I started and now I have to keep going to the finish. Having picked up , I have followed Theodore Boone's trials and tribulations as he progresses from puberty towards near-adulthood. The son of legal-eagle parents, Theodore found himself a star advocate almost by accident. Now he is both an old hand and a young man - though he seems more mature since his last courtroom drama, where he was both defender and defendant. is pretty standard Grisham: big business wants to buy a family out of the land they have owned for decades. The story acts as a primer about legal and political issues: in this case eminent domain. Most exciting is the reading by Richard "John-Boy Walton" Thomas. His familiar tones fit the environmental themes of Grisham's tale - the longing for an upright, unspoiled America. If your teenager is showing any interest in the law - or moral causes - then is a good place to start.
 

Some novels are long enough to last for months. Others are so curt that it is a wonder one doesn't finish them before breakfast. James Patterson, he of the short sentence and the tall story, fits into the latter category. "He can see nothing. He can hear nothing. He runs, gasping, hits a hard object - face first" is typical of Patterson's blunt economy. is the sixth in the "Private" series. "Private" is an International Investigation franchise, set up by ex-CIA agent Jack Morgan, who has established offices around the world. The idea reflects Patterson's own business model of outsourcing plot ideas with collaborators like Michael White. Set in Australia, Craig Gisto investigates the murder of a young man from Hong Kong, whose father Ho Meng was the police commissioner. Ho thinks the triads are targeting himself and his surviving son. This vies with a serial killer bumping off Sydney's socialites and a rock star who thinks his life is in danger. One too many plots for such a slight book.