| Product: |
The Summons - John Grisham |
| Date: |
06.03.08 (86 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Good characters, exciting start
Disadvantages: Poor ending
It's amazing how an ending can colour a person's view on something. As a film fan that likes to review (on here of course) I have found that many films end with a bang just so that the last thing a person remembers is the exciting set piece and they forget the boring hour before it. The same happens in books and I have found that crime fiction in particular likes to end on a bang. However, there is a flip side to a book or film ending on a high and that is when they end on a low. How many times have you seen a film only to be let down by a drab or confusing ending. Perhaps the rest of the book you were reading was ok, only for it all to be undermined by poor editing or an author's strange flight of fancy. Or maybe like in the case of John Grisham's 'The Summons' the ending just makes the books feel a bit meh.
Ray Atlee receives a letter from his father Judge Atlee to return to his home town so that they can discuss the Judge's will. On arriving, Ray is in for more than one big surprise, not only does he find his father dead, but also over $3 million in unmarked bills hidden in the house. What is Ray going to do? Before spending any of the money he decides to investigate where it came from. Will he be able to keep the money secret from his addict brother and does someone already know? It seems that perhaps someone does as his house if broken into and letters are left on his car windshield. Ray has to decide whether he is happy in his current life style or whether to keep the cash. $3 million is a lot of money to forget about.
As hard as I tried to like 'The Summons' I could not bring myself to think of it more than just an average read. For the first third of the book you feel that you are in the usual Grisham world of Deep South law firms and people eating grits. However, the book is soon turned on its head with great impact when Ray stumbles across the money and the body. All of a sudden you have a book filled with potential for action and intrigue and for a short while this happens. The middle third is a great book with Ray being chased by an unknown assailant whilst trying to discover where the money came from without telling anyone that he has it. The conflict that goes on in Ray's head is good as he is a good man that starts off honestly trying to uncover the truth only for the pull of money to corrupt.
It is the final third of the book that the narrative starts to unravel. Firstly, you get a little bored with the format as you start to realise that this is really all that is going to happen. I noticed this sensation with Grisham's other book 'The Broker'. He seems to create good ideas with plenty of wide potential only to make a linear book that does not go anywhere. The conclusion itself is also a let down because it's too obvious and to be honest you just do not care anymore. This is a real shame as for the first 150 pages I was really enjoying the book and the mystery gripped me.
The final area that I had misgiving about was the usual Grisham attitude to the South. He was born and raised there and seems to view the place with rose tinted glasses. He even looks back on segregation with a soft lens. In books like 'A Time to Kill' this viewpoint works really well, here it just seems a little false as no one wants to mention the elephant in the corner (who just happens to be black).
By the way that I have criticised this book you would assume that I hated it, but this is far from the case. The character of Ray Atlee is a compassionate one and interesting to read about. Grisham also writes a good narrative for the first two thirds of the books by starting of with his usual memoirs style only to turn it on its head early on. If the quality of the first 100 pages had continued onto the finish then 'the Summons' would have been one of the better works by the author. Unfortunately, this was not the case as not only did the same chase narrative go on for too long, but when it finally ended it was all a little unimpressive. With lots of minor errors present, all the good characterisation is undermined making the book feel average. I would advise only Grisham die hards to read this and beginners to start with the genuinely excellent 'A Time to Kill'.
Author: John Grisham
Price: amazon uk - £4.19
play.com - £5.49
Summary: An ok novel that is let down by a poor final section
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