Tuesday, August 26, 2008
The Summons
***½ The Summons by John Grisham. Mystery.
First, a caveat: despite the fact that The Summons is by John Grisham, and the protagonist is a law professor and the victim a judge, this is really not a legal thriller. I suspect that unmet expectation accounts for a good portion of the negative reviews on Amazon.
Judge Atlee is dying, and he summons his two sons to his side: the Good Son, Ray, who's a law professor, and the Bad Son, Forrest, who's a ne'er-do-well.
Ray arrives only to find his father's body... and 3 million dollars hidden in the house. Ray has no idea where it came from, or who knows about it. It's not mentioned in the will. If he includes it in the estate, he'll have to share it with Forrest. Or it might be illegal, in which case he'll get nothing, and destroy his father's reputation in the process. But if somebody knows about it, he could be in trouble if he doesn't tell.
And then it seems that finding the money has put his life in danger.
The Summons is definitely about the darker side of human nature, specifically greed.
In a story that's so much about character, it would be nice to get a little more deeply into these characters. Still, it was an entertaining read.
Categories: Books, 3.5stars, Mystery
Labels: 3.5 stars, books, mystery
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I haven't read a new Grisham book in ages. Your view means a lot ot me...and entertaining sounds good. Too bad about the character exploration but I'll check it out.
I am just starting to get into a Scottish mystery writer named Denise Mina, I'll probably post a review ina couple weeks after I read the first trilogy.
I am just starting to get into a Scottish mystery writer named Denise Mina, I'll probably post a review ina couple weeks after I read the first trilogy.
Mystery, eh? I haven't been reading a lot of mystery lately, so I'll be looking forward to seeing what you think of Denise Mina. I'd like to find some new mystery authors.
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