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 DA 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 defense attorney on the case is her husband, Jared Lynch. To make matters worse, what 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 Grisham's books a run for their money. -- Mara Friedman

DEAD EVEN is an energetic, engrossing legal thriller that pits husband against wife in the most shocking Catch-22 imaginable. After six-months of unemployment, Sara Tate is eager to re-launch her career as a newly minted New York Assistant District Attorney. But when budget cutbacks are announced, the last hired is the first fired, and Sara's much-needed job is in jeopardy. Determined to keep herself alive in the DA's office, Sara is coerced by colleagues to take a case that will tie her up in trial for months. But what she doesn't know is that the case -- intended for a senior staffer -- is not what it appears to be: an apparently routine burglary hides a deadly conspiracy.

Meanwhile, Sara's husband Jared, a defense lawyer, has been warned by his superiors that he needs to bring in new clients or he won't make partner. When asked by a corporate heavyweight to defend a petty burglary, Jared jumps at the chance to bring a wealthy new client to the firm. But soon, Jared discovers that he's been set up. The criminal he's defending is the same one Sara is set to prosecute. Worse yet, both Jared and Sara receive vicious threats that will soon put their relationship in the ultimate form of peril: win the case at all costs or the other will die.