I always enjoyed the book by Ruth Ware, this book is a bit out of her normal area and some of the scenario is a bit beyond reasonable, but the strong female characters are still there. I usually didn't figure out who the killer is or who is behind the killing until almost the end of the book, but I have very strong inkling on who is behind the killing half way through the book. ( )

(2023) A most enjoyable book, although stretches creditability that the woman on the run could have survived all that was thrown in Jack's path. She tracks down the person responsible for her husband Gabe's death. His best friend Cole who was working for a major software company and was enticed/forced to use Gabe for nefarious back doors in security software. She finally confronts Cole in his penthouse apartment even though she is hardly able to walk due to injuries suffered along the way. KIRKUS: 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?

Lots of adrenaline-driven action, a departure from Ware?s usual wire-taut mysteries.
Pub Date: June 20, 2023

ISBN: 9781982155292

Page Count: 354

Publisher: Scout Press/Simon & Schuster

ZERO DAYS was a nail-biting rollercoaster ride, and I loved every minute! Honestly, I wasn't sure how I'd feel about this book because techno-stuff is not my thing at all. BUT, I trust Ruth Ware and she did not disappoint!

Jack (Jacintha) and her husband Gabe are "pen testers," people hired by companies to break into their buildings to find security system weak spots. Jack is more of the "muscle" who does the breaking in, while Gabe is the tech-savvy one whose voice is in her earpiece guiding her along.

It's after one of these security jobs that Jack comes home to find her beloved Gabe brutally murdered. With Jack being the prime suspect, she quickly finds herself on the run from police with very few resources and people she can trust. She has to figure out who murdered Gabe and why before the police close in.

I'm not a fast reader by any means, but I flew through this book in two evenings. Wow!! Jack was an amazing character, very strong, clever, and resilient. There were a few times when I was yelling at her about one thing or another, but I cut her some slack. The amount of stress she was under was incredible. I enjoyed learning about her relationships with the people closest to her, even though one had to end so tragically.

I think ZERO DAYS will end up being one of my favorite Ruth Ware novels. Plenty of tension to keep me turning the pages, and emotion to make Jack's predicament compelling.

Thank you to the publisher and Edelweiss for a digital ARC of this book. Opinions are my own. ( )

Whew!!!! I was exhausted with what Jack was trying to DO ...and DID....through the majority of this book. YES, a writer can have her character(s) manage to do all kinds of incredible things and....JACK did JUST THAT!! Incredible things! Ruth Ware's books are "not to be put down!!" This was a page turner...how could Jack possibly escape from the position she found herself in??? ( )

I guessed quite a few things along the way but it was a good ride! ( )