Dead Even - Softcover

Sara Tate starts her job as a New York City assistant district attorney the day before massive budget cuts. To keep her job, she grabs a case slated for one of the district attorney's office's hot shots, thinking it will be the kind of showpiece that'll make her a hero. The next day, she learns that the defence attorney on the case is her husband, Jared Lynch. To make matters worse, the case, which appeared to be a simple breaking and entering is beginning to look more like a murder.

Someone is pitting Sara and Jared against each other and both are being threatened: win the case or your spouse dies. Sara and Jared have struggled and suffered more than your ordinary young lawyers and their desperation to protect one another and their life together is almost palpable. But the more they fight to win the case, the more they put each other's lives in jeopardy.

Dead Even is truly gripping. Brad Meltzer has created characters that are realistic enough to be believable, but quirky enough to be captivating. The lawyers are especially determined and the criminals are especially sinister. Even more impressive than his characters is his don't-blink-or-you'll-miss-something plot, which grabs you on page one and doesn't let go until you close the cover. When reading Dead Even, you may find yourself holding your breath as you furiously turn the pages. It's a legal thriller that gives John Grisham's books a run for their money. -- Mara Friedman

Watch out John Grisham - there's a young pretender out there. The excellent thriller DEAD EVEN . . . has more double crosses and ruthless villains than an episode of Dallas. Great (Prima)

'Just when you thought there were no more changes to be rung on the legal thriller, Meltzer follows up his bestselling inside look at the Supreme Court (The Tenth Justice) with this sleek, suspenseful, only slightly unbelievable story about two young New York lawyers in love and danger. . . . Definitely compelling tale of legal and extralegal adventure'
Publishers Weekly

'A very aptly titled gripper that will have Grisham slapping his wife's wrist in pique over the breakfast toast when he discovers Melzter's plot for his second novel . . . Author Meltzer is an attorney himself, which lends the novel's dialogue a sparkling undercurrent of real-life chitchat, not to mention the mutual sabre-sharpening that readers will quickly pick up on and enjoy as a bonus'
Kirkus Reviews

Breakneck . . . an action-packed read (Frances Fyfield in Mail on Sunday)

"Races along...deftly written...haunting...Meltzer is so good."
- Entertainment Weekly

A gem of a plot...so strong...breezes along in 'high gear'. Highly
recommended."
- Chicago Tribune

Terrific...Reads like a Tracy-Hepburn movie directed by Sam
Peckinpah...complete with cliffhangers at the end of every chapter."
- Newsday

"Rachets up the tension."
- San Francisco Chronicle

"A truly scary ending."
- Newsday

"As he demonstrated in his first novel, The Tenth Justice...Meltzer has a
gift for revealing the heart-stopping intensity of legal systems under
extreme pressure."
- San Francisco Chronicle