The Summons (2002)

What would you do if you found millions in cash in your home and didn't know it's origin?

i was looking forward to a quick, light read after some heavier reads/topics. i wasn't impressed with the writing and never really got into the story at all. ( )

An eldely and dying Judge Atlee has summoned his grown sons, Ray and Forrest, back home to Maple Run, their home in Mississippi, to discuss the affairs of his estate. Ray, a law professor in Virignia, arrives first and finds his father already passed away on the sofa and a few million dollars in cash hidden in the house. Ray becomes obsessed with the money. Where did it come from? Was the morally upstanding and well respected Judge on the take? What should he do with it? Should he tell somebody? Letting his brother know about the money would be a foolish move; all the alcoholic and drug-addled Forrest would do would guzzle it down or snort it, so he hides it from Forrest and everybody else. He goes to incredible lengths to hide the money and try to find out where it came from. Turns out that Ray isn't the only one who knows about the mysterious money, apparently someone else, and not a nice somebody else, knows about the money too and is hell-bent on letting Ray know it. It is fun to see the lengths Ray goes to to hide, move, protect and trace the origins of the money. This is an entertaining novel but probably not the suspenseful thrill-ride that Grisham's other novels apparently are. I don't think Grisham was really going for that, though. I think this was Grisham's way of conveying a message about greed, corruption and motives. The Summons kept me interested and entertained throughout but I was not, at any point, at the edge of my seat waiting to see what happened next. This is a slow-paced story, not a riveting courtroom drama. I think of it as "Grisham Lite." ( )

We have a tradition in our family - when we go on a road trip I choose a book to read aloud to my husband. It makes the time go quickly and doesn't bother my daughters watching movies in the back seat. This year our trip took us on a 12 hour road trip to Colorado and The Summons was perfect for that. It had just enough details to keep our attention but not bury us and not too many characters. We have read many Grisham's over the years and some how we missed this one.

In the opening scenes retired Mississippi Judge Atlee summons his two sons to a meeting. He is then found dead by his son Ray, the law professor from up north in Virginia. While waiting for his delinquent brother Forrest to show up at the house Ray stumbles on boxes of cash in an old bookshelf - lots of cash - three million dollars of cash.

And with that Ray's organized world disintegrates. How can his straight laced, law abiding, pig headed father have so much cash and never mention it? And what in the world was he supposed to do with it? If he turns it over to the police it will disappear to the inheritance taxes.
If he shares it with his brother Forrest will probably kill himself with drugs and alcohol.
If he hides it how will he be able to use it?
And who is that person rattling the windows on his father's deserted house - do they know about the money???

Ray begins a cross-country odyssey carrying the money from hotel room to trunk to storage unit and back again all the while trying to solve the mystery of his father and the cash and who is following him.

All of Grisham's books make you care about the character - but most also have a perfect moral compass. This one doesn't quite. The money is not Ray's - right? So what would you do?

And at the end I was happily surprised.

This was a great page mile-eating page-turner!! ( )

I loved this book. It's slow, but that is definitely part of its charm. Grisham's Ford County books are so full of detail, with characters that you would recognize if they walked into your house, and reader Michael Beck is perfect for them. ( )