Randomize ME

Book Description:

Theodore Boone is back in a new adventure, and the stakes are higher than ever. When his best friend, April, disappears from her bedroom in the middle of the night, no one, not even Theo Boone–who knows April better than anyone–has answers.

As fear ripples through his small hometown and the police hit dead ends, it’s up to Theo to use his legal knowledge and investigative skills to chase down the truth and save April.

Filled with the page-turning suspense that made John Grisham a #1 international bestseller and the undisputed master of the legal thriller, Theodore Boone’s trials and triumphs will keep readers guessing until the very end.

*

Theodore Boone: The Abduction by John Grisham is his follow-up to his 2010 foray to YA fiction Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer. The first book left readers hanging with an unresolved murder trial, but unfortunately, that isn’t covered in book #2 (although it’s indicated at the end of The Abduction that Book #3 would pick-up with the murder trial again). Instead, book #2 is more of a stand-alone story dealing with the possible abduction of Theodore Boone’s best friend April. The girl was frequently left home alone by her absentee parents, and then one night, just disappears without a trace from her bedroom. With the police stuck just following one lead, 13-year-old Theo and his friends take it upon themselves to help find their missing friend.

I’m not exactly sure how Grisham managed to make a story dealing with the abduction of a child so … unexciting and oddly lacking in tension. Is there a nice way to say ‘snooze-fest‘? The best part of The Abduction had nothing to do with the main plot at all – it’s a little interlude where Theo shows up at Animal Court and defends a feisty old parrot in danger of having its wings clipped. I found myself laughing out loud  and enjoying myself for the first time in the book, and wished for more scenes like that. Other than that funny interlude, the rest of the book was just dragging and dull for me. The only other bright point about The Abduction I can say is that at least Grisham never talks down to his YA readers, and several legal terms are explained clearly and succinctly. Grisham’s strength is in making legal proceedings easily understandable, so I missed having more court scenes in this book.  I’ve said before that I thought the Theodore Boone series would work better as an anthology of short stories, and I still believe that. Maybe I can request for a Theodore Boone: Animal Court anthology one day? 🙂

I’ve heard good things about Grisham’s latest book for adults The Litigators, so maybe the problem is that Grisham just hasn’t found the right voice for a YA book yet.

Theodore Boone: The Abduction by John Grisham (Dutton Juvenile) is available on Amazon as a Kindle edition, Hardcover, Audio CD and Audible audio edition. Also available on Amazon UK.

For a second opinion – here’s some reviews of The Abduction by other bloggers:

• Bookworm Blather – “Stick with adults, John.”
• SIR BOOKS-A-LOT – “I give this book 4 out of 5 shields”
• Milo’s Rambles – “entertains from start to finish – One for the Kids!”

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by RSS Or by Email. [tweetmeme source=”randomizemeWP” only_single=false https://randomizeme.wordpress.com%5D