John Grisham writes extensively about lawyers and the (seemingly ubiquitously corrupt) legal system in America, churning out apparently popular novels on a regular basis.

The Summons is a 2020 offering, very thin on plot and shallow on character development. It is formulaic, lightweight fiction at best.

The plot here is straightforward. A crusty old judge, who has been ill for some time, summons his two sons, one a lawyer, the other an addict, to his home. They arrive to find him already dead, and a will that divides the estate between them. The lawyer, Ray, who is appointed Executor, finds more than $3 million in cash hidden in the house, although Dad only has about $6000 in the bank, and is known for giving money away to charities.

Ray secretes the money, telling nobody, especially not his drunken brother, and contemplates where the money came from and what to do with it.

It soon becomes clear that at least one other person knows about the existence of the money, and Ray's life suddenly gets complicated.

Much of the novel involves Ray moving the money around to keep it safe, which is pretty dull. The final reveal comes quickly at the end and is completely unsatisfying.

An average piece of pulp fiction, only just 3 stars, which may be generous.

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 dies and leaves his estate to his sons. Hidden in one of the rooms is 3 million dollars in $100 bills. Part of the story is finding our where they came from but there are other twists to the story that keep you guessing. I like the book The Testament much better and would recommend Testament over Summons.

So I FINALLY finished this damn book. I've read like a gazillion of books in between; I don't know what it is but I found it so hard to keep my attention and stay focused whilst reading. Anyhow, it's definitely not a 'bad' book. However, I was only intrigued after chapter 30 or so. The first 3/4 of the book was hard to read. Nevertheless, the story remains beyond interesting and I did enjoy reading how silly Ray had to make a myriad of decisions when it came to money. Forest is also a piece of shit and I wish we learned more about the Judge; he's a person that just lingers around throughout every scene - and also quite frankly, the sole reason why this story happened in the first place - but we never learn much about him other than the fact that he lived an undisturbed life and left a bunch of crazy bucks in the house. I love Grisham but this was not my favourite, oopsie.

The Summons is a great book. This is one of the best work done by John Grisham. It was a number one new york times bestseller. Filled with excitement, and mystery the summons is a must read for all book lovers. I would definetly recommend this book to my friends.

The Summons is about a Judge that is well known in his city of Clanton Mississippi. Judge Atlee soon dies from sickness "there was no pulse Judge Reuben V.Atlee was dead". Since the judge knew that he was going to die he wrote a summon to his two sons Ray, and Foster to discuss about his estate. When ray reached the house he found his father dead. Shocked by his fathers death Ray invistigates about the life of his father.

The summons is a very intriguing Story. You meet a lot of characters while you keep reading " Claudia Gates had known the judge like no one else".Your in for a mysterious ride, even though there is no action, and violence involved. The Drahma behind judge Atlee's death is intense. You also come to learn the difference between his sons Ray, and Foster. You can never predict what would happen next.

When i first started reading this book i thought that i wasn't going to like it, but it actually became a pleasure to read. The Summons is also shocking "usually on a good night he would win a couple thousand dollars". The climax of the story is really great. The summons makes you want to rush through the book so you can find out what happend a the end.

I guarente once you start reading this book you wont stop until youre done. Consider yourself in a treat. Something unexpected could happen any moment. I think this is one of the best book of mystery . It is deeply deatiled with information, and you can never be confused. If you havent read the Summons i suggest that you go grab yourself a copy now!

Typical John Grisham plot. Good but I feel a bit repetitive on the plot.

3 stars

titular sentence:
p7: He read the summons again, then put it away, on top of the pile of current matters to deal with.

I was surprised to find Harry Rex 'the divorce lawyer' Vonner here sans Jake Brigance, in something, I'd say, that was pieced together from unused material for other big-time story, or stories. Or maybe John was testing the waters that he recently left. I'd find out more once I read--or, reread--the prophesized The King of Torts.

This was one of his worst in my opinion, 300+ pages where almost nothing of real consequence happens for about 250 pages, a fairly predictable finale and ending in a moral lesson whiuch was a bit obvious to begin with. I like John Grisham but I was angry for the time robbed by this book.

Annoying main character and poor ending

Grisham me tiene cogida la medida y sé que sus novelas me gustan y me entretienen casi siempre nivel 4 estrellas. Si alguno me llega especialmente dentro consigue cinco y si otro se queda un poco corto en su capacidad de enganche baja a tres. La citación fue de más a menos. Definitivamente, no fue nuestra mejor cita.

In the past, I have only heard of John Grisham – an author known for his legal thrillers, but never read any of his books. This all changed when a little book called "The Summons" came my way. It was published back in 2002, but that did not deter me at all. Since Grisham is one of the most popular authors ever, it only made sense to get to know him as a reader by starting off with "The Summons", and it made for a good, not great, introduction to his work.

"The Summons" is about a lawyer named Ray Atlee, who (along with his drug-addict brother Forrest) receives a summon from his father Judge Atlee to return to his childhood home in Clanton, Mississippi to discuss the will. Upon arrival, Ray discovers that not only the judge is dead, but also over $3 million in cash that was not previously accounted for. While Ray tries to figure out where his dad got the money from, another person knows about the cash and makes veiled threats against Ray because of it.

The book definitely grabbed my attention in the beginning with the main characters’ back stories and the moment that Ray discovers the money. However, my interest varied throughout the novel. For example, Ray spends a good portion of the first half gambling the found cash to see if his father managed to get them that way. This would have made sense if he did this for a chapter or two, but no, this gambling goes on for multiple chapters. Luckily, I became intrigued again when Ray starts receiving the photographs indicating that someone else knows about the money too. But it waned again when Ray was meeting with minor characters to talk about where the money really came from. I realized that whenever something happened, it held my interest, yet when there was a lot of talking, it did not hold it as much. And that depended on what they were talking about. I get that there is a lot of legal speak, which I am not fluent in, but whenever the subject turned to the money, I was all ears.

Speaking of the money, readers and reviewers alike have noticed that everything revolved around it in this novel. Characters – major and minor – can’t stop talking about it, but then again, when someone finds a lot of money, it will weigh heavily on their minds for days, weeks, and even months on end. As a result, I didn’t mind that Grisham made the it the most interesting character in the novel with perfectly good stakes around it.

And yes, there is a twist at the end that definitely threw me for a loop. I will not spoil it, but I will say this: the twist makes the story a cautionary tale about how people use money. Too bad the story had to end abruptly after that.

Overall, "The Summons" is a good, not fantastic, introduction to John Grisham. It contains characters that people can be intrigued by and a really interesting turn at the end. Also, no one can go wrong with finding tons of cash. At the same time, I can’t help but notice the parts that dragged on and how it ended suddenly. I would recommend it to people who are either John Grisham lovers or want to get into his work. Either way, people will like it for the most part.

Reread to add a review

Though classified as a thriller, reading "The Summons" left me truly thrilled but only over the fact that I have finally got over with it. Worse kinds of stories, in my opinion, are those you bear on with just for the sake of knowing how they end and for the shame of quitting after you have gone that far. "The Summons" perfectly qualifies as one; it starts all promising, the suspense is building up, the main characters are getting gradually unfolded, and it seems that a lot more excitement is heading on the way. But as you reach the middle, it looks as if you are apparently stuck with endless details and worthless redundant events, which only seems to me as an excuse for reaching a target number of pages! However, reaching the final part, you find the events rushing up again, but unfortunately not enough to make up for or exceed the excessive boredom haunting you all through the middle chapters.

This is my first time with Grisham though, I have watched a bunch of the movies, but never read any of the novels. It would be unfair to not mention that the main story is a captivating one, and except for the unnecessary lingering in the middle, the ending would have had a stronger impact. Unexpected as it is, the ending leaves me not only stunned, but also confused over the fact that my perceived judgement of the main characters is not as concrete as I thought it to be.