Zero Days by Ruth Ware
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
**4.5-stars**
Ruth Ware is one of my favorite authors. I look forward to her new releases every year. Part of my attraction to her writing is the style of her storytelling.
Her mysteries have a classic-feel, while also feeling ultra-modern in settings and set-ups. The Turn of the Key would be a good example of what I mean by that.
Her last release, The It Girl, channeled a bit more of a dark academia setting; a popular sub-genre of the past couple years. Even in that setting though, I found her mystery elements still held the classic-feel of her earlier works.
In Zero Days, Ware traverses into Techno-Thriller territory and while that’s not a sub-genre I tend to gravitate to, when I pick them up I do often enjoy them. I’m happy to report, I feel like Ware really delivered with this story.
I found it incredibly gripping from the very first moments. I couldn’t put it down. It was exciting and fast-paced, with great moments of tension.
In this story, we’re following Jack, a penetration specialist by trade. Sounds intriguing already, doesn’t it? Basically, her and her husband, Gabe, are hired on by companies to break into their buildings and systems, to see where they need to improve their security.
It’s after one of these jobs that Jack returns home to find her husband has been murdered. Overcome with despair, Jack makes a series of mistakes, which after she contacts the police, make her look suspicious.
It’s clear the police think she is responsible for her husband’s death, but Jack is innocent. This means the killer is still out there somewhere and Jack will need to find them in order to clear her name.
Jack goes on the run. From what she can tell, someone is trying to frame her. She’s not going to go down for this. Not without a fight, anyway.
Unsure who she can trust, Jack does the best she can to lay low and evade detection, all while performing an investigation into Gabe’s murder.
The police are never far behind though, turning this one into a fierce game of cat-v-mouse.
Jack is shocked at the things she uncovers, but will she have time to prove the things she has found, or will she end up being another victim in a vast conspiracy?
I thought this was a fantastically-entertaining ride. I listened to the audiobook and per usual, really vibed with the narration of Imogen Church; one of my favorites.
She became Jack to me and the tension she was able to illicit with her voice-work only helped to heighten the experience of this story for me.
I felt the desperation of this protagonist. Jack did have a lot of skills that were helpful to her in these circumstances, but things definitely got dire. I was at the edge of my seat with anticipation. I just wanted her to be okay.
I did predict the baddie, but that didn’t lessen my enjoyment. I think Ware was leading us there pretty close to when I figured it out anyway. Then once you know, there’s still extra levels of tension and intrigue continuing to build. Because even though Jack knows, she still has to prove it.
Overall, I was impressed with this. It’s out of the box for Ware and I found it to be extremely fun and refreshing. I really think she did a great job with it.
While I am looking forward to more of her classic-feeling locked room mysteries, I definitely wouldn’t turn down another one like this either. That’s a good sign!!
Definitely recommend!