Like Grisham stopped typing and decided to finish the novel (almost) mid-sentence. If you accept and believe this to be a novel meant for pre-teens or tweens, even then this is still weak.
Theodore Boone, Theo for short, is a 13 year old teenager, is the son of lawyer parents, has a more than keen interest in law, sees himself as a trial lawyer when he grows up, often helps out his school mates with legal troubles. When a murder trial starts in his town, he is obviously interested in following it. Which he does, even arranging with the trial judge to have his class attend the first day of the trial. When Theo is introduced to a cousin of a low income student that he teaches, and who may be a crucial witness to the murder, Theo is caught up in a dilemma as to what to do. To tell his parents, or his Uncle Ike, or the judge, or the police. What complicates matters is that the trial is about to come to an end in a matter of a few days, and more importantly, the witness is in the United States as an illegal immigrant, and is therefore not willing to go to the police for fear of deportation.
The premise is interesting, and promises lots of thrills, suspense, and action mixed with the innocence of youth. Except the premise remains a premise. The plot never goes anywhere. There are no surprises. No twists. No suspense. Nothing at all. The novel JUST ENDS. I actually turned over the last page more than a few times, expecting to read more. There was nothing. I checked online on Amazon.com to see if a page or more had bee torn from my copy. No. That's it.
Hugely disappointing. From any author this would have deserved 3 stars at best. Coming from Grisham this deserves a low 2 star rating, if not a lone star. This book reeks of an assembly line mentality, shoddy workmanship laden writing.
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Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer
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The Rainmaker
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© 2010, Abhinav Agarwal. All rights reserved.
