ZERO DAYS by Ruth Ware

4 stars

Ruth Ware serves up another gripping mystery: this time focused on a husband and wife team specializing in finding vulnerabilities in corporate security systems. Gabe Cross is the brilliant behind the scenes coder and techie, while his wife Jack does the physical entry to company buildings to access their security.

After a particularly brutal assignment, Jack gets caught and turned over to the police by the on-site security team, while her phone calls to their client to establish her being hired to test security go unanswered. She has to deal with an abusive ex-boyfriend in the police department, still obsessed with tormenting her. When finally free to go home, she arrives to find Jack slumped over his desk with his throat sliced. The police suspect Jack as the murderer, due to a delay in her calling them.

Realizing there as forces at work here that she will need to investigate herself, Jack goes on a non-stop, terrorizing run from both the police and the killer. She needs to prove her innocence to the police and gather hard evidence to find the assassin. Jack proves resilient and fierce despite her grief, and relentlessly keeps at solving Gabe’s murder.

Thanks to Galley Books and Netgalley for an advanced reader’s copy of this book.

Stacy DeBroff

Stacy DeBroff, founder and CEO of Mom Central.com and social and digital consultancy, Influence Central, is a social media strategist, attorney, and best-selling parenting author. A sought-after expert for national media, she trend-spots regularly with national brands and speaks frequently to national and international audiences on a wide range of subjects, including influencer marketing, social media, entrepreneurship, and consumer trends. A passionate cook, gardener, reader, and tennis player, she adores this new chapter of post-college-age parenting.