The Summons & The Brethren

By: John Grisham

Narrated by: Frank Muller, Michael Beck

Length: 20 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

Two from the master of the legal thriller:

The Summons:

Once Judge Atlee was a powerful figure in Clanton, Mississippi; a pillar of the community who towered over local law and politics for 40 years. Now the judge is a shadow of his former self, a sick, lonely old man who has withdrawn to his sprawling ancestral home. Knowing the end is near, Judge Atlee has issued a summons for his two sons to return to Clanton to discuss his estate.

The summons is typed by the judge himself, on his handsome old stationery, and gives the date and time for his sons, Ray and Forrest, to appear in his study. But the judge dies too soon, and in doing so leaves behind a shocking secret.

The Brethren:

They call themselves the Brethren: three disgraced former judges doing time in a Florida federal prison.

Meeting daily in the prison law library, taking exercise walks in their boxer shorts, these judges-turned-felons can reminisce about old court cases, dispense a little jailhouse justice, and contemplate where their lives went wrong.

Or they can use their time in prison to get very rich, very fast. And so they sit, sprawled in the prison library, furiously writing letters, fine-tuning a wickedly brilliant extortion scam...while events outside their prison walls begin to erupt.

©2002 The Summons, ©2000 The Brethren, John Grisham (P)2002 The Summons, ©2000 The Brethren, Random House Audio

Good Grishom books

I enjoyed both books, however I especially liked the different voice intones my Michael Beck in The Summons. Much easier to keep up with each character while listening. After several chapters U was only then able to distinguish the different characters read by Frank Miller in The Brethren. Both narrators had smooth enjoyable voices to listen too. First time in a blog numbers of years that I have had audio books, as I favor reading written words. Definitely recommend these books, especially if you like John Grishom books.

John Grisham is undoubtedly the best

Two great novels packed in one. Frank Muller and Michael Beck both awesome. Great deal!

forever a John Grisham fan

any book by John Grisham is worth a purchase. for me this time it was the nairator that made the books a bit less enjoyable, only because the southern accents were so forced and came across as cheesey.

great books

loved the books, didn't really care much for the narrator. voice was grating bit got through the books

Awesome story to the very end

Bravo,, John Grisham at his best; characters are real and story was captivating;
Ready for Sequel

Constantly a surprise.

Sometimes predictable but always keeps you involved. Even scary when you consider so many of the possibilities.

This could happen

Rating is for The Brethren not The Summons
Intriguing story and smooth narrator.
Thank you

Each a decent book

But neither book is one of his best - I suppose that's why it's offered as a 2 for 1 deal. Both were sufficiently engaging even if not edge of the seat thrilling. I'd still recommend them enough.

Forgot to cut out overlapping narrative

Good story but evident errors in production that the overlapping narratives (I assume when starting and stopping) we're not cut out.

Highly Recommend

Excellent Grisham, you won't be disappointed. I wasn't sure about the narrator when I first started the book, but as the story progressed he did a superb job of changing his voice for the various dialect of the characters. If you love Grisham, this is a must "read"!