Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Zero Days

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Zero Days by Ruth Ware

15 reviews

bibliomania_express's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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shelfofunread's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

From the opening pages, in which pen-tester Jack ‘breaks in’ to a company’s office before heading home to find her husband – and business partner – Gabe slumped over this computer, his throat viciously cut, to the tense police station scenes where Jack comes under ever-increasing suspicion of her husband’s murder, Ruth Ware keeps the tension high and the pages flying. And when Jack goes on the run to try and find Gabe’s true killer, the pace – and the stakes – get even higher.

For those who have only read Ware’s earlier novels – The Woman in Cabin 10, The Death of Mrs Westaway, The Turn of the Key, One by One – Zero Days may appear to have come out of leftfield. One of the things I most admire about Ruth Ware as an author is how unique each novel is and Zero Days marks both another evolution in her writing style and a departure from her previous novels in terms of genre. Readers expecting the Agatha Christie locked-room whodunnit vibes of those earlier novels may well find themselves disappointed with a book that is very firmly a thriller. Although it still has a murder mystery at its heart, the pace and tone of Zero Days has the propulsion of those ‘just-one-more-episode’ TV series such as Bodyguard or Vigil rather than the psychological puzzling of Christie’s Poirot.

With the stakes high and the tension building, Zero Days is a masterclass in how to balance paranoia, action, and atmosphere and there is plenty of action packed into the 300 or so pages as Jack navigates corrupt police officers, long-buried secrets, and some of the darker corners of the internet. In what becomes very much a cat-and-mouse game, Jack becomes the lone fugitive figure trying to get to the bottom of what really happened to her husband whilst also staying one step ahead of both the police and the real killers.

As someone who does usually prefer their crime novels to be of the ‘whodunnit’ variety, Zero Days was something of a departure for me. If it hadn’t been written by one of my favourite authors, there’s a good chance that I wouldn’t have picked it up. As things stand, however, I am very glad that I did! Whilst this definitely isn’t my favourite of Ruth’s books, it is compulsively readable and I quickly found myself getting wholly absorbed into Jack’s story. Jack herself is immensely likeable and I found myself empathising with her situation even when I felt that she was making somewhat reckless or unwise decisions. I also really liked the peek that the book provides into the shadowy world of the dark web, and the way in which the book investigates the very real implications of digital crime.

Although quite different to her previous books, Zero Days demonstrates Ruth Ware’s ability to craft a compelling plot that is steeped in atmosphere and packed with tension. Although some plot elements did get a tad repetitive at times, the plethora of twists and turns kept the pages turning whilst the trials and tribulations of an eminently likeable heroine kept me emotionally invested. Whilst I still prefer Ware’s writing when it is in suspenseful ‘whodunnit’ mode, this venture into action-packed thrills made for perfect easy weekend reading.

NB: This review also appears on my blog at https://theshelfofunreadbooks.wordpress.com as part of the blog tour for the book. My thanks go to the publisher for providing a copy of the book in return for an honest and unbiased review.

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