Zero Day by Jan Gangsei

Zero Day by Jan Gangsei

Zero Day is billed as a fast-paced teen thriller is full of political espionage and realistic terrorist threats. Adele Webster was only eight years old when she was kidnapped. At the time, her dad was the governor of Virginia. Now 16, Adele has escaped and is ready to return home, but some things have changed. Her father is now the President of the United States, and her mom is the CEO of a major tech company. The President’s security chief wonders whether Adele is an imposter trying to gain access to the most powerful man in the world. But after clearing a number of security hurdles, Adele’s family -- and the entire nation -- celebrates her return.  

But all is not quite as it seems. Adele’s childhood friend Darrow, who was the last person to see her before she was kidnapped, discovers that Adele has become very good at computer hacking. We get flashbacks into Adele’s secret past, and we start to wonder if she is not as naive as she seems. Adele isn’t the only character with secrets; the President, first lady, and even Adele’s fresh-out-of-rehab sister are all hiding something.

This book will likely appeal to reluctant readers and those who like a fast-paced thrillers where the characters never know who to trust and you as a reader never know whose story to believe.

I thought the ‘thriller’ aspect fell far short of my expectations. The plot synopsis holds a lot of potential, but too many flat characters and distracting story elements had me wishing for things to wrap up long before the ending. Teen readers might see through some of the flaws, but your heavy readers will likely be just as disappointed in Zero Day as I was.