The Summons

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The Summons

Author	John Grisham
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Legal thriller
Publisher
Released	2000
Media Type	Print ( )
ISBN	ISBN

The Summons is a legal thriller novel written in 2000 by noted American author John Grisham.

[edit] Plot summary

The main character, Ray Atlee is a law professor with a good salary in Virginia. He has a brother, Forrest, and a dying father, known to many as Judge Reuben V. Atlee. Ray is sent to his father's estate in Clanton, MS, to discuss issues regarding the old man's will and estate. To do this, Ray had to go to Ford County, the setting for many of John Grisham's other books such as A Time To Kill. In this book, we get introduced to characters from the other books such as Harry Rex. When he finds his father dead in the study Ray discovers a sum of over three million dollars in the house, money which was not part of Judge Atlee's will. Ray immediately thought the money was "dirty" because his father couldn't possibly make so much money in his career.

Assuming that he was the only one who knew about the money, Ray decided he would take it without making it officially part of the estate, and did not tell anyone about it. He knew that if he made it a part of the estate, taxes will take most of the money. But later reality proves otherwise. Ray was being followed -- someone else knew about the money. After his own investigations into the roots of the money and the identity of his shadow -- investigations which include trips to casinos and shady meetings with prominent southern lawyers -- he discovers the truth about the money and his stalker.

He finds out that it was two men, hired by his brother Forrest, who were following him. Forrest knew about the hidden money from when he had visited his father in a secret meeting only days before both brothers met at the estate and found their own father dead. The story implies that Forrest kills his own father by drugging him. The large sum of money found in the deceased father's estate turns out to be only a little element in a much larger scheme of things. It was a thank you gift to the judge (Ray's and Forrest's father) who presided over a massive corporate lawsuit which settled for millions. The sender of the money was a very unethical lawyer named Patton French who wanted to thank the judge for ruling in their favor.

Preceded by: Skipping Christmas

John Grisham Novels 2000

Succeeded by: Bleachers

John Grisham's novels (as of 2006)
1980s: A Time to Kill 1990s: The Firm — The Pelican Brief — The Client — The Chamber — The Rainmaker — The Runaway Jury — The Partner — The Street Lawyer — The Testament 2000s: The Brethren — A Painted House — Skipping Christmas — The Summons — Bleachers — The King of Torts — The Last Juror — The Broker
Non-Fiction
2000s: The Innocent Man