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pagesplotsandpints 's review for:
Zero Days
by Ruth Ware
Read Completed 6/23/23 | I don't know if I'd still be reading Ruth Ware if 1) I hadn't enjoyed some of her earlier books so much and 2) if Imogen Church wasn't narrating them. At this point, I feel like a good narrator is one of the few things keeping me interested.
ZERO DAYS was a nice change of pace from Ruth Ware's normal slow burn, gothic vibes. Or it would have been, if I had enjoyed the way it was written. This was a fast-paced fugitive style thriller with a mystery to solve in order for Jack to clear her name. I was disappointed by the Mr. and Mrs. Smith reference when trying to describe the book because it really doesn't have that feeling at all except for the first chapter alone. Jack and her husband Gabe are "penetration specialists/testers", and their job is to break into companies (hired by the companies themselves) to find weak points in their security, so that's where the Mr. and Mrs. Smith vibe comes from, but once Jack is on the run, that quickly fades away and it's all fugitive, all the time. In fact, Jack, who could have been an awesome fugitive given her specialty and training, forgets about all of this until halfway through the book and barely uses it. I would have liked to have referenced that a bit more because that would only make sense...
I go into books blindly so I didn't know her husband was going to die (not a spoiler -- it's in the synopsis of the book and happens within the first 1-2 chapters), so I was expecting more of classic Ruth Ware husband betrayal... Oops. That was my fault. But the mystery that Jack has to solve in order to clear her name from being the main suspect in her husband's murder was just... not good enough for me. I felt like Ruth Ware didn't dig into it enough and really make it an interesting overall factor in the book. The whole "Zero Days" thing was kind of meaningless, counting down to a random day that kind of didn't matter? I was also expecting her to get some sort of threat like she had to specifically do something in X amount of days. It was barely mentioned and not very exciting, and not even something she was personally involved in.
There was a twist I saw coming a mile away. I don't know if we were supposed to see it, but it was really obvious to me. I feel like Jack should have seen it too, but I guess grief + pain + brain running on overdrive, I guess I can forgive that. I also thought it was really unrealistic how Jack decided to start running from the police when she found out she was going to be a suspect and her sister was just like sure, I'll help you no questions asked. Really? Even if you're the closest sisters in the world, you're not going question this judgement? And then when the police finally catch up with Jack, it's no big deal because she solved the mystery and found the real killer (obviously)? She was on the run for like, a week. They wasted a lot of time and resources chasing her down. It would be bad for a book's heroine to have negative consequences but I feel like it's weird to be a fugitive and then it's no big deal later on. I guess it's a big concern with a fugitive story anyway...
I could have excused more but the ending wasn't satisfying either.The culprit is some faceless company/corporation with a big, bad agenda. Yes, it's really bad, but they're not involved in the book in any way, so there's no personal connection. Cole was basically an outside contractor so he's the only connection. We don't even really know who these people are, what their motives are, and we feel no attachment or surprise. Eh. It's a throw away villain, and I didn't like that.
I didn't hate the book and the energy and story were fine to follow the whole way, but this was a pretty disappointing read, plot-wise. The characters were fine, but not great. The book was too long for a fast-paced thriller. I feel like this could have benefitted from a lot more editing.
ZERO DAYS was a nice change of pace from Ruth Ware's normal slow burn, gothic vibes. Or it would have been, if I had enjoyed the way it was written. This was a fast-paced fugitive style thriller with a mystery to solve in order for Jack to clear her name. I was disappointed by the Mr. and Mrs. Smith reference when trying to describe the book because it really doesn't have that feeling at all except for the first chapter alone. Jack and her husband Gabe are "penetration specialists/testers", and their job is to break into companies (hired by the companies themselves) to find weak points in their security, so that's where the Mr. and Mrs. Smith vibe comes from, but once Jack is on the run, that quickly fades away and it's all fugitive, all the time. In fact, Jack, who could have been an awesome fugitive given her specialty and training, forgets about all of this until halfway through the book and barely uses it. I would have liked to have referenced that a bit more because that would only make sense...
I go into books blindly so I didn't know her husband was going to die (not a spoiler -- it's in the synopsis of the book and happens within the first 1-2 chapters), so I was expecting more of classic Ruth Ware husband betrayal... Oops. That was my fault. But the mystery that Jack has to solve in order to clear her name from being the main suspect in her husband's murder was just... not good enough for me. I felt like Ruth Ware didn't dig into it enough and really make it an interesting overall factor in the book. The whole "Zero Days" thing was kind of meaningless, counting down to a random day that kind of didn't matter? I was also expecting her to get some sort of threat like she had to specifically do something in X amount of days. It was barely mentioned and not very exciting, and not even something she was personally involved in.
There was a twist I saw coming a mile away. I don't know if we were supposed to see it, but it was really obvious to me. I feel like Jack should have seen it too, but I guess grief + pain + brain running on overdrive, I guess I can forgive that. I also thought it was really unrealistic how Jack decided to start running from the police when she found out she was going to be a suspect and her sister was just like sure, I'll help you no questions asked. Really? Even if you're the closest sisters in the world, you're not going question this judgement? And then when the police finally catch up with Jack, it's no big deal because she solved the mystery and found the real killer (obviously)? She was on the run for like, a week. They wasted a lot of time and resources chasing her down. It would be bad for a book's heroine to have negative consequences but I feel like it's weird to be a fugitive and then it's no big deal later on. I guess it's a big concern with a fugitive story anyway...
I could have excused more but the ending wasn't satisfying either.
I didn't hate the book and the energy and story were fine to follow the whole way, but this was a pretty disappointing read, plot-wise. The characters were fine, but not great. The book was too long for a fast-paced thriller. I feel like this could have benefitted from a lot more editing.