I still don’t know if anything will beat In a Dark, Dark Wood for me, but Ruth Ware has continued to release strong novels ever since her debut in 2015. That’s no exception for her latest, Day Zero.
I will say this this release is a little more special in that me, my sister, and one of our friends got to meet Ware at a tour stop near home! She was extremely nice and down to earth. I found it interesting when she revealed that she likes people to guess who a culprit is kind of early because then she wants to surprise them with all the twists and turns of how it actually happened and why. I can tell you with confidence that you will find out the party responsible in her latest work, but she was correct in that there were plenty of other surprises along the way. With that, I do think she’s delivered better shocks in past works, but the ones presented here were still a delight!
Jack is a pen tester (aka penetration tester – not what you think) along with her husband, Gabe. They are hired to breach companies to see how formidable they are against hackers, Gabe’s forte, and avoiding physical breaches, Jack’s specialty. She’s just come off a somewhat failed mission, and after a long night at the police station her world is rocked even more when she goes home to find Gabe’s throat slit. Bad news is she’s the number one suspect, so in a split decision back at the station she makes a run for it. While she is absolutely broken about Gabe’s death and doesn’t feel she has anything left to live for, she is bound and determined to find Gabe’s actual killer.
Jack is scrappy and lasted way longer on the run than I know I ever could! Luckily, she has a few key people in her corner that were able to help go long enough to find out what she needed to know. Her sister Helen is one in a million, and Gabe’s best friend Cole is equally instrumental in her squeaking by the police a number of times. Even though she can trust some, she’s right to be leery of almost everyone, even those closest to her and Gabe. That skepticism, the kindness of many strangers, and smarts are what eventually lead Jack to a truly brutal reality. I don’t know an ounce about the world of hacking, I just know that I couldn’t be even remotely successful doing it. I’m barely functioning this blog as it is!
Fear not, readers! Ware does not give us a tragic ending, because where there are ashes, rises the phoenix. This was another enjoyable read from Ware, and I was just so pleased to get the chance to meet her in the flesh! Check out her latest novels, and all the others while you’re at it!