Theodore Boone, Young Lawyer by John Grisham

Monday, June 7, 2010


A perfect murder
A faceless witness
A lone courtroom champion knows the whole truth . . . and he’s only thirteen years old
Meet Theodore Boone

In the small city of Strattenburg, there are many lawyers, and though he’s only thirteen years old, Theo Boone thinks he’s one of them. Theo knows every judge, policeman, court clerk—and a lot about the law. He dreams of being a great trial lawyer, of a life in the courtroom.

But Theo finds himself in court much sooner than expected. Because he knows so much—maybe too much—he is suddenly dragged into the middle of a sensational murder trial. A cold-blooded killer is about to go free, and only Theo knows the truth.

The stakes are high, but Theo won’t stop until justice is served.

Brimming with the intrigue and suspense that made John Grisham a #1 international bestseller and the undisputed master of the legal thriller, Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer will keep readers guessing and pages turning.


I’m not sure what to say about this book except that it reads like a prologue. Nothing huge or earth-shattering really happened. We didn’t really get much of a conclusion. We got a whole lot of info about all of the characters, and a lot of plotlines were established that were not developed. It really is just an introduction to a series.

Something that’s surprising about this is that Theodore is thirteen, which is an odd age for what I believe is meant to be a YA novel (it seems more like the age of a protagonist in an MG novel). And Theodore didn’t really seem like a teenaged boy, or a teenager, or a child at all. He seemed like a miniature adult. I’m not sure whether that was the intention of the author or not, but to me, in spite of having a young protagonist, this didn’t seem like a YA novel at all. I’m not even sure what kind of novel it was. It confused me.

That said, I found the characters interesting, and the book was well-constructed – I kept reading because I needed to find out what happened. It was a disappointment that not a whole lot actually did happen. I’m interested to see what happens with some of the plotlines in the next book.

If you like John Grisham’s novels, and you’re interested in reading the rest of this series (I haven’t even checked whether there will be a series, but I’m assuming it is as it certainly doesn’t read like a standalone novel) then it’s worth checking out. I was an underwhelmed by it, but I’ll be interested in reading the next book in the series and seeing if things get a little livelier.

Theodore Boone on Amazon
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