Not the thriller I was expecting.

I was bored with this by the second chapter -- but I always try to finish something I've agreed to read and review. I should have DNF.

The plot is blah and predictable -- woman's husband is killed, she is a suspect, she tries to find out who killed him. Of course she succeeds.

In this story, Jack (Jacintha) Cross is looking for the persons responsible for murdering her husband, Gabe. She can't trust anyone (and the reader will spot that immediately) and she's on the run enduring impossible scenarios of peril and being pursued by police. Her constant stream of internal dialogue, moaning and groaning, and repetitive thoughts drove me nuts. Without all the descriptive words used to describe her wound pain, how cold and tired she was, and how much she loved her husband -- well maybe this would have been a short story or novella. I found it boring.

Finished it, can't recommend it. Won't be rushing to obtain this author's next book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery/Scout Press for providing this e-book ARC.

I liked this as the overall storyline was very different. I felt it slightly dragged in the middle but overall a solid 3 in the suspense category. I slightly suspected one of the twists but still enjoyed it! I'll read anything the Ruth Ware writes and this didn't disappoint.

Jacintha (Jack) Ross loves the thrill she gets when doing her job. She and her husband Gabe Medway own a security company that tests the vulnerabilities of their client businesses. Jack is the boots on the ground half of the duo. One night after finishing a job, she finds Gabe has been murdered in their home. As the police question her, Jack realizes that she is being framed and goes on the run. It's a race against time to discover why her husband was targeted and by whom. Could she be next? Avoiding arrest may be the least of her worries as the clock ticks down to the Zero Day. I am not super knowledgeable about the world of computer hacking, but I could definitely understand the risks of being a good guy in that dark environment. This is not my favorite from Ruth Ware, but definitely a read that kept me on the edge of my seat.

Thank you to Gallery Books and NetGalley for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

I struggle hard with this one so it’s a three for me.

Mostly, don’t go into this one thinking it’s going to be a normal Ruth Ware novel. What I go to for Ruth Ware is spooky, semi-gothic, sometimes Agatha Christie weird vibes.

What I don’t go to her for is fugitive, mission impossible-esque stories. I don’t really go to anyone for that. It’s just not my cup of tea.

However, this one, like all of Ruth Ware’s other novels is well written so I didn’t just go with my gut and DNF it. But maybe I should have.

I don’t know who this one is for. If you’re a fan of Ruth’s other works this one may be for you or it may not. It wasn’t for me.

But I want to say I’m proud of Ruth Ware for going for it and trying something new. That’s such an admirable thing and I’ll continue to read her work in the future.

Thanks so much NetGalley and Gallery/Scout press for the ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Jack and her husband, Gabe, break into buildings of companies and hack into their security systems. But don’t worry, that’s what they’re hired to do by the companies themselves. Their job is to find flaws within a company’s office system so that they can help them improve upon their security, and it’s a job they both love. Most of the time the job runs smoothly, and their current job is no exception but unfortunately Jack messes up and ends up spending some time at the local police station. By the time she returns home to Gabe, she finds him dead in front of his computer. Due to the shock, it takes her a significant amount of time to call the police for help, and this is her first mistake in an avalanche of mistakes that lead the police to making her suspect number one.
Jack loved her husband more than anything in the world and her only hope is to take off from the police and find out who killed him before she goes down for the murder herself. Jack doesn’t know who she can trust, and it may just be that the only person she can trust is herself. Jack is running out of time and resources but she’s also angry and determined and she won’t go down without a fight. If you’ve read anything by Ruth Ware in the past, you’ll know that her books will grip you and not let go. “Zero Days” is a thrilling ride.

Ruth Ware is an author who I’ve read all of her books, and will continue to do so as she publishes them. She has been hit or miss for me in the past, and I’m happy to say I really liked this one overall, but it did seem to start with a bang, drag in the middle, and then finish up with the speed and suspense I have come to love from Ware. It is also a bit of a different read than what I’m used to with her books, but I am familiar with the concept of penetration testing and I really enjoyed her incorporating the industry into this plot. I always like to see how protagonists are going to get themselves out of situations where it so obviously seems they are the guilty one but the reader knows they clearly are not, and I thought Ware did a great job at this. I was able to guess who was guilty fairly easily, but I still enjoyed this one for sure.

Thank you to Gallery/Scout Press, NetGalley, and Simon Audio for the copies to review.

Zero Days is a fast paced thriller with Ruth Ware's signature writing style including many twists and turn. I recommend checking this one out!

Jacintha (Jack) and her husband, Gabe, are penetration specialists: professionals who break into buildings and security systems. Their job is to determine the vulnerabilities of the businesses who have hired them. They love what they do and they’re very good at what they do. But one night, when Jack returns home from an assignment, she discovers Gabe dead. Within a few days Jack is the prime suspect and the evidence seems irrefutable. With only intuition and experience on her side, Jack goes on the run, determined to find the real killer.

No doubt about it, Zero Days has lots of action. For most of the book Jack is on the run and her background plays a big role in her ability to evade law enforcement. A comparison to The Fugitive (one of my favorite movies) is fair. When the story moves into Jack’s despair over losing her husband, the emotions are raw and real. Ms Ware is quite adept at portraying Jack’s grief and uncertainty. However, it seemed to be repeated a little too much and it slowed down the story’s pace and focus. Also, I’m usually not able to identify “the bad guy” or see the final twist at the end of the story. But, early on I was pretty sure I had figured out both the identity of the murderer and the final conclusion.

Zero Days isn’t my favorite books by Ruth Ware but it’s a good read and I’d give it 3.5 stars. NetGalley provided an advanced copy.

Love her work but hard to finish, I did feel a connection to the protagonist and her grief was palpable. Ware truly knows how to portray human emotions well

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the eARC.

Jack and her husband Gabe are pen specialists - meaning they are hired by companies to hack into their computer systems (and buildings) to test their security. When a routine job goes south, Jack comes home to find her husband, Gabe, dead. Jack quickly becomes the top suspect as there are too many holes in her story. She quickly goes on the run, using her knowledge as a pen specialist to try to track her husband's murderer.

I enjoyed this novel by Ruth Ware. It sucked me in, and I read it over two days. The murderer is identified at the halfway point in the novel, which is an interesting writing technique - you spend the rest of the novel trying to figure out the way and the how. It's not my favorite Ruth Ware novel, but I did enjoy it and would recommend it!

Ruth Ware is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’ll get.

In previous novels, most bestsellers, Ware has channeled Agatha Christie and Daphne Du Maurier. She has trapped her heroines on cruise ships (“The Woman in Cabin 10”) and in ski chalets (“One by One”). Bachelorette parties (“In a Dark, Dark Wood”) and school reunions (“The Lying Game”) have gone fatally wrong.

What all those books — including her most recent, “The It Girl,” about the lingering hangover of a college murder — have in common is slow-burn suspense. A reader may feel as trapped as one of Ware’s protagonists as fear and suspicion grow into, eventually, a scramble to survive.

Well, that’s not the case with “Zero Days.” Ware’s latest takes a big plunge into action, with a lead character who’s more Clancy than Christie.

Jacintha Cross — call her Jack — is a “pen tester.” No, not ballpoints; she’s hired by companies to discover how easy, or hard, it is to penetrate their security. Back home, telling her in her ear that “you’ve got this,” is her husband, Gabe, a cybersecurity specialist.

But after a job that turns more complicated than she’d hoped, Jack gets home late to find her husband murdered at his computer. Reeling from the shock, she doesn’t realize until after her second questioning by police that they have a prime suspect: Jack herself.

From there, “Zero Days” is a runaway rollercoaster, as Jack bolts into hiding and launches her own investigation. If the cops have settled on her, she knows, they won’t search as they should for the real killer. So Jack will have to find the culprit herself. If she dies in the process, so be it.

With very little help, or money, and soon a nagging wound in her side, Jack bounces from one impossible situation to another. “Zero Days” feels like a natural for a streaming series, and in fact it was optioned for development even before publication.

Is it a perfect book? No. There’s a lot of techno-babble, and in fact the crucial plot point involves a destructive bug in a popular app. Figuring out whodunit, if not why, isn’t rocket science.

“Zero Days” is a lot of fun, though, a fast and exciting ride-along with the pluckiest fugitive since “The Fugitive.”

Thank you to Gallery-Scout Press for the ARC of Zero Days by Ruth Ware. I am personally a huge fan of books and movies where the main character is on the run or in hiding and has to make do with very little resources (think Jason Bourne). Zero Days definitely has that anxious, on-the-run plot line that makes you wonder, which direction you would take if you had no one to turn to or to trust. The very last of the book didn’t quite jive with my wishes, but I would still rate this book a 4/5 stars. It was a quick and thrilling read.

I've really enjoyed Ruth Ware's other thrillers and while this one still had a murder at the center, I'd say it felt very different in that it was almost like reading an action movie. When the main character's husband is found murdered, police think she's to blame and she has to go on the run to try and find the truth. The book had similar vibes to Enemy of the State, the 90s Will Smith movie -- fast paced, a deeper mystery/conspiracy that slowly gets uncovered, and a normal person who's life gets turned upside down. I like how the author didn't shy away from the realities of grief that hit after the husbands death. Ware also didn't sugar-coat being on the run. The main character had to live like a homeless person towards the end and was hungry and ill from malnourishment, stress, and injuries. The ending had a few surprises and some predictable elements that I saw coming but didn't mind too much. Overall, a really fast paced, thrilling read.

3.5 stars
This book started off with a bang and then became slightly predictably and began to drag. Ruth Ware always keeps my interest but if I had not read this in one day, I feel I would have forgotten what I read.

There is nothing that Ruth Ware could ever write that I won't love.

I know that Zero Days has been reviewed ad nauseum and I'm late to the game due to my husbands illness but I can't let that stop me from talking about how much I loved it.

I won't rehash the summary but instead focus on the whip smart plot that I found to be mind-blowingly brilliant and the strong yet flawed character of Jack who pulled it all together so beautifully. It was thrilling, tense, suspenseful AF and I read it in a day. Absolutely poetic in its brilliance.

I love that Ruth veered away from the gothic atmosphere of her novels and moved towards a more urban tech vibe! Bravo to that!

Well done and a big thank you to @GalleryBooks for this gifted hard copy and DRC.

Ruth Ware is one of my favorite authors and I really enjoyed Zero Days. It is a fast-paced thriller and even if I didn't understand all the techno jargon, I liked the main character very much. I really felt for her loss and was rooting for her the whole way. It was a little unbelievable, though, that she could do so much athletic type things, jumping from trains, climbing buildings, when she was so grievously injured.

First line: The wall around the perimeter was child’s play.

Summary: With the help of her hacker husband, Jack is hired and paid to break into companies to evaluate their security systems. One night after a job she comes home to Gabe dead at his computer. It looks like it was a professional job but the police are convinced she is to blame. Rather than letting the police pin her husband’s murder on her, Jack goes on the run trying to find who would kill Gabe and why. Using her expertise with security systems and street smarts she dives into the dark underworld of the hacking sphere to clear her name before she becomes the next target.

My Thoughts: I actually really enjoyed the newest Ruth Ware book. Her books have been hit or miss for me but this one was an epic cat and mouse game. From almost the very beginning we are thrown into a world that is moving at a very quick pace. Jack is an intelligent and easy to cheer for protagonist. She deals with things that many people would have no knowledge about but Ware does not make her unbelievable. Jack knows her limits and draws on information she has gathered through years on the job and tips picked up from Gabe.

The one part I was a little bummed by was the fact that it was pretty easy to know who was behind everything. It is probably harder now though with so many books in this genre to create something as twisty and shocking as it was just a few years ago before Gone Girl. But the buildup and tension was great fun for a summer read!

Zero Days by Ruth Ware has all the tried and true elements of a solid thriller, with a bit of a modern twist. Jack Cross and her husband are "Pen Testers," meaning companies hire them to break into their security systems (both physically and electronically) to find vulnerabilities. When Jack's husband is murdered, and she finds herself the prime suspect, she goes on the run to find his killers.

Zero Days kept my interest the entire time I was reading, and I enjoyed its exploration of themes like cybersecurity and "the Internet of Things." However, parts of the story were predictable, and I found it oversaturated with the main character's repetitive internal dialogue (she was also a bit late to pick up on very obvious clues, but I'm going to chalk that up to her exhaustion). Zero Days fits the bill if you're looking for an easy, quick thriller. That being said, this won't be a book I'll be sitting up at night thinking about now that I'm through.

A mystery-filled thriller that’ll catch you holding your breath and constantly flipping the page in a race against time.
Jack and her husband Gabe are penetration specialists, professionals at finding the holes in physical and cyber security. But when Jack returns home to find her husband murdered, the cops put her at the top of the suspect list. What ensues is a thriller while Jack is on the hunt to find out who is responsible.
This had a couple twists that surprised me but compared to some of Ruth Ware’s novels that instantly pulled me in, this fell a little flat.
Thank you to Gallery and Scout Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. This is out now!

Exciting from the start. I couldn’t put it down. One of those books that have you holding your breath without realizing it. I had to set it down a couple of times just to breathe and soak it in. I figured out who the bad guy was pretty early, but I believe it was necessary. The thrill was seeing how it would play out. Jack is my new favorite heroine! First time reading this author. Definitely not the last.