Dead Even

“Heart-stopping intensity.” —San Francisco Chronicle“Meltzer has come up with a gem of a plot....It breezes along in high gear....[A] highly recommended suspenser.” —Chicago TribuneIn this second novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Brad Meltzer, husband and wife face off in a legal thriller that poses the most chilling question of all: How far would you go to save the one you love?Sara Tate, a Manhattan assistant DA, is on the brink of losing her job. But then she takes a case that may be able to secure her future. Trouble is, it’s much more complicated—and deadly—than it initially appears. While forces within her own office plot against her, an outside threat takes things to another level: Win the case or her attorney husband, Jared, will die. But Jared has received threats, too. Forced to defend the opposition, he learns that, if loses the case, Sara will be killed. With everything on the line for both of them, husband and wife battle it out—at court and at home—while maintaining the terrible secret behind their motives. Caught in a struggle of rollercoaster emotions and shocking betrayals, Jared and Sara must face the unthinkable: No matter who wins, one of them may die.

Brad Meltzer's first novel, The Tenth Justice, was an instant New York Times bestseller when published as the launch title of Rob Weisbach Books. At the youthful age of 27, Meltzer was the youngest novelist on bestseller lists across the country. Paperback rights to the book were sold at auction to Warner Books for a seven-figure sum, and the movie rights were optioned by Fox 2000. Meltzer even flirted with Hollywood stardom, playing himself as an extra in Woody Allen's upcoming film.

One year later, 28-year-old Meltzer has written his much anticipated second novel, Dead Even, an energetic legal thriller that pits husband against wife in a shocking catch-22 situation. Following a six-month stint of unemployment, Sara Tate is eager to relaunch her career in the New York district attorney's office. However, when budget cutbacks are announced, the last hired is the first fired, and Sara's job is in jeopardy. Determined to keep her job in the DA's office, Sara is coerced by colleagues to take a case that will keep her in trial for months. The one thing that 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 attorney, has been warned by his firm's superiors that he needs to bring in new clients or he won't make partner. With this need for new clients, he jumps at the opportunity to take a case defending a wealthy new client. But soon Jared discovers that he's been set up. This wealthy new client is the same one Sara is set to prosecute. They both face the ultimate peril: Win the case at all costs or the other will die.

Publishers Weekly

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 in danger. Sara Tate and Jared Lynch are married to each other and to their legal careers: he's a rising star for the defense in a big firm; she's just starting as an assistant district attorney after six months of job seeking. On her first day, Sara hears that a budget cut could put her back on the unemployment lines, so she swipes a burglary case earmarked for a top man in the pecking order. But this is more than a routine burglary, and a powerful villain named Oscar Rafferty wants it to go away. He hires Jared to defend the accused, a sadistic monster called Tony Kozlow, telling him that unless Kozlow walks, Sara dies. While Jared grapples with the moral issues involved, and avoids telling Sara about the threat for hundreds of pages, another nasty type (whose fingerprints match several dead criminals) pushes Sara's grandfather down a flight of subway stairs and says he'll do worse to Jared unless Kozlow is convicted. Fearing for each other's safety, their marriage cracking under the strain, Sara and Jared joust in front of a grand jury and then get ready for trial, with Sara helped over some serious speed bumps by a nicely sketched young assistant and a tough prosecutor with a romantic interest. Several murders and a subway shoot-out eventually resolve this somewhat overlong but definitely compelling tale of legal and extralegal adventure.

Sara Tate, a Manhattan assistant DA is about to lose her job. The case she nabs to secure her future is far more complicated than it first appears. She is threatened to win the case or her attorney husband, Jared, will die. But Jared has been strong-armed into defending the opposition and he learns that Sara will be killed should he lose the case Lawyer Jared Lynch of New York is warned he will be killed if he fails to successfully defend his client, a criminal. Lynch could ask his wife to lose--she is the prosecutor in the case--but professional pride prevents him and he says nothing