Zero Days by Ruth Ware

Zero Days, Ruth Ware’s latest, female-centric thriller does not disappoint. Set in the world of cyber-security and hacking, the reader is transported into Jacinta “Jack” Cross’s high-octane world of pen testing (no, not checking to see if your pilot or your Bic is leaking). What is pen testing? It’s short for penetration testing–into businesses. Essentially, she finds the security holes in any business’ physical buildings. Her husband, Gabriel “Gabe” Medway, handles the hacking end of the business. Together, they are the perfect team, having a great time breaking into buildings and computer systems for good money.

The novel starts with Jack breaking into their latest client’s business while getting help and updates from Gabe through her wireless earbuds. While this introduction does take a bit of time, and at times feels like it is delaying the action while simultaneously performing the action, don’t get too caught up because it is important for the reader to understand all of Jack’s skills since she is going to need them by the end of her pen test into the company.

After quite an ordeal, Jack arrives home, expecting dinner, not a nearly decapitated husband (and this is not a spoiler, it is part of the plot). This is truly where Jack’s narrative begins. The introduction to the story is really to set the reader up to understand the world of the novel because from the time Jack discovers her husband’s body and then informs the police, the roller coaster ride begins.

It soon emerges that Jack is the prime suspect in her husband’s murder, which leaves the reader wondering if she has an agenda. Was Jack just pretending to love her husband? Could she profit from his death if she lost her partner and an integral half of the business? Was she set up? And if so, who set her up and why? This last question is what propels the narrative forward at a breakneck pace. 

An added bonus to the swift pace is trying to figure out who she can trust. We are introduced to her sister, her ex-boyfriend (a cop), her husband’s best friend, Cole, and various characters she meets along the way. Will they help her or try to destroy her? Can she clear her name or will she end up in prison? 

Jack’s character reflects the current feminist sensibility of a woman on the verge of her 30s. She refuses to be a victim, even when so many men tried to make her one. She is physically fit. She reports her ex-boyfriend to the police for abuse, despite him being one of them, and she is a successful businesswoman, but she does have a slightly darker backstory. No, not murder and mayhem. Some shoplifting due to a familial loss. It is the darker behavior, shoplifting, that ultimately leads her to become a pen tester. She gets the thrill of breaking the law even though she really isn’t. 

Jack’s character reflects the changing attitudes in society about what it means to be a successful businesswoman and happy wife. Twenty years ago, she might have also been struggling with her husband’s expectations of her doing housekeeping chores as well as breaking into businesses. But times have changed. Gabe is egalitarian and helps with things like cooking and dealing with food. This allows Jack’s character to be able to fully realize her potential. Her husband orders meals for her when work is going late. It isn’t her having to run to get food after a difficult pen-testing ordeal. While Gen Z might feel that this is the way things should be, Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, and even some Millennials remember differently. Jack’s character fits well into the ever-evolving female mystery thriller genre where women do not always have to turn to men for help where there can be secret agendas and strings attached. Ware’s male characters are a good combination of both good and bad, selfish and altruistic. 

Ruth Ware is an expert at setting up female mystery thrillers that reflect the cultural paranoia of what it means to be a modern woman in an increasingly tech-centric world. In this particular book, Ware adeptly manages the use of both old-school methodologies as well as high-tech devices (which ironically includes basic technology) to try and outwit the police until she can find proof of her innocence.

Ware has a blog post on her site titled “On the Run and Under Surveillance,” discussing her research regarding how to effectively go on the run in the UK, one of the worst places you can hide in plain sight due to the elaborate network of CCTV cameras around the country. She explains that it isn’t just CCTV picking you up. It is the simple act of checking an email. Basically, anything we do is now linked to technology. While that might be self-evident, especially to readers who remember times before the internet, ATMs, mobile phones, and the dark web, it is still relevant to remind readers that the technology they celebrate could also work against them in circumstances they might not fathom.  If you are wrongly accused on the run, it feels like there is no way out. Ware’s story places Jack in a situation where if she doesn’t outwit technology and manipulate it to her advantage, she will lose everything.