Customer Reviews

Dead Even CD Low Price

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(21)
1 star:		(41)

 

 

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.

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?

This is the fourth of Brad Meltzer's books that I have read. I did enjoy it. I did think it was exciting and well written. However, of the four that I have read, I would rank it as number 4. It has an interesting story line development; and although you think you know who is behind it, you are never quite sure. Even after the reader finds out the "who", you still don't know the "why". That is talent on the part of the writer.

One of Meltzer's strong points in all of his books has been character development, and he has certainly exhibited that talent in Dead Even. In this book, however, I think he went a little too far with Kozlow. I realize that he should be an over the top, violent killer. What I find hard to believe is that Jared could receive such vicious, multiple beatings and then pop right up and keep on going. Any wife who loved her husband as much as Sara did, would never have excepted his lame excuses for his injuries, even though she was mad at him.

Overall, Dead Even is a very good book and well worth the read; but it's not the type of book that you just can't put down.

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.

Ugh, bleech, gah!
Yeah, it was bad. Too Long. Too Convoluted and just plain bad. The last 100 pages seemed to have been just thrown together to get to the ending. Instead of trying to tie things up nicely, leave some things hanging. This is the second book of Brad Meltzer's I've read, 10th Justice being the first, and I feel this one took a step back. What is his deal with trying to throw a twist in by the main characters? Hey, lets prove we are smarter than all the supporting characters and make a really convoluted, trite last 100 pages!!!
Sorry it just does not work.
Read if you must, but it's not recommended.

It took me a long time to get past the first few pages of this book. I kept putting it down and picking it up again because I thought it might improve if I got far enough into it. Wrong! The premise of two lawyers, one who was out of work for a few months and now lands a job as a Manhattan ADA, and the other who's hoping to make partner in a high powered firm is dull and predictable. Sara Tate, the new kid on the block in the DA's office gets a volatile case that will either make or break her career. Her naivete in dealing with the worst criminal element in New York is laughable. Her husband, Jared Lynch, spends more time kissing butt trying to make partner than practicing law. It's self-obsessed Yuppies at their finest.

Overall, this book was disappointing at best. Weak plot line, terrible ending, and too many neurotic, self-absorbed characters. Do yourself a favor -- watch a rerun of L.A. Law instead of reading this book. Actors Harry Hamlin and Susan Dey play similar roles to the characters in this book and you will find that they are much more believable and entertaining.

Maybe it is fortunate that this was my first time reading a book by Brad Meltzer and I was very entertained. Most authors improve the more they write and I was glad that my first book was one of his early works because I have heard that they only get better. Still, I really enjoyed this book. I was much more eager to read the last 200 pages than the first 300 because the plot began to snowball and it became very difficult to set down.

I am not a lawyer, so I found that his explanation of legal procedures was clear and easy for me to understand. I did not find the plot to be predictable because I don't often "think like a lawyer". That could be why lawyers who read this book were so eager to criticize. Remember, though, we are not all lawyers (thank, goodness!) and most people will appreciate the time and care Meltzer takes to make sure that the reader understands everything that is going on.

This is the second book by Meltzer that I truly enjoyed. The pace starts off slow and builds to a dramatic climax where I found myself racing to the end. I read this in two sittings. It's a book you won't want to put down.

The only thing that keeps this book from perfect is the same malady that plagues most thrillers and that is all the anti-climatic mish mash that detracts from the story being told.

Meltzer does a decent job of developing the main characters; however, he could have added a bit more on some of the secondary characters as we hardly get to know Conrad and Guff (just enough to want to know more). It was easy to picture Sara and Jared

I look forward to reading his next book, First Counsel. If you love fast paced legal thrillers (with less emphasis on the law and more on action) then you will love this book.

I guess I should say right up front that I didn't read the entire book... I just couldn't do it. I am an avid reader, and lately I've read several books I couldn't put down - most recently, two by Nelson DeMille. After forcing myself through several chapters of Dead Even, I decided that life is too short to read a bad book when I don't have to. So, I bought another couple of DeMille books.

Ths 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.