It's not Grisham at his best. Theodore Boone: The Accused is the third book in a series that centers on a kid lawyer. The kitsch-y slogan on the bottom of the cover proclaims these words: "Half the man. Twice the lawyer."

I've read both of the previous books, and honestly think those were much better. Perhaps it's because I was younger, and the simple style of writing made more sense to me, appealed to me more? Whatever the reason, the plot of this book is a little hackneyed: stuff stolen from a locker, Theo is framed, who could be the culprit?! The writing, too, leaves much to be desired. The kid-lawyer bit still works though, and in the end, it was really that which kept me reading. And of course, it is nearing the end of the summer holidays, and I'm getting that PUH-LEASE can we go back to school feeling!

I think it's a very special adult who will understand this next sentence completely, but a lot of kids probably will. The book was written in the style of an adult who has turned to writing for children but retains a slightly superior attitude. In this book, Grisham comes across as someone who doesn't consider children very clever, thinks they need everything explained to them twice. The result is prose that is bland and insipid, something I, and I'm sure others are with me on this, find truly infuriating. Come on! The audience you've targeted this book too (8-13) can take more than words and phrases like "he said," "and then," or "how nice".

The plot (have I said this before?) is passé. The main idea follows Theo Boone (thirteen, and getting seriously annoying…can this goody-goody do no wrong?) as he is framed for a doubtful crime: stealing several thousand dollars worth of merchandise from an electronics store. A smaller plot line, and one which isn't very well controlled, is the ongoing murder case of Mr Pete Duffy. This is a continuation of the idea behind the first book and part of the second…not a very satisfactory continuation.

Also, in a rather puzzling and frankly silly move, Grisham has deemed that the culprits or suspects in this book should be characters you are hardly familiar with. Grisham chooses to add another couple of people to his already huge cast, resulting in chaos, as you hop from person to person. In the end (Spoiler Alert!) the culprit turns out to be a character who has never been introduced before. It seems to me that this is the cause of several gaps in the story, one of the many reasons it doesn't flow smoothly.

As well as all that, there are tons of unnecessary legal terms thrown in as if at random, when Theodore talks to his lawyer parents, and, well, generally everyone in the small town where he lives. Which by the way, was another extremely confusing and annoying part… How is it that more crimes happen in this small town than you hear of happening in New York city? And why are the local middle-schools' children following murder cases on trial like weekly soap operas? Slightly bizzare…

But anyway, back to my rant.

The main character himself, the hero, Theo Boone is getting a little infuriating. Whether he's fighting for an old lady at the Animal court, or counting his scouting badges, I found a lot of what he did, quite unbelievable. One of the sentences I remember went something like, "But I don't want Mom to scream at me" and just drove me crazy. I felt like screaming: "Look Theo! You are thirteen - a little scolding from mom is not the end of the world. And not something you have to announce to your Mom's secretary either!"

To write about a decent hero in a book like this, you've got to understand this: the children reading this don't want a priggish holier-than-thou kind of character. We want a kid we can relate to. I didn't find that in this book.

My final verdict? Go ahead and buy the book, it's a fast read and the idea is original. But don't say I didn't warn you.

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