The Summons & The Brethren

By: John Grisham

Narrated by: Frank Muller, Michael Beck

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 forty 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 Now the judge is a shadow of his former self, a sick, lonely old man who has withdrawn to his sprawling ancestral home.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.

Two good listens

This was the first time I listened to the Summons a good story. Now I have read the Brethren when it was first published. Now I have the audible I enjoy the book often. I think it is my favorite Grisham story.

The Brethren is a very different type of Grisham

I’ve read many of the reviews but none with my take on The Brethren. It’s hilarious. I can see John Grisham chuckling and sometimes laughing out loud as he wrote.

I don’t think he ever meant The Brethren to be a serious thriller. He came up with every kind of hurdle imaginable for his characters. Great listen if you approach the book with the right attitude.

Note: Repeating of lines happens occasionally. Think it’s probably after a break in reading where the narrator repeats his last sentence.

“Michael Beck is brilliant as always”

Beck can make a crappy book amazing!! Although”The Summons” was amazing ... but, boy did the end tick me off!! I don’t want to give it a way and I had it figured out pretty well into the middle. I just love Grisham and his worthy Beck!!!

A value in getting two novels for one credit.

These novels are not some of Grisham's best work but for one credit they're okay to pass the time if you have a lot to burn.

Worth the listen

This was worth the listen. Only issue is with the tech. At weird intervals parts would repeat. It was distracting.