“A woman in a race against time to clear her name and find her husband’s murderer.”

Personal Review: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ruth Ware is the modern day Agatha Christie and an auto-buy author for me- she has never let me down! This book threw Mr. & Mrs. Smith and the fugitive vibes in a modern day UK thriller. This book grabbed me from the beginning, as it was very different from her past novels. When their assignment goes horribly wrong and Jack’s husband is killed, I was hooked and needed to know what happened, especially when the police point fingers at her! This book follows Jack on the run, to find who killed her husband. She doesn’t know who to trust, but the ending will prove, you can trust no one!

Thank you Scout Press books and Ruth Ware for the advanced copy of this novel in exchange for my honest opinion- look for this thriller on shelves June 20th!

Synopsis: 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.

I always struggle with books that live in the grief of a death, so I may not have been the target audience for this one. There was such a heavy focus on Gabe's death in the first ~100 pages, and while I know I'd be grieving forever if my husband died, I'm not typically looking to experience that in an action thriller. The action did pick up later in the story and lead to a good ending, but it took so long to get there that this story didn't really resonate with me.

Ware's thrillers are always fun, quick-moving reads, and this one's no exception. I appreciate the fact that she also switches things up by shifting subgenres, moving from the "dark secrets" style of The It Girl or the Agatha Christie-esque One By One to a fast-paced conspiracy thriller.

As the copy notes, Jack works with her husband to do security and penetration testing for companies. She handles the on-site stuff, while he handles the hacking side of things. After a job get Jack arrested briefly (a risk of the work) before getting released, she makes it home to find that her husband Gabe has been murdered. As the investigation gets underway, it soon becomes apparent that the police believe she's the suspect, and she goes on the run to try to uncover what happened and why someone would kill Gabe.

Let's get the not-as-good stuff out of the way: First, no one with any experience reading the genre will have any doubt who's responsible within a page of meeting the perpetrator. That's not a deal-breaker (the "why" and "how" both matter, as does the journey), but the screaming neon signs are so big that Ware would have been better giving us some POV scenes of the baddie instead of pretending the reader couldn't figure it out. Second, Jack does some DUMB stuff to get herself into a few jams (solely to move the plot along). In some cases, it's excusable, but for someone smart enough to get out of so many bad situations, it's amazing how little foresight she shows.

That said, the book's absolutely a blast to read, and Jack's solutions to her various jams (all of which work as set pieces when this inevitably becomes a movie) are all innovative and entertaining (especially some that go extra wrong, like when she first sneaks back into her old apartment). And the supporting cast is great, especially her sister and the police officer chasing her.

So yeah, don't go in expecting an Anthony or Edgar winner, but if you want an entertaining read for a flight or a trip to the beach, this one's a blast (and props to Ware for balancing the jargon/realism vs the accessibility of the tech stuff).

Quick content note: Jack is a survivor of domestic abuse, and it's referenced in multiple places, as her abuser was and is a London police officer (not a spoiler -- we learn this really early).

I really like Ruth Ware's books and she is an author that I would pick up without reading the synopsis of the book but this one was not one of my favorites. I am willing to suspend disbelief for the sake of a story but this pushed that envelope a little to far. There were so many problems that occurred directly because of her actions or inactions that I couldn't swallow it all. The fact that the character was someone whose job it was to help companies find holes in their security made it even more preposterous that she would constantly make erroneous decisions. I still thought the book was an okay read and, if you can suspend disbelief better than I, then you will enjoy this read. Thanks to Netgalley and Gallery Books, Gallery/Scout Press for an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you so much to Net Galley, the publisher, and author for providing this fun book for my honest review. This is my new favorite Ruth Ware book. It was so fast paced and twisty! I loved every minute of this book. I am so jealous of anyone who is reading this for the first time. I loved the concept of a husband and wife working together as security testers who try to break into buildings to help businesses find their weak security points. It reminded me very much of Mr and Mrs Smith and a bit of Ocean’s 8 all mixed together in a twisty mystery/thriller. I think everyone will enjoy this book. I highly recommend this. Thank you again for allowing me to review this entertaining book.

I thought this was awful. Not like her usual stuff but just soooo drawn out. The twists were just meh. Nothing really engaging or exciting. Definitely one you can skip.

I am a Ruth Ware superfan, so it pains me to report that this book wasn't quite for me. I really missed the eerie, gothic feel of some of her earlier books. I can appreciate trying something new and I'll probably always read whatever she decides to write, but this one felt a little too much like so many other mainstream authors. It didn't have that creepy suspense that I loved from her other books. I found myself skim-reading several sections that felt repetitive. There was a lot of attention given to an injury and how painful it was and lots and lots of chase scenes. I didn't hate it, but it wasn't what I was hoping for. I remain a loyal RW fan and am anxiously awaiting her next book.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the advanced reader's copy.

I liked this! That’s saying a lot for me and Ruth Ware books. Quick read with good pacing - the why behind it was a little out of my grasp but I enjoyed the telling of it and really liked Jack

Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review

I've read several books by Ruth Ware and have always found them to be fast paced, interesting and hard to put down. This one was no different. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.

Another great book by Ruth Ware! I loved the mystery surrounding the main character. It was a book that I could not put down once I started reading. It held my attention from the beginning to the end.

This isn't the moody psychological suspense that I expect and love from Ware, but it should please all readers who like an action-driven cat and mouse thriller with danger around every corner. The bare skeleton of the story is a familiar one: spouse #1 comes home from work to find spouse #2 murdered in the house, then quickly becomes the prime suspect. "Jack" (Jacyntha) goes on the run to stay free and to solve the murder of her husband, Gabe. The couple are high level "penetration testers," hired by companies to test the security at buildings where valuable tech secrets are under heavy guard. Gabe's murder is tied to the high tech world where he had the skill to access any kind of secret. Not a typical Ruth Ware novel, but entertaining as a thriller.

If you found a loved one murdered, and became the primary suspect, what lengths would you go to prove your innocence?
In the author's latest release, the heroine, Jacintha "Jack" Cross, finds herself in this position and will risk her own life, over and over.
This is one of those books where I kept saying to myself, "you stupid woman, what are you doing?!" Yet at the same time, it seemed her reckless actions were turning up results.
Would the detectives have found those same answers? We will never know.

Jack and her husband, Gabe. work as penetration specialists (get your mind out of the gutter, they find flaws in company security systems). Following one crazy night following a job, Jack comes home to find her husband dead. Her lack of a good alibi and some time gaps in her reporting the death, making her a key suspect. When she receives a timely email, she believes the cards are stacked against her, and she goes on the run to find out who is trying to set her up and who is responsible for the murder (if not the same person).

She makes so many bad decisions along the way. Other than the obviously flawed decision to run from the authorities, I was shocked how badly she takes care of herself following an injury. I don't know why she didn't take more care to heal her wound, as it greatly impacted her with time, as the infection spread.

Is the plot of this story realistic? Not really, but it was still an entertaining read. I figured out the main person of interest pretty quickly, but why they did what they did took more time to be revealed.

Overall, while this story was pure fiction, it is an action packed mystery that had me engaged throughout.

Normally I love Ruth Ware and, as always, this book is beautifully written. I thought I'd like the "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" style plotline but it wasn't really for me. Maybe if it had more of a twist to it but still being a mystery/thriller, it wasn't different enough to hold my attention, which is all shot to heck to begin with. Maybe I'll come back to this one later but for the foreseeable future, this one isn't for me. I love all her other books, especially In a Dark Dark Wood, Turn of the Key, and One by One. I'm more of a "locked room"/ any take on a haunted house kind of mystery reader. Would still recommend to mystery fans, Ruth Ware fans, and action fans. Still a 3 for how well written it is!

A husband and wife team of cybersecurity whom patches tries to hack and breach into big companies to find vulnerabilities uncovers a breach they weren’t allowed to find.
Twisted cat and mouse thriller

Zero Days by Ruth Ware is one of the best novels I have read lately. Totally gripping, full of twists and mind boggling determination of the main protagonist Jack to clear her name me find her husbands murderer!!

Thank you @simon.audio for the complimentary audiobook. I enjoyed switching between audiobook and ebook. The story was a bit different than Ruth Ware’s other novels but nonetheless very gripping and intriguing.

This book releases on June 20, 2023 and will be a perfect mystery thriller to be added to your summer reading list!

Ruth Ware certainly can tell a great story and she sure knows how to wrap it up well! Zero Days had me by the throat the entire time and I was completely enthralled by this book! Frightening, horrifying and downright scary, this is a story that you want to read! Another I can't put it down book and had to complete in a day's reading...it was fabulous! Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster, Inc. for the egalley in exchange for this very honest review. I LOVED IT!!!

This isn’t the typical Ruth Ware, and I was initially apprehensive, but I actually really enjoyed Zero Days. It was kinda wild reading it having worked for corporations with cyber security trainings, as Jack & Gabe work for a company that tests companies’ security procedures. I recognized so much of the lingo and nerded out a bit.
This book definitely kept me on the edge of my seat with suspense. It was believable, too, which was great cause when I read the Mr. & Mrs. Smith comparisons, I thought it might be too far out for me.
If you’re a Ware and suspense can, you should definitely give this one a try. It’s an excellent binge read.

I'm usually a huge fan of Ruth Ware books but this one was just okay for me - not as strong as some of her more recent thrillers. The premise was interesting but the 'twist' felt a lot like what she's done recently. The pace was good overall just wished it was a little different. The premise around big tech and cyber security was a little hard to wrap my head around as well.

I've read all but one of Ruth Ware's novels and some are great and some are not so great. This one kind of lives in between both.

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.

The opening scene was excellent and very exciting. Then the book meandered for quite a while and didn't really gain momentum until about 70% in. The ending was a bit lackluster as well.

I'm grateful to NetGalley and Scout Press for the digital advanced reader copy.

Zero Days will be out June 20, 2023. I wonder what you will think of it.

This novel breaks out from Ruth's locked room mystery patterns, and does it well. I appreciated that it takes a while into the book to decide if you like the MC or not, and all of the questions of right and wrong, should or should not, legal or illegal, and how those decisions are not all straight forward and aligned.
Unfortunately, the digital/hacking bit of the plotline was difficult for me to follow because of my lack of a frame of reference with high level programming, but the physical adventure and decision making was what saved the book for me.