Zero Days

Ruth Ware is my favorite thriller author, and I’ve read every novel she’s published so far. She’s the kind of author where I’ll finish her latest book, feel elated by the whole reading journey it took me on, and then immediately feel sad that I now have to wait another year for her next novel. Such was my experience with her brand new release, Zero Days. I was so lucky to get an advanced reader’s copy, and this is definitely in the upper half of her eight (!) novels so far. I’ll be recommending it to everyone!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Summary

Jack and her husband Gabe work together as pen testers (short for penetration testers)—people who test the overall security of businesses. It’s a tough job, but with Jack’s skills at breaking into buildings and Gabe’s skills as a master hacker, they’re quite good at it. But after a rough ending to one night of testing, Jack arrives home to find her husband has been murdered. Matters only get worse when the police suspect Jack of being behind the hit job. Partly to prove her innocence and, more importantly, to find out who really murdered her husband, Jack goes on the run so she can solve the case herself. But it just might kill her.

Review

Most of Ruth Ware’s books are total page-turners, but Zero Days takes it up several notches. This is the kind of book that will have your heart racing from start to end. It’s fast-paced, the stakes are high, and our main character Jack has to endure a lot to find the truth behind her husband’s murder.

One of my favorite things about Zero Days is how tough, capable, and determined Jack is. Through her years of working as a pen tester, she’s developed the skills she’ll need to unravel this complicated mystery. Seeing her break out of a police station, sneak into a giant company during working hours, and break into a rather secure home demonstrate her out-of-the-box thinking and dexterity. I certainly couldn’t do half of what she does!

There aren’t many suspects to work with at first, leaving Jack at a loss for next steps. She also has more to think about than simply finding the real culprit: First of all, she’s a fugitive and doing what she can to not get caught by the police—everything from disguising herself to getting around without access to her credit cards. These constraints get in the way and force her to get creative. On top of that, Jack is injured throughout all of this, not only slowing her down, but putting her life at greater risk with each passing day.

Zero Days, as the name might suggest, is very technological and modern. This gets into the dark web, hackers, and more. I thought I wouldn’t like this, and worried it might go over my head. But in Ruth Ware’s capable hands, this actually turned out to be a fascinating and engrossing novel! It was still easy to follow (though I am a “digital native,” so most of these terms and concepts were familiar, even if my web skills aren’t quite up to Gabe’s levels).

This book gets rather emotional, as Jack is actively grieving the loss of her husband. But it also shows how complete strangers can be kind and justice can be served. There’s a certain desperation in Jack throughout the book, and a nothing-left-to-lose attitude starts to seep in, but she’s tenacious.

I did suspect certain people and events, and I was proven right about at least a few of them, but I enjoyed the whole journey to get there. I also loved the pen tester angle (super original!) and how it gave Jack a unique strength during the whole nightmarish ordeal.

Final Thoughts

Zero Days is smart, emotional, and super fast-paced. I was rooting for Jack the whole time and loved watching her work with what she had despite the odds stacked against her. This is a thriller not to be missed, and as much as I love all of Ruth Ware’s books, this is certainly among her best.

Get the Book

You can buy Zero Days here – it’s available as a hardcover, ebook, and audiobook.

Zero Days by Ruth Ware
Audience	Adult
Genre	Thriller
Setting	England
Number of Pages	368
Format I Read	ebook (NetGalley)
Original Publication Date	June 20, 2023

Official Summary

The New York Times bestselling “new Agatha Christie” (Air Mail) Ruth Ware returns with this adrenaline-fueled thriller that combines Mr. and Mrs. Smith with The Fugitive about a woman in a race against time to clear her name and find her husband’s murderer.

Hired by companies to break into buildings and hack security systems, Jack and her husband, Gabe, are the best penetration specialists in the business. But after a routine assignment goes horribly wrong, Jack arrives home to find her husband dead. To add to her horror, the police are closing in on their suspect—her.

Suddenly on the run and quickly running out of options, Jack must decide who she can trust as she circles closer to the real killer in this unputdownable and heart-pounding mystery from an author whose “propulsive prose keeps readers on the hook and refuses to let anyone off until all has been revealed” (Shelf Awareness).