Zero Days

The New York Times bestselling “Queen of Crime” (The Washington Post) Ruth Ware returns with an adrenaline-fueled thriller that combines Mr. and Mrs. Smith with The Fugitive about a woman in a race against time to clear her name and find her husband’s murderer.

Jacintha “Jack” Cross Jack and her husband, Gabe, are the best security breach specialists in the business. Hired by companies to test the strengths and weaknesses of their systems, Jack handles the physical break-ins while Gabe tackles the digital aspects. They make an excellent team outside of work too. 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 digs further into family, old friends, and even old enemies. As she circles closer to the truth, she also begins to question if there could be far more at stake, in this unputdownable and heart-pounding mystery from an author whose “propulsive prose keeps readers on the hook and refuses to let anyone off until all has been revealed” (Shelf Awareness).

Ruth Ware worked as a waitress, a bookseller, a teacher of English as a foreign language, and a press officer before settling down as a full-time writer. She now lives with her family in Sussex, on the south coast of England. She is the #1 New York Times and Globe and Mail (Toronto) bestselling author of In a Dark, Dark Wood; The Woman in Cabin 10; The Lying Game; The Death of Mrs. Westaway; The Turn of the Key; One by One; The It Girl; Zero Days; and One Perfect Couple. Visit her at RuthWare.com or follow her on socials @RuthWareWriter.

ISBN: 9781982163457
Format: Paperback
Pages: 464
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: April 23, 2024

“[A]s always, Ware builds the suspense to the breaking point and then drops a murder into it. . . . You can’t doze with Ware, so save this one for a rainy-day read.”
— The Globe and Mail “This is Ruth Ware like you’ve never read her before. A pulse-pounding opening launches you into a cat and mouse game of deadly intrigue that will push Jack Cross, Ware’s new, superb heroine, to her absolute limits. A rocket ride that will satisfy the biggest thriller addicts out there.”
— DAVID BALDACCI, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Simply Lies and The 6:20 Man“It’s exciting to watch Jack do what she does best: inveigle her way into places she doesn’t belong, escape at the last moment in panic mixed with exhilaration . . . [Readers] will be rewarded with a satisfying and surprising denouement.”
— The Wall Street Journal“From its resourceful, resilient protagonist to its seamlessly constructed, au courant plot, everything about Ware’s newest novel is guaranteed to keep her fans up way past their bedtimes.”
— The Library Journal (Starred Review)“Ware's latest thriller will not disappoint, different as it is from some of her earlier books . . . The action and tension are relentless from the opening to the conclusion, which will astonish, but certainly not dismay, readers, who will be captivated by this very original and very real protagonist. It has been said that in Ruth Ware’s books the pages just turn themselves. She has been heralded as ‘the new Agatha Christie’ for good reason.”
— Booklist (Starred Review)“[A]nother page-turning thriller.”
— Associated Press News“Ware is always a master of setting and atmosphere.”
— Kirkus Reviews“[A]nother page-turning thriller.”
— Associated Press News“[A] total seat-of-your-pants thriller . . . [C]omparisons to The Fugitive are inevitable, as the plot concerns our canny, resourceful heroine trying to evade capture and clear her name following the shocking murder of her spouse. Top-notch beach book.”
— Philadelphia Inquirer“Zero Days will not disappoint with its jaw-dropping plot, well-rounded characters, and classic Ruth Ware-ian feminism.”
— The Miramichi Reader