After a brief break from reading John Grisham's books, I was so glad to get back into it!


We follow Ray Atlee who is a professor of law at the University of Law. He is not the only person in his family who deals with the law. His father was a Judge back in his home town of Clanton, Mississippi. His brother never followed that route and just delves into a mix of drug taking and rehab. Both Ray and his brother Forest receive a summons to attend back at home to see their father. Unfortunately, their father dies but leave a rather puzzling inheritance behind, which Ray discovers.

I really was not expecting the pace or plot of this story. I was expecting a story that was heavy in law and maybe a court case or two but this story did not have a court case in sight. I really enjoyed the slow pace of this story, which made me read even more slowly than I would normally do and thoroughly immerse myself in it. I have to admit that I did suspect the twist in the plot nearer the end but that did not take away any enjoyment from this beautifully written story.

A slower paced thriller that will still keep you on the edge of your seat.


For more reviews, please check out the link below:
Debra's Book Cafe

Debs :-)

The Summons by John Grishom (novel - audible) It was while listening to Sycamore Row that I recognized some of the same names of the characters because my daughter and I were listening to The Summons on our travels. Turns out that The Summons is the third book that takes place in Clanton
MS. Judge Atlee, has summoned his sons to come home in Clanton because he is terminally ill. You might remember Judge Atlee, he was the judge in Carl Lee Haley's trial in A Time to Kill. He was also the judge who presides over the trial about the two wills in Sycamore Row. In that book, he was already quite ill. We were briefly introduced to his sons, but don't know yet that there is no love lost between father and sons.
With the end in sight, Judge Atlee issues a summons for both sons to return home to Clanton, to discuss the details of his estate. Ray arrives first to find his father has already past. Forrest, who soon follows, doesn't want to deal with the arrangements and he leaves it all up to Ray. In inspecting his father's study, Ray finds a big surprise...over three millions dollars in cash. This leads Ray on a search of where did the money come from and what to do with it. Ray thinks he's the only person who knows about the cash, but soon finds out there is someone else out there who knows.
In true Grisham style we are taken on a great romp around the south trying to learn how his father came by all the money and who could possibly know that it exists. It's always nice to have reoccurring characters in books, it make it feel as if the story is longer.

I was anxious to try some different Grisham novels after scoring a handful at a local store that's going out of business. The story is not about any of the author's usual characters, but the intro made it sound interesting.
It's about an old judge who dies and leaves a secret behind, something to trouble his only surviving heirs, his two sons. The plot dragged from the beginning and was a much slower read than I am used to. I skimmed through the fluff, waiting for something useful to happen.
The main character is a law professor - his quirks bolstered my opinion of such academics, who may be smarter than the average bear, but have no street smarts and lack common sense.
But I forged ahead, hoping our protagonist would wizen up.
It never happened, making the ending predictable and in my opinion, a let down. I can't call it a happy or sad ending and perhaps that's exactly what it's meant to be.

Grisham is consistently entertaining. This is another well paced legal intrigue novel. Can't say I have ever rated his books a 5 nor have I ever been disappointed. Even though he is somewhat formulaic you expect to be entertained and he always delivers.

Un roman destul de anost, aproape complet lipsit de acțiune, ceea ce nu este neapărat punctul său cel mai slab, ci faptul că, în același timp, este lipsit și de tensiune, nereușind să trezească cititorului o emoție veritabilă. Dat fiind faptul că jumătate din intrigă are loc în orașul ficțional Clanton, ce va fi atât de viu descris în Ultimul jurat, aveam așteptări ceva mai mari, însă acestea nu au găsit un suport în realitate, deoarece, după orice standarde, Moștenitorii este mai degrabă un roman mediocru. În plus, el conține o sumedenie de informații care, cel puțin pentru mine, nu prezintă niciun interes, de exemplu despre modul în care cazinourile își monitorizează clienții pentru a preveni fraudele sau despre legislația americană privitoare la taxele pe moștenire. În mod real, dat fiind și subiectul acestui roman, singura informație relevantă despre oraș este următoarea: "Precum locuitorii din majoritatea așezărilor mici, celor din Clanton le plăceau procesiunile funerare".
Mai mult decât atât, există unele scene în roman care nu au deloc veridicitate, cum ar fi discuția/confesiunea de la bordul lui King of Torts în care, cu o sinceritate ieșită din comun, avocatul Patton French devoalează toate faptele imorale pe care le-a comis.
Singurul punct forte al romanului, căci există și așa ceva, este scena finală și mai ales discuția dintre cele două personaje principale, în care este greu de delimitat între cel bun și cel rău și care îi transmite totuși cititorului sentimentul că lectura acestei cărți nu a fost o totală pierdere de timp. În același timp, cea mai reușită descriere este aceea a înmormântării Judecătorului.
Judecătorul de șaptezeci și nouă de ani din Clanton, Reuben V. Atlee este tatăl a doi băieți, Ray, patruzeci și trei de ani, și Forrest, treizeci și șase de ani, a căror viață este extrem de diferită, Ray fiind profesor universitar de drept la o universitate prestigioasă și având și un salariu mai mult decât mulțumitor, în timp ce fratele său mai mic este un consumator feroce de droguri și alcool, iar despre carieră nici nu poate fi vorba în cazul său. Moștenirea pe care Judecătorul le-o lasă fiilor săi conține o sumă foarte mare de bani, mai mult de trei milioane de dolari, a cărei proveniență este necunoscută și care îi dă complet peste cap viața lui Ray. Cititorul care dorește să afle cum se va plimba acesta de colo colo cu mașina sa mică de două locuri, în al cărei portbagaj zac înghesuiți saci de gunoi plini cu bani, are la dispoziție acest roman. Lectură plăcută!

Ticks all the usual boxes that you expect from a Grisham thriller, and is extremely readable, as ever; but it lacks some of the edge and the menace of his other books. Enjoyed it though - a good holiday read.

Another page turner from Grisham.
Had me hooked from the beginning and was not disappointed by the end.
Ray Atlee is an honest hard working Professor of Law. His brother, Forrest, a screw up, in and out of rehab for decades. Their father, a respected, admired Judge whose health is failing him. Ray and Forrest are summoned by their father to come back to their childhood home. No information given. Just come back. He wants to talk to them. When Ray arrives home before his brother, he finds his father dead, and he also finds something that will change his life forever. Does he tell his brother? Or anyone for that matter? Does he deal with it by himself? Grisham once again weaves the narrative of right and wrong, into his stories. What would you do in the situation? Can you summon the courage to do what is right? What is “right” after all?

Ray Atlee and his brother are called by their ailing father to his home,as he wants to settle his estate.But when they get there,their father dies,and three million dollars are found in his house.The money is not mentioned in the will.Ray now has to find out where all this cash came from.There is also the additional problem of what to do with it.
I'm very fond of this book,as it made me rediscover John Grisham.Years earlier,I read the Pelican Brief,and found it disappointing.When I picked up The Summons,I had very low expectations.But the book surprised me,it was a real page turner.Very suspenseful,and very hard to put down.It made me a Grisham fan.Only the ending is not as good as the rest of the book,otherwise this would have earned five stars.

Enjoyable audio! I love a legal / crime/ mystery thriller and Grisham is so so good at creating intrigue and taking the time to really develop the characters.

The narrator, Michael Beck was brilliant at voicing all the characters.

There is a 3 million $$ discovery and mystery that follows the money, some bad behavior, a dead judge, a break-in and more!

The ending didn't wow me, but did surprise and I'm still mulling things over. This one is from 2002, but very entertaining!

Very John Grisham in the execution of plot and characters. Short and quick for a somewhat satisfying legal-ish drama.

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 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.

I yet have to forgive myself for not giving Grisham the five stars. I do like reading his novels. This one started very well for me. No murder, no major tragedy; the death of the father was expected after all. Yet Grisham managed to make it exciting and keep one on tense suspense to find out where the gorgeous three millions came from? Or more exactly, what is Ray going to do with it? Will he manage to keep it?
But, the story was unnecessary prolonged - the scene with with Ray speeding and subsequent jailing did not much to the whole and it annoyed me somewhat. Sorry Grisham.