A woman is in a race against time to clear her name and find her husband’s murderer.

Hired by companies to break into buildings and hack security systems, Jack and her husband, Gabe, are the best penetration specialists in the business. But after a routine assignment goes horribly wrong, Jack arrives home to find her husband dead. 

To add to her horror, the police are closing in on their suspect-her. Suddenly on the run and quickly running out of options, Jack must decide who she can trust as she circles closer to the real killer.

Genre: Suspenseful Mystery-Thriller

Tropes:

• Murder 
• Detective/Investigation 
• Fugitive
• Framing

My Thoughts:

The final book of the A-Z Reading Challenge! Finally completed the challenge and I could not be happier – also managed to finish it within August, like I had said (only these posts are back dated). I finished the challenge, with a few days in August to spare. 

Full rundown and rating of all the alphabetical choices: here.

Finding a choice for letter Z of the challenge, proved to be quite tricky, as nothing with the letter seemed to fit the genres I enjoyed reading. I somehow came across Zero Days (can’t remember how – maybe a Facebook page?), but I knew when I read the synopsis, that it had to be added to my tbr. 

Ruth Ware is an author that I was deeply unfamiliar with until I stumbled upon this book of hers.

I was not expecting to feel so connected to the characters in this book so much! I have never connected with the characters of any a Mystery-Thriller book I’ve read in the past, not enough to genuinely care for them!

Through reading this book, I felt so connected to Jack and Gabe and the subsequent pain that she carried with her from loosing Gabe. When moving through the chapters, I could feel the love Jack had for Gabe and her determination to find out who was responsible for his death. My heart broke for her several times throughout her time as a fugitive because all she wanted to do was grieve, but she was fuelled to get answers, putting aside her own pain from grieving and also pain from her injuries.

As the story moved, I was interested to find out who killed Gabe, especially as the line of work they do wouldn’t make you think of him as a target. 

It’s definitely a different type of thriller to what I’m used to, such as Verity, but I enjoyed it a lot. I wrote in my book journal that I didn’t love it or hate it, but now reflecting on it, I really enjoyed it. 

The start of the book is very slow, which I think is probably my initial thoughts of not overly liking it, even as Jack went on as a fugitive it was very slow. It did seen like it dragged out a lot and how long Jack was on the run for, but I think that was probably realistic as Gabe had no enemies, so it made sense for it to take a while for Jack to uncover information. 

I was surprised at how quick I was able to read this, as I feared this book might’ve been a one that would’ve put me in a slump, since it was a new author and also because of the pace, but I just struggled to put it down honestly. I became so connected to Jack that I wanted to know who killed her husband.

The thing that surprised me most about this book is the fact that I cried for a thriller! Going into reading this book, I was not expecting to be emotionally crying at the ending. I didn’t just cry once, but twice! I cried when Jack found out she was pregnant and despite the injuries she gained from being on the run, which almost killed her, the baby survived. Then I started crying again when it was revealed that she had a daughter who she named after Gabe. 

The only thing I didn’t like about this book, aside from my mixed feelings on the pace, was that Cole, Gabe’s best friend, died in prison and didn’t receive his punishment in the role he played in Gabe’s death. I also felt like his murders were a cop out because they weren’t known to the reader and they were hired by someone who Cole worked for. They weren’t given names, then they ended up being found dead before they could pay for their role in Gabe’s death. This made the story feel anticlimactic, especially when the sole plot of the story is “who done it” and you don’t fully know who did it. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and anything that makes me cry and tugs at the heartstrings instantly gets a high rating and is something I enjoy. I think the rating is purely down to my emotional connection to Jack and it would’ve been higher if we knew the murderers. However, this hasn’t deterred me from wanting to read more from Ruth Ware

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Georgia 

🌷