Zero Days by Ruth Ware

A book review-- spoilers ahead!

Sep 11, 2023

Every time I went to my local bookstore (Chapters or Indigo here in Canada), I almost always saw a book by Ruth Ware displayed on one of the shelves at the front of the store. I saw the title ‘The It Girl’ for a while until I went on vacation to Newfoundland a couple of weeks ago and saw ‘Zero Days’, which happened to come out very recently. I adore a good thriller, and I’ve wanted to give this author a try for a while now, so I thought, ‘why not?’ and decided to purchase the book for the plane ride home.

I finished reading a couple of days ago and wanted to share with you all a review (I wanted to start doing frequent reviews on this blog, and this is my first attempt, so bear with me, haha). So, before I get into the details, I’ll start off with my overall rating of the book: 3 out of 5 stars. (WARNING: This review contains spoilers!)

‘Zero Days’, per Goodreads, is described as an “adrenaline-fueled thriller about a woman in a race against time to clear her name and find her husband’s murderer.” Jack Cross and her husband Gabriel are ‘penetration specialists’, professionals hired by companies to break into buildings and hack security systems to test their efficiency. They are the best in the business, but after a routine assignment goes horribly wrong, Jack arrives home later one night to find her husband brutally murdered. On top of that, Jack is immediately marked as the prime suspect in the investigation. She soon finds herself on the run, struggling to decide who she can trust as she decides to take the investigation into her own hands.

Before I get into the review of the actual story and plot, I want to say that I absolutely loved Ruth Ware’s writing. Her prose kept me on the hook, and once I started the book, I found myself unable to stop. She writes suspense really well, and she writes emotions to the point where I can practically feel them myself as I read. While I wasn’t the biggest fan of this plot, the writing is definitely enough to make me want to give another one of her stories a try.

The plot itself I found to be unrealistic, predictable, and all-around disappointing. Jack and Gabe were security specialists, so when it was discovered that their home was broken into, it was easy to guess someone close to them had to be responsible, as a crime like that had to be caused by someone who was familiar with both their house and security systems. Cole, who was introduced as Gabe’s best friend and someone who was similarly skilled in tech and security, was the most obvious suspect and my guess from the moment he was introduced. I wasn’t at all surprised when I found out that it was Cole who was responsible, which was unfortunate because up until Cole’s character was revealed, I was super hooked.

While I liked Jack’s character at the start (she seemed badass and resourceful), as soon as she went on the run, I quickly learned to dislike her. Her character was simply unbelievable. Though she was obviously athletic and skilled in methods of security breaching and escape due to her profession, she was portrayed as having what seemed like superwoman skills. She quite literally had plot armour— she was sick, injured, and essentially described as barely hanging on, but she still climbed high fences, talked to civilians without raising red flags, outran the police many times, etc. Over and over we are told how bad the wound is, how much larger it’s getting and how much it’s bleeding, how much sicker and weaker she’s getting, and she still kept going as if it were nothing!

I really love chase scenes, and I believe it is something Ware wrote well, but with how many there were, it was easy for me to grow tired of them. I was so impatient waiting for something exciting to happen but it either never came, or the ‘reveal’ was something obvious or underwhelming.

As for the ending, I was very disappointed. It was unsatisfying, vague, and obvious. Ware went with the whole ‘there’s actually bigger forces at play’ route, with Cole and his work merely having been used as a puppet for some sort of powerful crime syndicate, and then Cole ends up dying in jail (I mean, of course, right?) so they aren’t able to follow through with taking these mysterious, powerful people down. Then suddenly Jack discovers she’s pregnant with her dead husband’s child (this actually made me roll my eyes). It couldn’t have been more corny, in my opinion, and in the end, they virtually can’t do anything to take down the people who killed Gabe and used and killed Cole.

Overall, my pros and cons of the story are:

PROS:

As far as pacing goes, it was good; the story moves fast enough, and it isn’t too long.
It had an intriguing, unique premise. I was immediately interested in the professions of Jack and Gabe as ‘PEN’ testers, hired by companies to see if their buildings and security are “hack-proof” or if there are any other concerns.
Ruth Ware is an excellent writer, and I find she writes emotions and suspense exceptionally well. While I wasn’t the biggest fan of this particular book, this aspect has helped me want to try others.

CONS:

Jack’s character was simply unrealistic and unbelievable. She was injured and sick too much for having been able to do the things she had been doing, and for such a long period of time too.
There was so much chase and buildup for such little reward.
The ending was disappointing, and the plot and “bad guy” were predictable.

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