Zero Days
by Ruth Ware
Blurb:
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.
My Reaction (with SPOILERS):
I am under no illusions about most of the modern thrillers I read. They are what they are, no more and no less—but some certainly are better than others, and this one had some problems.
The biggest issue for me was repetitiveness. The book opens up with a fairly active scene that's about as interesting as anything that happens later the story, but unfortunately, it soon gets bogged down with Jack's grief over her husband, despair over her present and future prospects, and discomfort after an injury.
Is it realistic that a woman in her situation, newly bereaved and mired in such a shocking set of circumstances, would find her mind going in circles, treading the same ground over and over again? Yes, absolutely! Is it in any way enjoyable to read a book where the heroine's mind is going in circles, treading the same ground repeatedly? Emphatically NO. It's boring, at best. I got so very sick and tired of listening to the narrator (audiobook) go on and on about Gabe and how he's now dead. It's just too much. (My sympathy eventually dies along with him, I'm afraid.)
After Jack's injury, we're treated to frequent updates on its status, and that, too, becomes just too much.
Then there's the fact that Jack is missing obvious things that someone in her profession (or anyone of reasonable intelligence and familiarity with the modern world) should probably catch. (Though to be honest, this bothered me much less than the never-ending grief monologue. I can accept that she's off her game, given the circumstances. Just... Maybe lay off the "I'm damn good at my job" stuff for a while when you're making stupid mistakes left, right, and center.)
This is more of an audiobook-specific complaint, but the male voices were... not good, in my opinion. Listening to the two male characters with Cockney accents irritated me greatly. (Gabe's constant refrain of, "Babe, you GOT this!" haunts me still.) And as for the villain. Oh my gosh. He sounds like a cartoon villain. So incredibly annoying. (And was he supposed to sound rather "posh"? Because I thought he at least bordered on that, which felt odd and out of place for the character.) Actually, come to think of it, Jack's own voice is frustrating to listen to, at times. Whenever she tries to blend in or wheedle someone, she slides into this extremely tiresome whining voice that would make any right-thinking person take an instant dislike to her and be less likely to want to assist her!
I think that's enough nit-picking. Those are the things that stuck with me most. It's too bad, but this wasn't one of the author's best books.
