The Summons

The money makes no sense. The judge was a famously upright man who lived modestly and gave much of his salary away. Ray hides the cash and tells no one, not even his brother, but soon it becomes clear that someone else knows about it. Break-ins, threats and strange coincidences follow him from Mississippi back to Virginia, and he begins tracing his father's past court cases, looking for the source of the fortune.

This is one of Grisham's more personal books. It is less about the law than about family: a son who never quite understood his father, the burden of a respected name and the temptation of money nobody seems to have earned. The small-town atmosphere of Clanton is vivid, and the portrait of Forrest is sympathetic and sad.

The suspense is moderate rather than heart-stopping, and some readers find the ending abrupt. But it is a fast, absorbing read that raises good questions about honesty. It works well as a weekend read and as an introduction to Grisham's quieter, more reflective side, and it pairs nicely with A Time to Kill for its setting. About 373 pages in the Dell mass-market paperback.