Brad Meltzer's Dead Even

                First Meltzer asked the uncomfortable question “what if you can’t trust your friends?” Now he is back with another uncomfortable and life altering question, “how far would you go to protect the one you love?” It’s a question that new Assistant District Attorney Sara Tate and husband Defense Attorney Jared Tate have to answer. Sara took a case that she thought would show the DA that she is someone that he would want to keep around. Jared stumbles across a client he thinks might save position in his prestigious law firm. The case and client puts wife against husband.  Both find themselves in a competition for their lives. Sara must win or Jared dies. Jared faces the same threat.

                I guess I really shouldn’t be all that surprised that Meltzer was able to play on basic fears once again.  Or the fact that readers, who had a bird’s eye view of everything going on, still wasn’t sure who they could trust. In a story where nothing is really ever as it seems, it’s a minor miracle that trust was still available to be lost.  There were moments that I found uncomfortable to read; mainly when Jared and Sara were fighting for real. It is one thing to see a couple fight when they are not sure if they still love each other or when they know that they don’t and they both want an out. But to see a couple that still very much loves one another, enough to risk their own lives for the other, is something else entirely.

Secrets that once seemed harmless are revealed only to the devastation of the other.  What was once logical and easily accepted is now questioned and examined for any signs of deception. This is pulse pounding and does an effective job dancing on one’s emotions as the trial looms and both Sara and Jared must give it their all to save the other while they are still not sure if the other can be trusted.  

If you want to know more about what Brad Meltzer is doing or any of his other books, you can visit him on his website: www.bradmeltzer.com or on Facebook. You should also check out his show Decoded which airs on the History Channel.