Rating: 
Summary: A Thriller that Reads Like a Movie
Review: "Dead Even" is the story of two married lawyers, Sara and Jared Tate, working in New York City. Sara had been unemployed but after months of searching, she lands a job as an assistant district attorney - only to learn the mayor is gutting the DA's office. Fortunately, she gets a strangely high-profile, potentially career-saving case. Meanwhile Jared is pressured to defend the same man Sara is prosecuting.From the beginning Sara and Jared believe they're battling over a burglary case, but it begins to look like murder and a web of conspiracy unfolds that eventually envelops Sara and Jared. Then they learn, independently of one another, that the other's life is at stake. The threat: Win the case or your spouse dies. The more they fight, the more they put each other in jeopardy. Talk about a no-win proposition. However you'll feel like a winner if you spend a night with this book. I know, it's probably not possible for a husband and wife to face each other as opposing counsel, because of conflict of interest, but still this was a very good read, kind of like watching a movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Bad. No, REALLY bad.
Review: I generally wouldn't take the time to write a book review unless the book was either really good or really bad. Can you guess which category this one fits in? I think the actual premise is pretty interesting, which is why I bought the book in the first place. However, reading this book proved to be a torturous experience. The dialog is so incredibly unrealistic and juvenile, while at the same time being incredibly predictable - turns your stomach faster than you can turn the pages. You just don't care about any of the characters. The husband is whimpy and whinny and he's always getting beaten up (I think even his wife beats him up at one point). The wife is also part whimpy, but she's got a hidden streak of Wonder Woman in her, so you know things will work out ok for her. Their reactions to the situations they're placed in are completely different than most rational people would have. I fought my way through every last page, refusing to give in to the drivel, but I've never been so glad to complete a book as I was with this one. I feel like 3 days of my life have been robbed from me. That, and $5.97.
Rating: 
Summary: Good fight... if they weren't husband & wife
Review: I am agree that this is not a thriller, but is not a book that if you put down you will never want to take it back again, the plot of the book is very interesting and I really don't know if husband and wife can fight in a trial, one as a lawyer and the other as a prosecutor, if this is true I think that that law has to be modified, maybe it would be a better novel if they will be only friends or maybe they want to get married.
The dead of Conrad is foolish and the end of the book is like a fairy tale and those ends I just don't like them, I like when the end of the book leave something to your imagination, something that you can end the book as you want.
Rating: 
Summary: Eminently skippable
Review: Where do all these rave "reviews" come from -- honestly? Most of these exuberant reader-reviews appeared here even before the books were in the stores! Which leads me to suspect that these "reviews" were actually engineered by the book's publisher -- which, if true, is a real abuse of the great Amazon "people's review" system. The characters are paper-thin, unbelievable, and implausible (brand names don't make characterization), the central plot-gimmick is woefully contrived, there are dumb coincidences and plot twists that make you scratch your head and lose any faith in the writer, and the writing is pretty mediocre. (To the reader-reviewer who asks "Where did this guy learn to write?" I say, the Berlitz English-as-a-Foreign-Language School). And as a lawyer I can tell you there are so many improbabilities and bone-headed misunderstandings of how the law works in reality that I can only conclude the author may have gone to law school but he clearly never practiced real law. There are so many good legal-thriller authors around -- John Lescroart, Philip Friedman, Steve Martini, even the Godzilla of them all, Grisham -- who I'd suggest you read before you plunk down the money for this dreck. I've read worse, certainly, but not between hard covers.
Rating:
Summary: LARGELY FORGETTABLE, BUT A GOOD READ
Review: This BM book didn't do it for me the way the others did. It was compelling reading, but largely forgettable. Check out BM's other books for better bets.
Rating:
Summary: Meltzer is improving-- but not much
Review: Meltzer is an interesting author. His prose is interesting and well done. However, he has several significant limitations: 1. His plots are too predictable. 2. His characters remind me of cartoon characters. Too flat. They always whine. Too much self doubt. 3. His lawyers are always the dumbest lawyers in literature with the hero or heroine role. Don't they teach ethics in law school anymore. His hero always seem to have failed ethics. Once they cross the ethical line they never seem smart enough to know how to correct the situation. I wish the author wrote about lawyers that knew the law. This is a good book to read in the waiting room. It is mildly entertaining but I never objected if I was interrupted while reading.
Rating:
Summary: dissapointing and not exciting...
Review: Dead Even is the second Brad Meltzer book I have read, after the First Counsel. Dead Even is worse in every respect and I would not recommend it. I loved The First Counsel, but Dead Even has none of the suspense or intrigue that made The First Counsel so exciting. Jared is the defense attorney and Sara is the DA on a burgerly case that soon turns into big trouble for the husband and wife. Both are threatened with a win or your spouse dies proposition. Quite an intriguing plot, but it seems Meltzer struggled finding circumstances that would result in that plot twist. It seems like all of the bad guys exist in this book solely to mess up Sara and Jared. It seems like Meltzer forces the action. The book is chugging along, being mildly entertaining, when suddenly it starts being incredibly exciting for a few pages. Sara and Jared are trying to win their cases to save the other, but at the same time they can't tell each other what they are doing. This leads to them growing apart and possibly becoming attracted to other people. Before, I had never felt like there marriage was in danger from the bad guys, but when Jared and Sara's own feelings started going in other directions and kisses and allegations of affairs started flying, I really felt interested in their fate. Would Sara and Jared's marriage be destroyed, not by the somewhat comical bad guys, but by their own mistrust for each other? Unfortanatley, Meltzer wastes this intrigue and suspense by immediately switching gears and having Sara and Jared resolve their conflict. Then from that point on, the book fizzles out into a boring conclusion. Dead Even was boring because it didn't have a gripping, exciting background like the White House. Just two lawyers caught in a contrived situation. Also, Meltzer's dialogue can get somewhat old. Does everyone have to be a comedian?
Rating: 
Summary: It will surprise you!
Review: This book is great, for a new author especially! I was very impressed, and Meltzer is now on my "list" of authors to watch for. Good book!
Rating:
Summary: Dead On
Review: "Legal thrillers" I still wonder how they didn't come to be called "legal borers". I hate legal thrillers-except this one that's why I wanted to review it! This was one comes in like a bomb in the middle of your living room. In most legal thrillers the romance seems to be a footnote; but not this book. It is the tension in the plot-and boy does it have a plot-compared to most legal thrillers this plot is like tic tac toe against three dimensional chess.
This is one of the very few legal thrillers that actually thrills.
Rating:
Summary: Page Turner - Could be alot better
Review: Brad Meltzer is a wonderful writer - he has a real way with words - too bad he doesn't have better story lines - my sister gave me his 3 books when I was bedridden after surgery for a broken ankle - you find the same characters (with different names) in all three books: the goofy assistant/friend, the girl - can you trust her or not, the main character who does something stupid, thinks its earth shattering and then tries to save himself, only making it worse (and getting someone killed) - if he had gone to the proper authorities in the first place we would have had a 2 chapter book - it wasn't that big of a deal to begin with. Meltzer's 1st book 'The Tenth Justice' is his best so far.
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