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The Summons
by
John Grisham
University of Virginia law professor Ray Atlee reluctantly returns to his Mississippi hometown after receiving a summons from his ill father, a retired judge who lives alone in his ancestral mansion. Ray's younger brother, Forrest, is also summoned. But the judge dies before meeting his sons, leaving behind a shocking secret known only to Ray--and perhaps someone else.
Mass Market Paperback, 384 pages
Published
September 22nd 2009
by Dell
(first published January 1st 2002)
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I'm surprised to see how many readers were disappointed with this book since I thoroughly enjoyed it. Maybe the plot was a bit thin and predictable, but Grisham's writing style is so smooth and easy to read that I was able to consume this book in two sittings. It was like I was able to sit down and visit with an old friend. Perhaps some other readers confused this familiarity with boredom.
It all starts when law professor Ray Atlee and his prodigal brother, Forrest, are summoned home by th...more
It all starts when law professor Ray Atlee and his prodigal brother, Forrest, are summoned home by th...more
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Boring. Predictable. Stupid. Read it only if you really hate yourself.
When I first looked at the book, I first noticed a dull scene of a car driving to infinity as the sun reached the end of the horizon. But, as I read through the book, I grew more interested in the plot and just couldn’t put down the book. I found this book unique in its content and also the characters seemed so life-like. The book I am talking about is “The Summons” by a wonderful author named John Grisham.
I give this book a decent four stars because of its surprising characters and powerf...more
I give this book a decent four stars because of its surprising characters and powerf...more
Every once in a while you have to read something that isn’t deep and you are just carried along from page to page. That is what the Summons is. I’ve only read a few of his books but they are all about lawyers and usually old lawyers who die in the first few pages of the book. Then there are surprises that come up through out the book that keep you guessing. At the end you are totally surprised. That is the formula for Grisham. But, having said that I did like the book. An old judge die...more
John Conrad
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
people who like slow manipulative plots
Recommended to John by:
Luckily it was free
Grisham has thrilled in the past, but those days are over, it appears. While I appreciated the theme of two brothers conflict over a large inheritance, and the drug addiction part was interesting, I thought I would go mad if Ray Atlee went to one more casino or hotel or restaurant or old friend or law office or rich lawyer's yacht or storage unit or private detective.... ad nauseum... Grisham is not his old self. I recommend The Firm, A Time to Kill, The Pelican Brief, The Client, The Runaway Ju...more
Judge Atlee is dying and has summoned both of his sons to his side. When Ray Atlee gets to the house his father is already dead. He had been dying of cancer and was in a great deal of pain. He wouldn't have lasted much longer and Ray seemed grateful that his father was no longer in pain. He becomes the executor of the estate and needs to deal with his brother who is constantly in and out of rehabs. [return][return]In preparing the estate he finds three million in cash in the house and isn't...more
And Grisham continues his downhill slide, unhindered.
Oh for the days of his earlier books, when the plots were intricately woven and I couldn't put the books down! You know what I thought when I read this book (and King of Torts, and The Broker)? I thought, OK, JG, we get it that you're a rich boy now, and now you want to explore your rich-boy interests in your fiction. Single malt whiskey, high-stakes gambling, yachts, piloting small aircraft... whatever. The reader can almost see t...more
Oh for the days of his earlier books, when the plots were intricately woven and I couldn't put the books down! You know what I thought when I read this book (and King of Torts, and The Broker)? I thought, OK, JG, we get it that you're a rich boy now, and now you want to explore your rich-boy interests in your fiction. Single malt whiskey, high-stakes gambling, yachts, piloting small aircraft... whatever. The reader can almost see t...more
Der alte Richter Reuben Atlee ist gestorben und hinterlässt zwei Söhne. Einer Juraprofessor (Ray) der andere ein drogenabhängiger Tunichtgut (Forrest). Als Ray in seinen Heimatort reist, um die Verlassenschaft zu regeln, findet er mehrere Kartons mit Geldscheinen. Er macht sich auf die Suche nach dem Ursprung dieses Geldes. Eine Suche die ihm seinen Vater neu kennen lernen soll. Der Hauptaspekt dieser Geschichte ist jedoch weniger die Suche nach dem Ursprung des Geldes, sondern die Veränderungen...more
Professor Ray Atlee is 43, newly divorced and teaches law at the University of Virginia. He leads a simple life of simple pleasures: teaching, flying and jogging. His younger brother Forrest is a free-spirit addict living in Memphis, bouncing from job to job. The two "have nothing in common but a name and a father." They've both been summoned home to Clanton, Mississippi by their dying father, the legendary and honorable judge Reuben V. Atlee "to discuss the administration of my e...more
It has been two books and some years since John Grisham wrote a novel involving a lawyer and his court. In that time something has happened to leave The Summons, his latest novel, clearly missing something.
The novel begins with our main character, law professor Roy Atlee, being summoned by his father, the infamous judge of Clanton, Mississippi. Along with his drug-addicted brother, Forrest, they are to decide the issue of the judge’s will before the old man dies.
Buy when Ra...more
The novel begins with our main character, law professor Roy Atlee, being summoned by his father, the infamous judge of Clanton, Mississippi. Along with his drug-addicted brother, Forrest, they are to decide the issue of the judge’s will before the old man dies.
Buy when Ra...more
Shabby ending spoils good first three-fourths of money story...
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 t...more
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 t...more
Ray Atlee is a professor of law at the University of Virginia. He's forty-three, newly single, and still enduring the aftershocks of a surprise divorce. He has a younger brother, Forrest, who redefines the notion of a family's black sheep.
And he has a father, a very sick old man who lives alone in the ancestral home in Clanton, Mississippi. He is known to all as Judge Atlee, a beloved and powerful official who has towered over local law and politics for forty years. No longer on the bench,...more
And he has a father, a very sick old man who lives alone in the ancestral home in Clanton, Mississippi. He is known to all as Judge Atlee, a beloved and powerful official who has towered over local law and politics for forty years. No longer on the bench,...more
Grisham is an uneven writer, at least to my taste. Some of his books I really liked; others have been less entertaining. This one is excellent and doesn’t even have a murder.
Ruben Atley was a highly respected judge. He had two sons: Ray and Forrest. Ray was a legal ethics professor at the University of Virginia making a good salary; Forrest had been a serious thorn in the judge’s side since adolescence and wandered from one rehab program to another trying to kick as...more
Ruben Atley was a highly respected judge. He had two sons: Ray and Forrest. Ray was a legal ethics professor at the University of Virginia making a good salary; Forrest had been a serious thorn in the judge’s side since adolescence and wandered from one rehab program to another trying to kick as...more
Law professor, Ray, and his brother are summoned to Clanton, Ford County Mississippi by their father the Judge. When Ray arrives at the house he finds his father laying on the couch in his study. His father had terminal cancer. Ray finds that he is dead. Ray waits until his brother, Forrest, arrives to call the funeral house. Meanwhile he is looking in the judges study for a note or documents and finds 27 boxes letter envelopes full of 100 dollar bills. In total it is over 3million. He mov...more
I really didn't want to give this book 4 stars, but I had to. I'm much more of a "literature" or non-fiction type of guy, and if not one of those then it better be totally unrealistic. I knew before reading it that this book is "not my type," but it's been sitting on my book shelves for a couple of years now and it was really bugging me.
As with any good thriller, it's hard to put down almost from the start. And there's my problem. I don't like thrillers, I don't...more
As with any good thriller, it's hard to put down almost from the start. And there's my problem. I don't like thrillers, I don't...more
It's been a few years since I read a John Grisham novel. It gave me what I wanted, a simple transparent read with a mildly interesting plot that didn't require me to think too hard and didn't result in me pondering some important issue or idea.
The plot in this book was SO simple and there weren't really any subplots. A lawyer is called home to his father's home to settle the estate, finds him dead before they have a chance to settle, finds 3 million dollars hidden in the house, spends ...more
The plot in this book was SO simple and there weren't really any subplots. A lawyer is called home to his father's home to settle the estate, finds him dead before they have a chance to settle, finds 3 million dollars hidden in the house, spends ...more
Once Judge Atlee was a powerful figure in Clanton, Mississippi-a pillar of the community who towers over local law and politics for forty years. Now the judge is a shadow of his former self, a sick lonely old man who has withdrawn to his sprawling ancestral home. Knowing the end is near, Judge Atlee has issued a summons for his two sons to return to Clanton to discuss his estate. Ray Atlee is he eldest, a Virginia law professor, newly single and still enduring the aftershocks of a surprise divor...more
beyond a reasonable doubt
... I should have checked the Amazon ratings before picking up this novel. I was looking for a pleasant summer thriller - the kind that Grisham usually delivers. But this one disappoints small-time. The primary weakness is plot. Why does the smart protagonist forget the obvious solution of registering the troublesome money with probate? What possible motive does a money-grubbing lawyer have to give away $3M when the gift can only cause him trouble? And how did...more
... I should have checked the Amazon ratings before picking up this novel. I was looking for a pleasant summer thriller - the kind that Grisham usually delivers. But this one disappoints small-time. The primary weakness is plot. Why does the smart protagonist forget the obvious solution of registering the troublesome money with probate? What possible motive does a money-grubbing lawyer have to give away $3M when the gift can only cause him trouble? And how did...more
In this 2002 return to Clanton, Mississippi, Grisham takes a bit of a departure from his more typical legal-thriller style. Ray Atlee, a law professor from Virginia, gets a rather cryptic "summons" from his ailing retired-judge father regarding the disposition of his estate. Ray arrives to find his father dead on the couch, and he soon discovers boxes and boxes of cash in the study cabinets. So Ray is set on a mission to figure out where all this cash came from (some shady dealings by ...more
I remember reading this book all night, this was the First John Grisham book I read and I liked it. I'm quite surprised to find out that a lot of people find the plot uninteresting.
There's nothing wrong with the plot - it's fairly standard, a bit soul searching, a chance to delve into father son relationships - in other words, it has potential. But when I look back on the writing style and the choices of what bits to emphasise and work on, Grisham really let the story down. Which is a ...more
There's nothing wrong with the plot - it's fairly standard, a bit soul searching, a chance to delve into father son relationships - in other words, it has potential. But when I look back on the writing style and the choices of what bits to emphasise and work on, Grisham really let the story down. Which is a ...more
The Summons, Judge Atlee was a powerful figure in Clanton Mississippi-a pillar of the community who towered over local law and politics for forty years. He is now dying and he "summons" his two sons home, Ray and Forrest. But the judge dies too soon, and Ray finds $3,000,000 in 100 dollar bills. Aside from the sons another person knows and he is out to kill them. As hard as the boys tell the town's people they won't believe them. Ray tried all he could to hide the money, in the en...more
Not very promising at the beginning, but the plot made me feel more interested after the first chapters. Although I'm not a huge fan of lawyers, collective lawsuits, medical companies who sell harmful products and more lawyers, which are the main topic of all John Grisham books, I found The Summons quite entertaining.
Even tough I shouldn't have read it right after The King of Torts, did he really need to name a lawyer's yacht right after one of his novels? And bring up again the Skinny B...more
Even tough I shouldn't have read it right after The King of Torts, did he really need to name a lawyer's yacht right after one of his novels? And bring up again the Skinny B...more
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My second Grisham novel, this one concerns Ray, a law professor, the son of a respected Judge of a small Southern county. Summoned to the Judge’s house, he finds his father dead and three million dollars in cash hidden in boxes behind the couch. Uncertain what to do and unwilling to tell his drug
addict brother Forrest, Ray hides the money. Soon, however, he’s plagued by greed and doubt, as well as the more physical threats of someone who knows about the money. This is a pretty suspensef...more
addict brother Forrest, Ray hides the money. Soon, however, he’s plagued by greed and doubt, as well as the more physical threats of someone who knows about the money. This is a pretty suspensef...more
The first 50 pages of this book were dreadfully depressing. Then the Judges secret is discovered and it became a little more interesting, but still quite depressing. As the story moved along it kept getting more interesting, but I was mostly nervous the entire time, worried about Ray and whether he was doing the right thing. I found myself wondering what I would do in the same situation. I have mixed feelings about the end. I have been conditioned to prefer perfect happy endings but this one...more
Grisham is a terrific story teller. In this one, a law prof, Ray, at UVA is summoned home to Mississippi to attend his dying father, a retired judge. When he arrives the old man is dead, and his neer-do-well addict brother Forrest, arrives as well. Later Ray finds $3 million in cash. He is afraid to include it in the estate, since it is not in the will and his brother, he fears, will kill himself with all the drugs that money would buy. Ray tries to hide the money until he figure out what to...more
Your father, a respected and honest judge, summons you to his deathbed and you arrive too late. You discover, almost by accident, an impracticably large sum of money from no obvious source hidden in the house. What do you do? Ray decides to tell no-one and goes through hell as a result. I'm not sure I could square his paranoia with his desire to know where the money came from and his certainty that he would be able to keep it in the end. His moral ambivalence about his decisions was present but,...more
John Grisham has an incredible way of reeling the reader in and surprising them at the very end. When I thought I knew the twist, I realized there was more story to unfold!
The Summons is a fantastic read ~ Grisham doesn't disappoint! Two brothers are summoned to their father's death bed, a retired Judge with almost royal status in his community though no relationship with his boys. The men show up and their father's dead ~ only to discover a number of secrets he'd been holding bes...more
The Summons is a fantastic read ~ Grisham doesn't disappoint! Two brothers are summoned to their father's death bed, a retired Judge with almost royal status in his community though no relationship with his boys. The men show up and their father's dead ~ only to discover a number of secrets he'd been holding bes...more
Ray Atlee is a professor of law at the Univeristy of Virginty. He is fourty three, divorced, single and reserved. His background is something that he wants to forget but he soon has to face his past. Judge Atleee is his elderly father that lives in Mississippi, he is a retired judge. During his reiging, he was respected by many people. Forest is his younger brother who cannot bridle his drinking or his drug usage. Ray is the only one he can depend on, and he does it unwillingtly. After the Judg...more
Grisham has a special way with words. His words grip you and compel you to turn one page after another breathless with excitement or impatient with curiosity.
As a kid/teenager I remember my dad used to bring a lot of Grisham books from the library and I devoured them all and in retrospect, I believe these books played a significant role in my decision to become a lawyer. Grisham's lawyers have a purpose and they throw themselves totally and completely into serving that purpose and ach...more
As a kid/teenager I remember my dad used to bring a lot of Grisham books from the library and I devoured them all and in retrospect, I believe these books played a significant role in my decision to become a lawyer. Grisham's lawyers have a purpose and they throw themselves totally and completely into serving that purpose and ach...more
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"Long before his name became synonymous with the modern legal thriller, he was working 60-70 hours a week at a small Southaven, Mississippi law practice, squeezing in time before going to the office and during courtroom recesses to work on his hobby—writing his first novel.
Born on February 8, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to a construction worker and a homemaker, John Grisham as a ...more
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Born on February 8, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to a construction worker and a homemaker, John Grisham as a ...more
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