Zero Days by Ruth Ware

 

Hello everyone.  I hope your week is going well.

Well, the part of the year I dislike immensely is here.  Hurricane season, typhoons for you in the east.  So many areas seem to have a bullseye on them, coastal North Carolina is one of them.  There are two storms in the Atlantic already and it is only June.  Of course, I'm watching them like a hawk.  I drive my husband bananas checking each update, looking at all the spaghetti graphs, trying to decide which model looks the most reliable.  It's exhausting and frightening.  If you've never been through a hurricane, count yourself lucky.  I remember one of my first storms, I think it was Gloria.  My apartment was on the Chesapeake Bay and was sure to get a lot of water and wind.  My boyfriend (now husband) wanted me to come stay with his family.  I kept putting it off, baking several coffee cakes.  Don't laugh, for some reason, I thought my mother's coffee cake could work magic.  It is a darn good coffee cake but warding off hurricanes is a bit beyond its abilities. My sisters who still adore that cake and have never been through a hurricane would disagree, don't listen to them. By the time I drove to my boyfriend/hubby's house, the wind was so bad I was terrified. I took in town roads, afraid of the elevated interstate. I literally thought my little car was going to flip just from the wind. The roads were flooded, there was only a tiny passable area in the center of four lanes, and the storm hadn't even hit yet.  I made a huge fool of myself, leaning to the side whenever I had to stop, to prevent blowing over, and bracing myself certain I would be blown miles away, fancying myself as Dorothy without the sparkly shoes. Finally, I arrived at hubby's house regaling him with my harrowing experience and how I had defied death just to see his face, when his mother arrived home.  She, ever the gentile southern lady, took off her coat and straightened her hair, lipstick still in place and said sweetly "I think we're going to have some water to feed the flowers." It was practically a monsoon with cataclysmic winds, and she isn't the least bit rattled with un-smudged lipstick.  I think perhaps she traveled through a worm hole. By the way, she scrubbed floors on her knees with perfect clothes and full make up too...only one step away from Leave it to Beaver's mom's pearls.  I must have given everyone quite a laugh but I'm certain leaning was necessary! This has nothing to do with the book below, but hurricanes are good reading times if you have any lights.  I'm sure I can scrape up a book or two around here (that will make hubby roll his eyes).

I recently read Zero Days by Ruth Ware. I'm not sure if you're aware of it but Ruth Ware and I have a "thing" going on.  It's off and on, hot and cold.  I've read everything she has written.  I have really liked most of her books, really didn't like One by One, and count The Death of Mrs. Westaway as one of my ALL TIME favorites, for the setting alone. I'm thrilled to say, Ruth Ware and I are happily allied again, reader and author.  Zero Days is about a husband (Gabe) and wife (Jack) team, they work as penetration specialists. They are paid to break into buildings to see what security measures are too lax. They are working at a client's business late at night, with Jack inside the building. Gabe, a computer specialist, at home on his computer, directing Jack through the building and around security through her earpiece. Suddenly Gabe stops answering and Jack gets caught, taken to police.  While trying to get Gabe to explain their business to the police, he stops answering the phone. Exhausted herself, Jack finally drives home, mad that Gabe has obviously fallen asleep, leaving her to deal with the cops alone.  Only when Jack gets home, she finds her beloved husband murdered.  The story goes from bad to worse when the police have only one suspect, Jack. 

This is the best thriller I've read this year.  Nothing even comes close to Zero Days.  I am a slow reader, I received the book yesterday morning and had it finished this morning, something I've never done. I wanted to stay up all night reading it, I didn't but wanted to.  It is smart and twisty; the pacing is relentless.  This book does not stop, it grabs you, shakes you by the shoulders and asks cockily "How did you like that?"  Start to finish, a great story and edge of your seat thriller.  If there was thriller writing school, this would be the textbook.