atlee, a law professor from Virginia.

He receives a letter from his father, a summons to go home and talk about the estate of his ailing father. When he gets to his father's house, he finds his father dead.

Quickly searching through the house, Ray stumbles upon bags of cash. Not one bag, but many bags filled with tightly packed $$$ bills. Many questions arise, and the most pressing is: where did the money come from.

Ray soon finds out that someone knows about the money. He found $ million dollars in cash, and someone else knows. The rest of the story is an amazing mystery about the money. Ray learns some surprising things, and the ending is quite possibly the most surprising one I've ever read. The Summons is a fast-passed thriller that has a great plot.

Rating:
Summary: great story
Review: It centers around Ray Atlee, a law professor at the University of Virginia-Charlottesville. His troubled brother Forrest (named after Nathan Bedford Forrest, a famous Civil War figure) and he receive a summons from their dying father. A judge, the father lived in the Deep Southern state of Mississippi in a small town. When Ray arrives he finds the Judge dead. The mess then begins. Forrest is having more trouble with alcohol and drugs after being clean for months. Ray also finds millions of unknown hidden money in the house. Was this money fake? Was the judge shady? While in Mississippi, the judge's house is broken into. Ray gets weary and hides it in his car. One night he travels out to a casino and spends some. After returning to Virginia, he receives a "sympathy" card saying its better to go to the IRS then keep it. Who is sending these threats? Was it Harry Rex, Judge Atlee's number 1 man and closest advisor? Was it Claudia, the money hungry former lover of the Judge? Let this book take you deep in the South and tangle you in the story. Mr. Grisham is a master and his work should be read by ALL.

Rating:
Summary: I Just Loved It.
Review: I am a huge fan of John Grisham, this among many of his other books kept the pages turning. Mr.Grisham keeps you guessing until the end and with every guess that you make,the end is going to surprise you. Great book just like his others... I loved it.

Rating:
Summary: What a waste of time!
Review: Interesting start, but very weak storyline... don't waste your time reading this book.

Rating:
Summary: BLAH, BLAH, BLAH
Review: I'll keep this short. Reading this book is like watching paint dry.

Rating:
Summary: The Love of Money is the Root of All Bad Books
Review: This book starts fine, and that's about it.

The main character gets a summons (hence the title) from his father, finds him dead when he eventually gets there, stumbles on a treasure trove in cash, and spends the rest of the book hiding the money, moving the money, guarding the money, laundering the money, obsessing over the money ...... much too much on the money.

When you finally get to the good part, where the money came from, and what happens next, it's like a swift anticlimax. Everything wraps up in a couple of chapters, and leaves you feeling a bit short changed on the action.

The most interesting character is Harry Rex, at least he has a life!

A novel to read once quickly and display as a part of your Grisham collection.

Rating:
Summary: I almost gave up reading after this book
Review: As a fan of Grisham, I picked this up when it was released and was excited about it. I had just gotten home from college and felt like reading a book to start this summer. This, though, was by far one of the worst books I have ever read in my entire life. There is not plot, the ending is not suprising at all, and the most suspense the book gives is wondering if it could possibly stay as bad as it is throughout.

Instead of this book, pick up The Partner, which is truly a great book. After this, though, I will never read a Grisham book ever again, and will most likey stay away from pop fiction. Yes the book was really this bad.

Rating:
Summary: A Disappointment to a long-time Grisham fan!
Review: I have been a Grisham fan since the publication of THE FIRM and this is the 7th book I've read by this usually entertaining author. However, I was very disappointed in THE SUMMONS. I felt inundated with extraneous information and unnecessary characters and I also thought that about ¼ of the book was dedicated to promoting Grisham's next novel, THE KING OF TORTS (which actually sounds more interesting than this one!).

The only reason I didn't give this book 1 star is because the writing itself was good and I was motivated enough to finish it. I guess what kept me reading was my conviction that the plot twist would be less obvious than it actually was!

Rating:
Summary: One of His Worst Efforts
Review: Grisham is a guilty pleasure for me, and I generally find his legal thrillers to be fast paced, compelling page turners with lots of mystery, action and intrigue. Not great literature, but a great diversion. However, I'm convinced his best legal thrillers are all behind him (The Firm, The Client, The Rainmaker, The Pelican Brief). This book is utterly boring, and none of the characters are worthy of even passing interest. The best character in the book, Patton French, is given only about 15 pages or so. I'll sum this book up for you so you can skip it and read something better (no spoilers though): A guy finds some money. He spends 300 pages wondering where it came from and what to do with it. Eventually he finds out. The end. Even his mediocre books (The Street Lawyer, The Runaway Jury, The Brethren) blow this one out of the water.

Rating:
Summary: Grisham sticking to his formula
Review: Again, John Grisham has written a book using the exact same formula as the one he used in "The Firm," "The Pelican Brief," and "The Client." The books are all about people on the run from other people who are trying to hurt them. If you like the formula, you'll like the book. If you agree with me that Grisham should develop a new formula because this one's getting old, then skip this book.