book review zero days

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Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

New York Times Bestseller

by Ruth Ware ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 20, 2023

Lots of adrenaline-driven action, a departure from Ware’s usual wire-taut mysteries.

When a security expert is murdered, his wife will stop at nothing to find the killer—even as she becomes suspect No. 1.

Jacintha “Jack” Cross is a “penetration tester”: She’s the boots-on-the-ground person for testing out security systems, while her husband, Gabe, does the same for cybersecurity. Leaving a job one night, Jack is picked up by the police—an occupational hazard—and when she returns home, she finds Gabe’s body, throat slit. In shock, Jack reports the murder, talks to the police again, and goes to stay with her older sister, Helena Wick, for a day. When she’s asked to return to the station for a few more questions, Jack quickly realizes that she’s under suspicion—and so she goes on the run. With the help of her sister and Cole Garrick, Gabe’s oldest friend, she’s able to elude capture and begin her own investigation, determined to find her husband’s killer. Apparently, Gabe had found a “zero-day exploit,” a backdoor vulnerability, in a popular app, one that could be worth a lot of money to governments and bad actors. Ware has often highlighted technology as a malignant, uncontrollable force in her novels, and it’s frequently at odds with her luxurious, somewhat timeless settings. But in this novel, tech is front and center. Despite the contemporary trappings, though, the story is still a familiar one: It's The Fugitive if the main characters were women. There's plenty of excitement—chases, break-ins, shady bitcoin deals, an impending medical emergency—but the pool of characters is too small to leave much suspense about the mystery of Gabe’s death. Jack is a strong and fearless heroine, and Ware is always a master of setting and atmosphere, but the great reveal makes one wonder: Was it all worth it? Or more accurately, couldn’t Jack have figured this out much faster? Did it all have to come down to the poetic moment when she has nothing left?

Pub Date: June 20, 2023

ISBN: 9781982155292

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Scout Press/Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: March 27, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023

SUSPENSE | THRILLER | SUSPENSE | PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE | GENERAL FICTION

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by Ruth Ware

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HOME IS WHERE THE BODIES ARE

by Jeneva Rose ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 30, 2024

Answers are hard to come by in this twisting tale designed to trick and delight.

Three siblings on very different paths learn that their family home may be haunted by secrets.

Eldest daughter Beth is alone with her fading mother as she takes her final breath and says something about Beth’s long-departed brother and sister, who may not have disappeared forever. Beth is still reeling from the loss of her mother when her estranged siblings show up. Michael, the youngest, hasn’t been home since their father’s disappearance seven years ago. In the meantime, he’s outgrown his siblings, trading his share of the family troubles for a high-paying job in San Jose. Nicole, the middle child, has been overpowered by addiction and prioritized tuning out reality over any sense of responsibility, much to Beth’s disgust. Though their mother’s death marks an ending for the family, it’s also a beginning, as the three siblings realize when they find a disturbing videotape among their parents’ belongings. The video, from 1999, sheds suspicion on their father’s disappearance, linking it to a long-unsolved neighborhood mystery. Was it just a series of unfortunate circumstances that broke the family apart, or does something more sinister underlie the sadness they’ve all found in life? In chapters that rotate among the family’s first-person narratives, the siblings take turns digging up stories and secrets in their search for solace.

Pub Date: April 30, 2024

ISBN: 9798212182843

Page Count: 270

Publisher: Blackstone

Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024

SUSPENSE | THRILLER | FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP | SUSPENSE | GENERAL & DOMESTIC THRILLER | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE

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by Jeneva Rose

THE HOUSE ACROSS THE LAKE

by Riley Sager ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2022

A weird, wild ride.

Celebrity scandal and a haunted lake drive the narrative in this bestselling author’s latest serving of subtly ironic suspense.

Sager’s debut, Final Girls (2017), was fun and beautifully crafted. His most recent novels— Home Before Dark (2020) and Survive the Night (2021) —have been fun and a bit rickety. His new novel fits that mold. Narrator Casey Fletcher grew up watching her mother dazzle audiences, and then she became an actor herself. While she never achieves the “America’s sweetheart” status her mother enjoyed, Casey makes a career out of bit parts in movies and on TV and meatier parts onstage. Then the death of her husband sends her into an alcoholic spiral that ends with her getting fired from a Broadway play. When paparazzi document her substance abuse, her mother exiles her to the family retreat in Vermont. Casey has a dry, droll perspective that persists until circumstances overwhelm her, and if you’re getting a Carrie Fisher vibe from Casey Fletcher, that is almost certainly not an accident. Once in Vermont, she passes the time drinking bourbon and watching the former supermodel and the tech mogul who live across the lake through a pair of binoculars. Casey befriends Katherine Royce after rescuing her when she almost drowns and soon concludes that all is not well in Katherine and Tom’s marriage. Then Katherine disappears….It would be unfair to say too much about what happens next, but creepy coincidences start piling up, and eventually, Casey has to face the possibility that maybe some of the eerie legends about Lake Greene might have some truth to them. Sager certainly delivers a lot of twists, and he ventures into what is, for him, new territory. Are there some things that don’t quite add up at the end? Maybe, but asking that question does nothing but spoil a highly entertaining read.

Pub Date: June 21, 2022

ISBN: 978-0-593-18319-9

Page Count: 368

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: March 29, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022

PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER | SUSPENSE | THRILLER | SUSPENSE | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE | GENERAL FICTION

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by Riley Sager

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Book Review: Ruth Ware’s ‘Zero Days’ lacks the urgency of her previous books

This book cover image released by Scout Press shows “Zero Days” by Ruth Ware. (Scout Press via AP)

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“Zero Days” by Ruth Ware (Scout Press)

The author of “The Woman in Cabin 10” and “In a Dark, Dark Wood” is back with another page-turning thriller. But while readers will surely turn the pages until the end, “Zero Days” doesn’t quite ascend to the level of those previous bestsellers.

The star of the story is Jacintha “Jack” Cross. Jack is a penetration specialist, a “pen tester” who breaks into offices with the help of her hacker hubby to test the security of British companies. The novel begins with Jack on the job, flirting with her husband, Gabe, on a headset as she navigates a corporate headquarters. By page 34, and this is not a spoiler given it’s on the back of the book, Gabe is dead and Jack is the No. 1 suspect.

Ware has a knack for creating female protagonists worth rooting for and Jack, “five foot two” and a fan of eyeliner, is no exception. It’s the plot that gets in the way. Despite chapter headings that count backwards to zero (“Minus Eight Days”) and suggest something big at the end of the countdown, a majority of the book is spent entirely inside Jack’s head as she ponders and plans her next move. There’s not enough interaction with other characters to make it feel more propulsive and up the sense of danger. When she does speak, Jack sometimes sounds a little too one-note. “It’s that or rot in prison for the murder of the man I love!” she tells Gabe’s best friend as she hatches a scheme to try and uncover the real killer. With Gabe gone, she still hears his voice in her head — “You’ve got this!” — and it all feels just a little too predictable.

The best scenes are near the end, when Jack finally gives herself more than a moment to grieve. She cries “great hacking sobs that seemed to be wrenched uncontrollably up from somewhere deep inside of me,” as her ordeal finally ends. Along the way, there are some fun twists and turns, and Ware fans, or fans of quickie thrillers in general, will probably finish it in a weekend. First-time samplers of the genre would be better off reading something from the writer Ware has mentioned often as an influence, Agatha Christie.

Review: Zero Days by Ruth Ware

Editorial note: I received a copy of Zero Days in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.

Zero Days by Ruth Ware is an action-packed story about a woman’s journey to prove her innocence.

Ruth Ware is known for her locked-room style mysteries, similar to Agatha Christie stories. They’re full of tension, intrigue with a bit of psychological thriller components thrown in the mix. I’ve previously read The It Girl and One by One by her and I quite enjoyed both. I see why she has such a big reach and audience.

That said, Zero Days takes on a different format. While it’s still a thriller and a mystery, it’s told more in the style of an action film. It’s a new take on The Fugitive type storyline.

I liked it! I honestly thought it was a refreshing change. I don’t tend to read action stories like this often but it was entertaining. I kept thinking this is the perfect book to read on a flight, which is one reason I included Zero Days in my summer book club list . Just enough substance to maintain interest and also a complete readable, bing-worthy type novel.

What’s the Story About

Zero Days follows Jack, a penetration specialist hired by companies to break into buildings and hack security systems. Companies employ these kind of services to gauge how strong their security is. Jack and her husband, Gabe, are the best in the business. Everything is perfect.

Until, Jack comes home one night and finds Gabe dead at his computer. And she’s the number one suspect.

Left without any options, she goes on the run to find out who murdered Gabe and to clear her name.

Jack’s Journey

I had personally had no idea the penetration specialists world existed! I actually find it very fascinating. The beginning of the novel felt like a Mission Impossible movie with Jack breaking into a company’s building and it was fun to read for sure.

This story moves quick. So it doesn’t take long for Jack to find Gabe murdered and for her to eventually go on the run. From there, it becomes a cat and mouse chase between Jack and the police.

I thought Jack was compelling and we do learn more about her backstory and relationships with Gabe and her sister. There was enough there to make this feel like a full story.

I’m keeping this review short and sweet. Zero Days is more of a The Fugitive / Mission Impossible type story, except this time with a female protagonist. No locked-room mystery to be found here.

I know some readers of Ruth Ware didn’t love the genre switch in Zero Days but it worked for me. Even as someone who doesn’t read a lot of action scenes in stories, I found it engaging. I wouldn’t want to read this kind of story all the time but it was a nice switch.

For book clubs, check out my discussion questions here .

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Book review: Zero Days is a perfectly thrilling beach read

Zero Days  

By Ruth Ware Fiction/Simon & Schuster/Paperback/339 pages/$18.14/Amazon SG ( amzn.to/450Kg4N ) 4 stars

Zero Days is the perfect beach read. Smart and zippy without being too brain bending, it is a classic Ruth Ware offering for the season. 

The story opens with protagonist Jacintha “Jack” Cross breaking and entering an office building with the aid of her hacker husband Gabe.

It soon transpires that Jack is a “pen tester”, short for penetration tester, while Gabe is a white hat hacker. The duo run a small business testing companies’ physical and digital security systems. 

What is supposed to be an ordinary work day takes an unexpected turn when Jack gets detained at a police station, then returns home late to the gruesome discovery of her husband’s corpse seated at his computer with his throat slashed. 

Jack soon realises that she has become the No. 1 suspect in the eyes of Detective Sergeant Habiba Malik. So, she walks out of the police station’s interrogation room and attempts to hunt down her husband’s killer herself.

This is where her skills in lock-picking, breaking and entering and assorted con-artist tricks, honed as a pen tester, come in handy. 

But those looking for a slick, easy mission can just stop right here.

Ware’s strengths as a thriller writer comes from her empathy for the common woman.

Her heroines tend to be ordinary women who tap previously unknown reservoirs of strength and resourcefulness when confronted with extraordinary situations. So Jack, despite her athleticism and adventurous spirit, is no superheroine. 

Instead, she is believably vulnerable, struggling to deal with the grief of suddenly losing a beloved partner in such a violent fashion.

Thanks to the first-person narrative, the reader gets to experience all the highs and lows of Jack’s emotional roller coaster as she goes from almost catatonic shock to desperate defiance to exhausted survival during the worst eight days of her life. 

Ware excels in the tiny details that flesh out her protagonists’ inner and outer worlds. So Jack’s free-spirited nature is expressed through her bright red hair (a tip of the pop culture hat to Tom Tykwer’s 1998 Run, Lola, Run perhaps?).

But this siren mop becomes a problem when Jack goes on the run. 

While some thrillers get bogged down in the technical details, Ware is smart enough to incorporate just enough elements of the 21st-century world – the dependence on mobile phones, the prevalence of closed-circuit cameras and the lack of digital privacy – to present Jack with multiple obstacles to overcome.  

Where Ware truly shines is in her deft ability to seed clues in the first-person narrative so that close readers can follow, even anticipate, identifying the big bad. This is an added bonus for the Type A puzzle solver, although the casual reader can just sit back and enjoy the ride.

All this and a strong female protagonist to boot. What more can a thrill-seeker ask for?

If you like this, read: A Darker Domain by Val McDermid (Harper, 2009, $14.03, Amazon SG, go to amzn.to/44GvIrj ). A standalone story in the Karen Pirie series that makes great use of a Rashomon-style narrative to weave together two different cold cases – one of a kidnapping gone wrong and another of a missing persons report – and if you pay attention, you can solve the mystery too.

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Review of Zero Days by Ruth Ware

06.19.2023 by Jen Ryland // 2 Comments

I’m a big Ruth Ware fan – I even did a post about which is her best book . I was worried that this had a lot more technology than I wanted, so what did I think? Check out my Review of Zero Days by Ruth Ware, which I have picked as Best Popcorn Thriller of 2023!

Zero Days by Ruth Ware

To be published on June 20, 2023 by Gallery Books. Thanks so much to the publisher for providing me an advance copy for review!

Plot Summary of Zero Days by Ruth Ware

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.

What Other Books Has Ruth Ware Written?

After a couple of young adult series, Ruth Ware’s first adult thriller was In a Dark Dark Wood (2015). 

Then she wrote The Woman in Cabin 10 (2016)

The Lying Game (2017)

The Death of Mrs. Westaway (2018)

The Turn of the Key (2019)

One by One (2020)

The It Girl (2022)

Which is her best book? Check out What’s The Best Book by Ruth Ware?

Technology and I are not really close friends. More friends of convenience.

When I was writing my post on What is the Best Book by Ruth Ware and discussing themes, I realized that a lot of Ware’s books have tech elements, like Turn of the Key and One by One . So she obviously is a fan!

But good news to all Luddites, technophobes, and people whose eyes glaze over when a book plot is too tech-heavy: you can still enjoy Zero Days.

I did not know what a “zero day exploit” was before I started reading this book. Zero Days does explain, but a “zero day flaw” is basically a security flaw in software that lets a hacker or bad actor steal or compromise data. A “zero day exploit” is when someone finds the flaw and exploits it. (If I explained this wrong, PLEASE tell me in comments and I will correct and credit you.)

In any case, at its heart, Zero Days is a fugitive-on-the-run story, not unlike this recent release by a very popular thriller writer. One of my Instagram friends called it a locked room mystery in reverse, and I love that description.

Jack and her husband Gabe run a company that tests security systems by staging break-ins. But after one assignment, Jack arrives home to find that her husband is head and she’s the main suspect.

The opening sequence nicely sets up Jack as a formidable character. Because of her job, she’s an expert at breaking in and breaking out of spaces. She owns and uses disguises, is comfortable lying, and has lots of experience doing very daring physical stunts. She’s a walking action movie character. But still (to me) believable.

The rest of the story is Jack on the run, trying to figure out what happened to her husband.

Zero Days is just a flat-out fun (and female-forward) summer thriller. It’s fast-paced and exciting, with plenty of twists and turns.

Zero Days is pretty different from many of Ruth Ware’s other books, many of which have a more classic mystery feel or a modern gothic feel . I’m excited that she tried something new!

I chose this book as My Favorite Popcorn Thriller of 2023!

Movie News for Zero Days by Ruth Ware

I just read that Zero Days was optioned by Universal. I didn’t realize that many of Ware’s books have also been optioned, though of course this never guarantees a movie gets made.

Ruth Ware Books That Have Been Optioned for Movies

Reese Witherspoon said she planned to adapt In a Dark Dark Wood back in 2015. But IMDB still shows it as “in development” so it’s possible the option has expired. But you never know!

The Woman in Cabin 10 was optioned in 2017 and must have been sidelined by the pandemic or other things. BUT Netflix has picked up the option and, with a star attached, this one looks promising!

Turn of the Key was optioned in 2021 , but it’s not listed on the production company website.

Fingers crossed that Zero Days is the one that makes it to a streaming platform or movie theater near you! I’ll watch it!

Have you read any Ruth Ware books? Tell me in comments! And if you’ve read this, come join the discussion.

About Jen Ryland

Over 12 years of book blogging and reviewing, I have read over 1500 books. A fair and honest reviewer who loves book discussions, I'm here to help you find a book you'll love to read AND give you a place to talk about it and ask questions. Find me on Instagram and Pinterest as @jenryland!

I loved In a Dark Dark Wood and Woman in Cabin 10 but the couple I tried after those I was a bit more meh about so I stopped reading her books. But this one sounds amazing and I really want to pick this one up!

Hooray – I feel like she has something for everyone. My personal favorite is The It Girl, because I love an Agatha Christie style mystery set in the UK, but I hope you try Zero Days. Let me know what you think!

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Book Review: Zero Days by Ruth Ware

Aug 17, 2023 | Book Reviews , contemporary women's fiction , crime fiction , mystery , Thriller | 10 comments

Her 8th and latest book, Zero Days by Ruth Ware is a slight departure from what she’s known for; thrillers, mysteries, gothic suspense are more typical of her backlist. Instead, this new release is more akin to an action movie, following a very similar plot to the Harrison Ford film The Fugitive . I’ll admit to preferring her more classic murder mysteries (especially when they include elements of the supernatural), but Zero Days was still a page-turner, something we’ve come to expect from Ware’s growing catalogue .

Plot Summary

Jacqueline (Jack) and her husband Gabe have a unique job; they break and hack into corporate offices, then report back into them to provide thorough audits on their security needs based on how easy it was to accomplish. Gabe is the one who stays home on the computers, while Jack does the physical stuff, sneaking through doors, climbing into the ceilings, etc. One night, Jack returns from a routine job and finds her husband dead at home, his neck slashed. Her world is shattered, and she doesn’t have many friends or family outside of Gabe. Even worse, the day after Gabe’s death, Jack receives a strange email confirming a life insurance policy has been taken out on Gabe for a million dollars – she is clearly being framed for this murder. Jack is even more horrified to discover that the police have one main suspect; her, and instead of cooperating with the police, she runs away, intent on finding Gabe’s killer herself. Dodging CCTV cameras, and unable to access her own accounts that have been frozen by the police, Jack finds herself sleeping rough and relying on strangers for kindness as she tries to piece the puzzle of her husband’s death together.

My Thoughts

Even though this was a slight departure of focus for Ware, it’s clear she took great care in researching this novel. I’m not sure how Ware would have researched this (speaking to criminals?) but it certainly added an element of authenticity I appreciated. The novel opens with a very detailed look at how Gabe and Jack break in to a particular office, and the elements included were almost too much for me to follow, I was worried the rest of the book was going to be just like it. Thankfully it wasn’t, Jack’s future break-ins aren’t detailed quite as closely, but it served to demonstrate important aspects of each character, which allowed me to stretch my belief with what came next.

The plot hinges on Jack’s split second decision to run from the police. She literally gets up from a police interview while they’ve gone to fetch her tea and walks out of the station. If the previous section of the book hadn’t gone into as much detail about her and Gabe’s jobs, I would have dismissed this decision as unbelievable and flimsy, but instead, it fit right in with her character development. Once that decision has been made, the rest of the plot flies by. Being on the run from the police adds an obvious element of suspense, but because Jack is trying to solve her own mystery at the same time there is no shortage of action. And unlike Ware’s previous novels, this is a visceral, edge-of-your-seat action, it’s not a psychological book.

About halfway through the novel I knew who the culprit was, but I don’t think Ware intended on keeping this secret, simply because there were so few characters included in the first place due to Jack being such an isolated person. Instead, Ware builds up the tension by forcing Jack to determine motive before she can present her case to the police and clear her own name. And like all suspense novels, this one ends in a big showdown between the good and bad, so there’s an exciting ending to look forward to. I may not have enjoyed this one as much as previous Ware books, but I still liked reading it, and will likely read every Ruth Ware book that comes out after it – she’s another one of my ‘must read everything’ authors.

Spread the Word!

10 comments.

I’m behind on her books so it may be a while before I get to this one, but I’ll give it a try!

It’s a departure for her, for sure. But your enjoyment of police procedurals may mean you like this one Laila?

I’m glad she’s trying something different. The other books I’ve read of hers (4, I think?) all follow the same formula, which was why I quit reading.

Yes it’s a surprising departure, I’m curious how her publisher feels about it (did they encourage I wonder, or does it make them nervous?)

An odd departure for her, but interesting to se her try something new, I must say the plot does not sound original though!

I know, the plot is very very similar to The Fugitive LOL

That’s a great review and I must admit to not being real thrilled with the last one of hers I read–and that’s been awhile.

Many people feel that same way – perhaps give this one a try?

Not sure who would like this , clearly not an expected Ruth Ware hit. I’m half way through and want it just to end! Tedious description of tech info, repetitive “loss” angst and prudent wound descriptions. Also had the canned tough girl character reminiscent also of “don’t go in there” actions. Very disappointing.

Yes, many people share this opinion! Not a typical Ware by any means.

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Internationally bestselling author Ruth Ware shows no signs of slowing down as ZERO DAYS is yet another winner. Here, she combines mystery, psychological thrills and even some technothriller elements in a timely novel that never lets up for a moment.

Jacintha “Jack” Cross and her husband, Gabe, have a very unique job. They are hired by companies to break into their buildings and security systems to uncover any potential threats that may exist. They refer to themselves as penetration specialists, and the book opens with Jack on-site during what turns out to be a tricky assignment while Gabe is at home online and connected to her via an earbud.

"...a timely novel that never lets up for a moment.... ZERO DAYS is an infectious read with terrific plotting and a protagonist you cannot stop rooting for until the end."

As Jack is running into some difficulties, she is suddenly unable to reach Gabe. She uses all of her guile to get out of it and finish the job. When she arrives home, she comes upon the still body of her husband. Only after touching him does she realize that his throat has been cut from ear to ear. While she is being interviewed at police headquarters, Jack starts to realize that she is considered the prime suspect.

A stunned Jack makes shaky calls to her sister, Helen, and Gabe’s best friend, Cole. Instead of contacting a solicitor to defend her, she bolts from the police station to seek answers on her own. She is freaked out by an email she receives from an insurance company confirming a million-dollar policy taken out by Gabe and listing Jack as the beneficiary. The problem is that Gabe never did such a thing, and Jack is smart enough to recognize that whoever committed the murder did this to make her look like the guilty party.

ZERO DAYS has been compared to both The Fugitive and Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Seeing everything through the eyes and thoughts of Jack keeps the plot moving at a fast pace but limits the information we have as readers. I found this to be an ingenious move by Ware; it really puts you in the same shoes as Jack, who is frantic with grief and fear of capture. On top of all of this, she has a severe puncture wound in her side from one of her escapes that, if left medically unattended, could lead to a sepsis infection or worse.

Ware is also slow to pull back the curtain on possible suspects as we only learn of two in the early stages of the story. The first is the aforementioned Cole, a tech wizard who is willing to do whatever he can to assist Jack during her flight from justice. The other is a police officer working the case who happens to be Jack’s abusive ex-boyfriend. He would’ve been quite capable of attacking Gabe in a jealous rage and setting up Jack to take the fall.

It is an absolute thrill to watch Jack utilize all of her high-tech breaking-and-entering skills to keep one step ahead of her pursuers while also compiling more information to find the answers she feels the police are not paying attention to as they seem to be focused only on her. The escapes are many, and each is increasingly more dangerous than the prior one. Along the way, Jack meets up with some genuinely decent strangers who do what they can to help her out, which keeps her hopes up. Of course, she figures everything out before the police do, and the ultimate reveal is a wild one.

ZERO DAYS is an infectious read with terrific plotting and a protagonist you cannot stop rooting for until the end. Personally I would love to see Ruth Ware bring back this character in another story. I was hooked on Jack for good once I found out that her and Gabe’s wedding song was my favorite Talking Heads tune, “This Must Be the Place.” You cannot find a cooler fictional couple!

Reviewed by Ray Palen on June 23, 2023

Zero Days by Ruth Ware

• Publication Date: March 19, 2024
• Genres: Fiction , Mystery , Psychological Suspense , Psychological Thriller , Suspense , Thriller
• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Gallery/Scout Press
• ISBN-10: 1982155302
• ISBN-13: 9781982155308

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REVIEW: Zero Days by Ruth Ware

Dear Ms. Ware:

After reading and enjoying The It Girl last year, I was pleased when Janine alerted me to your new book. I wasn’t sure about the blurb, though:

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 unpauseable and heart-pounding mystery…

The blurb also compares this to “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”, but it reminded me of another Angelina Jolie movie, “Salt”, in which a government agent goes on the run after she is framed for a crime and her husband is murdered. In Zero Days , Jack (nee Jacintha) is not a government agent, but she’s more resourceful than the average person, by far, due to her profession. I’m not sure why the blurb gave me pause…maybe just because it felt more like an action-y thriller than a psychological thriller? I am drawn more toward the latter, though whenever I read action-heavy books, I have to admit that they have a propulsive energy that often makes them really compelling reads.

Anyway, the book opens with Jack on the job, testing the security of a company by breaking in at night. Gabe, her husband, is home, doing his part from behind a computer screen. Jack gets in and out with a couple of close calls. Too close, as it turns out, because as she’s returning to her car, after she’s told Gabe she’s headed home, she walks into the arms of the waiting police. This delays her return home by several hours, and she can’t reach Gabe by phone. When she finally gets home, Jack finds a bloody scene – Gabe’s throat has been slit. In shock, she does not call the police for some unspecified period of time – she honestly doesn’t know if minutes or an hour have passed before she’s able to make the call. This lapse is later held against her.

Police are, or appear to be, initially sympathetic and unsuspicious of Jack. She goes to stay with her beloved older sister Helena and her family. But a day passes and Jack is called in for another police interview, one that doesn’t go quite as smoothly. Jack begins to regret brushing off her sister’s suggestion to bring an attorney (I agreed: sister was definitely right there).

Then the police leave Jack in the interview room and two things happen that prompt her flight – she receives an email from an insurance company about a policy that supposedly has just been taken out on Gabe’s life, and she overhears (way too conveniently) one of the cops talk about how clearly guilty she is and how they should just arrest her now. Jack McGyvers her way out of the police station and just like that she’s a fugitive from the law.

Even though I thought the overheard conversation was convenient, that, the mysterious life insurance policy, and the fact that Jack has good reason to distrust cops combined to make her choice to flee feel more logical than it might otherwise have seemed.

On the last point – when Jack was younger, she dated a cop, Jeff Leadbetter, for a short while. When she tired of his controlling ways and broke up with him, he assaulted her. Jack filed a report against him, but not only were there no consequences for him, but for some time after Jack was harassed by the police. Undeserved parking tickets, “random” traffic stops, her car tagged in the system as stolen and more. Eventually, the retaliation tapered off, but Jack hasn’t forgotten. She has a better than average reason for distrusting the police.

Also, while on the face of it Jack’s determination to “find the real killers” is unrealistic, she also has better than average skills and resources, as noted. Her first step is to try to find out who really took out the damning life insurance policy.

Jack has an untraceable phone and the support of her sister (I kind of liked that Helena wasn’t all “you need to turn yourself in!” but instead trusted Jack’s competence). She reaches out to Gabe’s best friend, Cole, who also works in tech security, for a company that develops apps. Cole provides Jack with a place to hide while she tries to break into the insurance company’s system and figure out who actually took out the life insurance policy on Gabe. But all too soon, Jack’s refuge is discovered and she has to run again.

The situation becomes increasingly dire – Jack injured her side fleeing her house (where she went after she left the police station), and the injury has become infected. The tension of the novel rachets up as the police close in on an seriously ill Jack.

There was a lot I liked about Zero Days: the writing is strong, Jack is a believably fierce heroine, and the pacing of the story kept me turning the (virtual) pages. Gabe was only in the story for a short time, but he was a well-drawn character and I really believed in Jack’s love for him and grief for his loss.

Where it lagged a little – the depiction of other characters, including Jack, was weaker. Maybe it was the juxtaposition of first-person narrative and action-focused plotting, but she felt a little cardboard to me.

Also, this wasn’t a book with a plethora of suspects or twists. By mid-point in the story, there were about two possible candidates, and one felt much more obvious than the other. The “why” was vaguely guessable too; the details weren’t really important.

Still, Zero Days engaged me from start to finish. It wasn’t my usual type of thriller, but it was worthy of a B+.

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has been an avid if often frustrated romance reader for the past 15 years. In that time she's read a lot of good romances, a few great ones, and, unfortunately, a whole lot of dreck. Many of her favorite authors (Ivory, Kinsale, Gaffney, Williamson, Ibbotson) have moved onto other genres or produce new books only rarely, so she's had to expand her horizons a bit. Newer authors she enjoys include Julie Ann Long, Megan Hart and J.R. Ward, and she eagerly anticipates each new Sookie Stackhouse novel. Strong prose and characterization go a long way with her, though if they are combined with an unusual plot or setting, all the better. When she's not reading romance she can usually be found reading historical non-fiction.

Jennie, from your interesting review I think the answer is no, but am I correct that there is no torture or gore?

Hi Jennie, I’m trying to get into thrillers a little more, since they are so plentiful, but I don’t want any with poor writing or bleak endings. I have enjoyed books by Lisa Jewell and Joshilyn Jackson (probably bc neither started out as suspense/thriller authors). Any other authors that you recommend I check out?

@ LML : No torture; there are a couple of fairly unpleasant descriptions of the murder of Gabe (his throat is slit so definitely gory, but not excessively descriptive at all), and some descriptions of the wound Jack suffers which gets infected. That’s all that I can think of.

@ SusanS : Hmm, even though I’ve been reading suspense for a while now I don’t have a real stable of “go to” authors. I feel like much like my early romance reading, I’ve had to kiss a lot of frogs to find a few princes. That said, Ware has a strong reputation and I’m diving into her backlist. I could probably more easily recommend individual books if you’re interested.

@ Jennie : Did Girl A have a happy ending? I remember you liked that one a lot (I keep thinking I should try it).

@ Janine : It had an ambiguous ending which I would not call happy. I thought it was a fantastic book but I hesitate to recommend it because it’s so harrowing.

Thanks, @Jennie.

The husband who dies early in the book but who nonetheless is one of the most strongly delineated characters reminds me of Linda Howard’s SON OF THE MORNING. It appears that both books will break your heart because the husband is so clearly a hero of the story – the heroine mourns his loss and so do you. There’s a lovely scene at the end of the Howard where Grace visits Ford’s grave and thanks him for the courage that allowed her to escape.

@ SusanS : Oh, one author rec I can think of – I read Lucy Foley’s first two mysteries: The Hunting Party and The Guest List. They are pretty similar thematically, but both are entertaining and have evocative settings – I really like strong settings in my suspense. She has a third thriller, The Paris Apartment, which I haven’t gotten to but will probably pick up at some point.

@ Susan/DC : I don’t know that I ever read Son of the Morning – it’s a time travel book, right? Howard has several books where the heroine is married before the hero and the husband dies – she seemed to like that theme.

@ Jennie : Yes, SON OF THE MORNING is a time travel book. It’s also interesting in that the hero (the non-husband one) and heroine don’t meet till well into the book. I’ve not read any Linda Howard for a long time and don’t remember the dead husband theme, but while I’ve read several of her books I’ve not read anywhere close to all of them. Hated the first one I read, AN INDEPENDENT WIFE, because the heroine was much closer to a doormat than independent and the hero was far too controlling, but I loved SON OF THE MORNING.

@ Susan/DC : I think my favorite right now is Killing Time (another time travel, and kind of an unusual one in that the heroine is from the future and arrives at our time where the hero is from). It’s a gentler book for her and the hero isn’t quite so uber alpha. I recall also liking Cry No More (you will cry, guaranteed) and Kiss Me While I Sleep (assassin heroine). Both usual books. One thing to say for Howard (and I hate her politics), in her single title career she has never written the same book twice.

Most of her early stuff doesn’t hold up well but of her categories Midnight Rainbow and Diamond Bay were my favorites. An Independent Wife was her first book and TERRIBLE, I agree. Her most recent stuff is barely readable for me.

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#BookReview Zero Days by Ruth Ware @RuthWareWriter @ScoutPressBooks @SimonSchusterCA #ZeroDays #RuthWare #SimonSchusterCA

An 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.

Addictive, propulsive, and suspenseful!

Zero Days  is a fast-paced, sinister page-turner that takes you into the life of Jacintha “Jack” Cross, a security penetration specialist who, after returning home from a job one night to find her husband murdered and his hard drive gone, suddenly finds herself on the run and determined to do whatever it takes to hunt down and discover the who and why that lead to her husband’s senseless death when it quickly becomes apparent that as far as the police are concerned she’s suspect number one.

The writing is sharp and crisp. The characters are impulsive, driven, and resourceful. And the plot is an intricate, captivating tall full of twists, turns, secrets, deception, manipulation, greed, red herrings, corruption, malicious intentions, and murder.

Overall, Zero Days is an exhilarating, twisty, action-packed thrill ride by Ware that is one of my favourite novels I’ve read by her in the past few years. It not only did a great job of keeping me on the edge of my seat from start to finish but was an eerie reminder of just how vulnerable and susceptible our dependence on technology and social media truly makes us.

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

About Ruth Ware

Ruth Ware grew up in Sussex, on the south coast of England. After graduating from Manchester University she moved to Paris, before settling in North London. She has worked as a waitress, a bookseller, a teacher of English as a foreign language and a press officer, and is The   New York Times  bestselling author of  In a Dark, Dark Wood ,  The Woman in Cabin 10, and The Lying Game . Her latest book, The Death of Mrs. Westaway , will be available in May 2018. She is married with two small children.

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How did that book end? Book spoilers to jog your memory.

Ruth Ware | Zero Days

The Book: 

Zero Days by Ruth Ware Published June 20, 2023 by Gallery/Scout Press Date read: April 10, 2023

The Characters: 

Buy it on Bookshop.org | Amazon

This page contains affiliate links. I may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this site.

The Plot (from Goodreads ):

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 ).

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How did Zero Days end ?

Click here for book spoilers for Zero Days Book spoilers ahead–if you haven’t yet read Zero Days , I suggest you turn back now.

The Reveal:

Cole was obviously the one tipping the police off to Jack’s location, pretending to be Helen contacting her on Signal to get more information from her. Unfortunately this reveal didn’t surprise me at all, since the second Jack went to Cole for help I thought “I bet it was him”. Cole wasn’t the one who killed Gabe, but he was responsible for his death.

Cole’s cybersecurity company was selling its users’ data on the black market, including home security cameras and parental monitoring apps. As a hacktivist, Gabe kept track of holes in the cybersecurity of even companies he wasn’t hired by, and would usually alert them to the weak point. He found this out about Cole in a routine check of Cole’s security. When he told Cole, the people buying the information found out and killed Gabe. Cole was worried they’d come for him and Jack next, so he claimed he was turning Jack in to the police to protect her.

The Ending:

Jack figured all this out eventually by paying someone to clone Gabe’s phone so she could log into his accounts and see his notes to himself. To expose Cole, she broke into his house in the middle of the night and streamed her confrontation to all of Gabe’s hacktivist followers. Cole was arrested, but killed himself in prison before his trial.

Jack and Habiba Malik (the detective) became friends.

The Review: 

Thank you to @simonandschuster @bookclubfavorites for this gifted copy!

I always look forward to a new Ruth Ware book! Zero Days was quite different from most of her previous titles, which usually are atmospheric locked-room psychological thrillers. Zero Days takes on more of a fugitive trope, which Jack finds herself the primary suspect in her husband’s murder.

I loved Jack as the main character. She was a resourceful badass, able to get out of seemingly any tricky situation, and I couldn’t wait to see what escape she’d find next. It was a lot fo fun to follow her thought process through the book.

Is it possible to be disappointed by a reveal but love the ending? No spoilers here, but that’s how I feel (I’ll add a little more about those thoughts on my blog).

If you’re looking for the twisty locked room thrillers that Ware is known for, Zero Days isn’t that. Despite being a departure from her usual tropes I really enjoyed the story. Fans of action movies will love this fast-paced, high-tension read!

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HOW CAN YOU HIDE WHEN THE ENEMY IS EVERYWHERE?

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 only suspect – her.

On the run and out of options, Jack must decide who she can trust and how far she’s prepared to go. Can she figure out the truth, before her pursuers find her?

International bestseller Ruth Ware returns with this adrenaline-fueled thriller about a woman in a race against time to clear her name and find her husband’s killer.

Read the First Chapter HERE

Signed, personalised copies are available from Ruth’s local independent bookshop, City Books

Out 20th June in the US and Canada, 5th July in Australia, and 6th July in the UK

Signed, personalised copies are available from Ruth’s local independent bookshop, City Books.

On the run and under surveillance

When I started writing Zero Days, I had very little of the plot mapped out – I just knew that I wanted to write about a pen tester who was accused of the murder of her husband, and chose to go on the run rather than gamble on the police believing her story.

Sisters, Sisters

If there’s one thing I’m an absolute sucker for, it’s books and films about sister, and the unique relationship they share. From Little Women to Goblin Market, from Meet Me in St Louis to White Christmas, I love tales of sisters putting aside their differences and stepping up to the mark to protect and defend each other.

So What’s a Pen Tester

That’s a question I’ve got used to answering a lot over the last year, while writing Zero Days, and I’m guessing it’s a question that’s going to come up a fair bit more over the next few weeks and months as I do events and interviews about the book.

“The action and tension are relentless from the opening to the conclusion, which will astonish. . . . It has been said that in Ruth Ware’s books the pages just turn themselves. She has been heralded as ‘the new Agatha Christie’ for good reason.”

BOOKLIST (starred review)

“This is Ruth Ware like you’ve never read her before. . . . A rocket ride that will satisfy the biggest thriller addicts out there.”

#1 New York Times bestselling author DAVID BALDACCI

“It’s exciting to watch Jack do what she does best: inveigle her way into places she doesn’t belong, escape at the last moment in panic mixed with exhilaration. . . . [Readers] will be rewarded with a satisfying and surprising denouement.”

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

“The action and tension are relentless from the opening to the conclusion, which will astonish. . . . It has been said that in Ruth Ware’s books the pages just turn themselves. She has been heralded as ‘the new Agatha Christie’ for good reason.” 

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Book Review: Ruth Ware’s ‘Zero Days’ lacks the urgency of her previous books

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“Zero Days” by Ruth Ware (Scout Press)

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Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 19/06/2023 (340 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The author of “The Woman in Cabin 10” and “In a Dark, Dark Wood” is back with another page-turning thriller. But while readers will surely turn the pages until the end, “Zero Days” doesn’t quite ascend to the level of those previous bestsellers.

The star of the story is Jacintha “Jack” Cross. Jack is a penetration specialist, a “pen tester” who breaks into offices with the help of her hacker hubby to test the security of British companies. The novel begins with Jack on the job, flirting with her husband, Gabe, on a headset as she navigates a corporate headquarters. By page 34, and this is not a spoiler given it’s on the back of the book, Gabe is dead and Jack is the No. 1 suspect.

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Ware has a knack for creating female protagonists worth rooting for and Jack, “five foot two” and a fan of eyeliner, is no exception. It’s the plot that gets in the way. Despite chapter headings that count backwards to zero (“Minus Eight Days”) and suggest something big at the end of the countdown, a majority of the book is spent entirely inside Jack’s head as she ponders and plans her next move. There’s not enough interaction with other characters to make it feel more propulsive and up the sense of danger. When she does speak, Jack sometimes sounds a little too one-note. “It’s that or rot in prison for the murder of the man I love!” she tells Gabe’s best friend as she hatches a scheme to try and uncover the real killer. With Gabe gone, she still hears his voice in her head — “You’ve got this!” — and it all feels just a little too predictable.

The best scenes are near the end, when Jack finally gives herself more than a moment to grieve. She cries “great hacking sobs that seemed to be wrenched uncontrollably up from somewhere deep inside of me,” as her ordeal finally ends. Along the way, there are some fun twists and turns, and Ware fans, or fans of quickie thrillers in general, will probably finish it in a weekend. First-time samplers of the genre would be better off reading something from the writer Ware has mentioned often as an influence, Agatha Christie.

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About The Author

Ruth Ware worked as a waitress, a bookseller, a teacher of English as a foreign language, and a press officer before settling down as a full-time writer. She now lives with her family in Sussex, on the south coast of England. She is the #1  New York Times  and  Globe and Mail  (Toronto) bestselling author of  In a Dark, Dark Wood ;  The Woman in Cabin 10 ;  The Lying Game ;  The Death of Mrs. Westaway ;  The Turn of the Key ;  One by One ; The It Girl ; and Zero Days . Visit her at RuthWare.com or follow her on X @RuthWareWriter.

Product Details

• Publisher: Gallery/Scout Press (March 19, 2024)
• Length: 400 pages
• ISBN13: 9781982155308

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Some nights are just full of bad decisions. Or bad luck. Jack (Jacinta) is certainly experiencing one of those evenings.

As a security specialist, she has been hired to penetrate an insurance company to test just how well their current level of protection works, but from the start things go awry and Jack quickly finds herself caught by the corporate guards, then taken into custody and questioned by the police. While her husband Gabe works frantically to contact the client and clear her name, a disgruntled ex who happens to be a cop, makes an appearance, gives Jack a hard time and ultimately releases her.

Jack hates being beholden to her ex but the truth is, she needed his help. Shortly after she had arrived at the station, Gabe had gone silent. Jack is exhausted, anxious, and angry when she leaves, only to have her phone die immediately after she calls the Uber which will take her back to her car. Jack wants to race home, but in unfamiliar territory and with no maps app to help, she gets lost several times, takes an inordinate amount of time to get to her house and when she finally staggers through her door she discovers that the worst is yet to come: Gabe is dead, murdered at his computer.

Shocked, Jack staggers to the couch and doesn’t call the police immediately but simply sits in stunned silence. When she finally gets herself together and calls them, they quickly narrow in on one suspect – her. Submerged in grief and determined not to take the fall for a crime she didn’t commit, Jack goes on the run and begins a desperate quest to find who really did kill Gabe- and why.

Before getting too deeply into this review of Ruth Ware’s Zero Days , I’m going to address the elephant in the room – ye olde dead cell phone. Ware loves using malfunctioning tech in her stories, an issue some readers oft complain of, and this story begins with a dozy of a glitch – a woman who relies heavily on her cell leaving home with one that is apparently not fully charged. If this topic is one that troubles you, either be prepared to be annoyed or skip the book altogether. I’ll just add that technology is used heavily throughout the story. As someone who uses tech daily, this tends not to bother me but again, some readers have expressed discontent with this aspect of the author’s books, so be been warned, it is very present here.

The author has an easy-to-read writing style with brisk pacing that keeps us invested in the mystery. She also delivers consistent characterization throughout the novel, although that turned out to be a mixed blessing. Jack staying true to who she is – a likeable middle-class woman who finds herself in a tragic, unprecedented situation – showcases the author’s talent. I hate nothing more than having problems solved in a story by having the character change the nature of who they are. Unless there is a good reason for it, people don’t make large personality changes. That said, Jack starts the tale prone to dumb decisions and stays that way throughout the text. This is less a whodunit than it is a novel of someone racing about stumbling into information. That doesn’t tend to be the kind of narrative I prefer, so while the excellent writing made this a pleasant enough read, it’s not a book I would ever pick up again.

One reason for that is that the plot – from the inciting incident to all the time Jack spends on the run – is completely unbelievable. I know that the truth is often stranger than fiction and something this crazy could actually have happened, but from a reading perspective, I just found the whole thing so ludicrous and Jack’s behavior so hapless, that I couldn’t submerge myself in the tale the author was telling.

This is probably the shortest review I have ever written but there isn’t really much information I can impart on Zero Days . It’s a low-key chase mystery that relies very heavily on the reader’s suspension of disbelief. Fans of the author will doubtless want to give it a try but I would steer newcomers to any of Ms. Ware’s older works. They are all stronger than this one.

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Zero Days Kindle Edition

• Print length 364 pages
• Language English
• Sticky notes On Kindle Scribe
• Publisher Gallery/Scout Press
• Publication date June 20, 2023
• File size 3863 KB
• Page Flip Enabled
• Word Wise Enabled
• Enhanced typesetting Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

About the author, excerpt. © reprinted by permission. all rights reserved., product details.

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BHTN6TL6
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Gallery/Scout Press (June 20, 2023)
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 20, 2023
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• File size ‏ : ‎ 3863 KB
• Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
• Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 364 pages
• #24 in Psychological Literary Fiction
• #77 in Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Literary Fiction
• #567 in Psychological Thrillers (Kindle Store)

About the author

Ruth Ware is an international number one bestseller. Her thrillers In a Dark, Dark Wood, The Woman in Cabin 10, The Lying Game, The Death of Mrs Westaway, The Turn of the Key, One by One and The It Girl have appeared on bestseller lists around the world, including the Sunday Times and New York Times, and she is published in more than 40 languages. She lives on the south coast of England, with her family.

Visit www.ruthware.com to find out more, or find her on facebook or twitter as @RuthWareWriter

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