- Paperback: 391 pages
- Publisher: Arrow; First Edition edition (27 Nov 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0099406136
- ISBN-13: 978-0099406136
- Product Dimensions: 11 x 2.5 x 17.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (56 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 250,902 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Summons
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
An intelligent, low-key thriller, The Summons continues John Grisham's exploration of the common decencies of a strain of American commercial story-telling in literature and film that we often link to the work of Frank Capra or O Henry. He is not afraid of parable or of setting up situations that are at once archetypal and attractively specific. This is a tale of two brothers--one is righteous, more or less, and one is not--and a question of their inheritance. Ancient Mississippi judge Atlee summons his two sons to his deathbed, but dies before he can explain himself, leaving Ray, who arrives on time unlike his drunkard brother Forest with the difficult problem of the three million dollars in used notes which are lying around the house in shoe-boxes. Ray worries about his father's posthumous reputation, about the Inland Revenue Service and about how quickly Forrest could drink himself to death with unlimited funds.
Grisham is very acute indeed on how the best of intentions lead Ray not to any significant crime or atrocity but to quietly unconscionable behaviour. And then he realises he is being followed... Grisham can build suspense out of remarkably little and has a real gift for understanding the quiet anxieties of an ordinary man. --Roz Kaveney --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Praise for The Summons
‘Classic Grisham’ The Times
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I am a massive John Grisham fan having read every one of his books. I waited with anticipation for this book, and was very disappointed. The characters are very difficult to relate to and the plot is very weak. It is not a page turner like other Grisham novels and I read the book in one sitting.
Finding 3 million dollars in your dead fathers house is a good idea, but Grisham does not really develop the plot. The book is basically about what to do with it. Keep it, or give some to the brother who incidently is a drug addict and the money could destroy him? Yawn. There are so many possibilities for the plot, but they are under developed and the ending is rubbish. There is no action and fast pace like previous Grisham novels. Disappointing, but I recommend all other John Grisham titles!!
Finding 3 million dollars in your dead fathers house is a good idea, but Grisham does not really develop the plot. The book is basically about what to do with it. Keep it, or give some to the brother who incidently is a drug addict and the money could destroy him? Yawn. There are so many possibilities for the plot, but they are under developed and the ending is rubbish. There is no action and fast pace like previous Grisham novels. Disappointing, but I recommend all other John Grisham titles!!
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I really didn't enjoy this book as much as I have the other Grisham books. It just didn't seem to have the old Grisham oomph that his earlier books had and to be brutal was a bit boring and predictable. With his other books I could not wait to get back to find out what happened next.....not this one. I only finished it because it felt like a mission. Very disappointing.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Lazy, tired writing. The central characters lack of a life, of friends, his pale watercolour existence, reflects it seems to me, Grisham's state of mind. "Must churn out another book," appears to be his modus operandi in writing this. It is listless, the professor's reactions seem odd for a man of his intelligence, trawling up and down the country obsessively dragging the money around with him is patently odd. Would he really be petrified of the taxes on the money, given the resultant number would still be huge? Ultimately he had to declare it to his brother anyway so why all the contrived fuss? Grisham's novels typically have to bend to the unlikely improbable human reaction to move the plot on; this story took it to a new extreme.
But, it was readable, even at low ebb Grisham can still get the reader turning pages. Unfortunately at the end of this one only shrugs ones shoulders and moves on. Where's the pace, the energy of the early books I wonder. Is Grisham written out and should he take a sabbatical himself. I think there are clues in the novel; the professor is on the edge of a sabbatical, there is a book that he needs to write but it's only a chore to him. I suspect Grisham is right there with him. Take a break John, and come back refreshed and stronger
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Very Disappointing
I did not enjoy the plot or the writing style. I have read many of John grisham's books and I thoroughly enjoyed them with favourites like The Runaway Jury which I have re-read... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Mr George Topping
Fast read
The Summons draws me in. I feel the excitement as if I am the novel's hero. I feel his fear. The suspense keeps the pages turning, like the book is underneath a high-speed... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Roger Weston
Readable but frustrating and disappointing
This Grisham can't really be described as a legal thriller - rather it's a novel whose characters just happen to be lawyers, and it's really a failed sort of mystery. Read more
Published 13 months ago by J. R. Johnson-Rollings
good story
the story actually begins on page 1, rather than on page 60 like in others of his books (waffle waffle) and the conclusion certainly surprised me. Read more
Published 13 months ago by diane
What I thought.
This book was a great read. It flowed very well and unfolded at the right pace. I would say this was one of Grishams better books. Read more
Published 20 months ago by MDB
A book with a very thin plot
This book had no sub plot, no well formed characters and no surprises.
The plot was spread thinly and what could have been an exciting premise fizzled away before it even got... Read more
The plot was spread thinly and what could have been an exciting premise fizzled away before it even got... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Lex
The worst Grisham book I've ever read.
I agree with other reviewers, this is the most boring Grisham book I have ever read. It didn't 'sound' like him at all, I could have been reading a book by another author. Read more
Published on 12 May 2010 by Dee
Average thriller
First published in 2002, John Grisham's 12th novel - The Summons features a law professor Ray Atlee who discovers a vast sum of money in his late father's house. Read more
Published on 8 Sep 2009 by D. Evans
Easy read but sadly weak plot - not one of Grisham's best
Getting directly to the point, this is not one of Grisham's best works. Simply put the plot is disappointingly deficient. Read more
Published on 23 July 2009 by Reader
Two Different Worlds
Ray Atlee is a UVA law professor in Charlottesville, VA and receives the news that his father, Judge Reuben Atlee, has died. Read more
Published on 23 Nov 2008 by Douglas P. Murphy
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