Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is one of my favourite kinds of books! Disaster and mayhem hold reign of the daily lives of all humans!!
While reading this book my skin crawled with the imaginary itch of so many spider legs! I enjoyed this third book in the series just as much as the first two and am sad to see it end. There are a lot of characters to follow but I found that they were all so distinctive in their personalities and storylines that I really didn't have any trouble keeping everyone straight.
If you have any issues with spiders, you might want to leave this on the shelf but that would be a shame because you would be missing out on a great tale.

Ezekiel Boone draws his globe-trotting spider apocalypse trilogy to a close with Zero Day, wrapping things up with pyrotechnic flair. In the aftermath of The Spanish Protocol, large portions of the USA are wrecked beyond repair and the last-ditch effort to halt Spidergeddon have failed. Between the President, a team of scientists and engineers, and soldiers on the front-lines, the threat of these ancient, man-eating arachnids is sketched in with a few extra layers and a couple more wrinkles, but the focus is keenly on the people and a lot of their people problems. This, sadly, was my greatest hindrance in enjoying the book more. And don't get me wrong, I liked Zero Day, but I had higher expectations than this book could deliver.

While some of the trouble Boone's large cast runs into are certainly interesting, such as a military coup early on, others are less so. In one instance, we see a military unit stuck in traffic as they try to get their VIP engineers to a Radio Shack (because apparently there are still Radio Shacks around), and then make a stop for frozen yogurt. I kept waiting for a massive wave of spiders to wreck havoc with the vanilla custard and sprinkles, but sadly that never happened. And that, for me, is the biggest deficit in Zero Day - where the heck are the spiders? We hear a lot about the spiders, but we don't often get to see them. We're reminded pretty frequently about what a massive threat they are, but we rarely get to see the dangers they pose.

In book one, The Hatching, we got all kinds of spider mayhem and it was terrific. Skitter put a pause on the action and shoved the spiders into the background while the stage was set set for Zero Day. And along comes Zero Day, but the spiders are still mostly an afterthought. I wanted a massive arachnid apocalypse, with spiders and gore and mayhem galore. I wanted my Kindle to be dripping ichor! What I got were a lot of talking heads before a small spider attack lands around the 50% mark, and then all goes quiet again. Boone teases us with these horrors in small, glimmering fragments, but never fully delivers. By the time we get some serious action, the book is 80% done with.

I'll tell you what, though - that scene that kicks off the book's short shrifted and too easily resolved climax? Holy crap, is it ever a beautiful, creepy, crazy crawly sequence. That chapter right there, that's what I had wanted this whole book to be. It was fantastic. It was also, by then, a bit too little, too late. For the third book in a series about the spider apocalypse, I wanted more than teases to this whole sordid affair. I wanted way more spider attacks than could be delivered in, what amounted to, less than the book's final quarter. Where were all the spiders, damnit?! After the quiet interlude of Skitter, this sucker should have been wall-to-wall spider mayhem.

And yet, despite the large absence of arachnid horror, Boone still manages to create a compulsive page-turner, even if it promises far more than it delivers. The writing is crisp and propulsive, the pacing rapid-fire, which ultimately makes Zero Day an engaging read. The military coup is well done and interesting and the brief segments of spider attacks are fantastic. And even if the large cast of characters are not all well-served in this title, Boone at least gives the survivors a nice send-off by book's end. Zero Day, mostly, is a sweet, tidy finish to an otherwise fairly uneven trilogy.

[Note: I received an advanced copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley.]

A fantastic finale to a wonderful trilogy, one that will remain a favourite for a very long time. I can't wait to see what this author comes up with next.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is the last book in a trilogy about a spider apocalypse. The first 2 books were amazing! This book was good. But I didn’t get the same creep factor as I did from the first 2. I think because it was less about the spiders this time and more about the people. Or maybe it was because it felt rushed, and it was slightly anti climatic for me.

The author played a little too safe with the characters. What’s an apocalypse if you’re not crying over someone?

All in all though, the trilogy is well down. Everything wraps up nicely. Although there was one character that I did not get closure on. I would have liked to know what had happen.

3.5 for this book but 4.5 for the whole series.

Yes, it is a spider apocalypse. With nuclear weapons. And a coup. And I loved it.

Review copy provided by publisher.

Solid 4 stars

The writing level is maintained in this third book, as in the first two, and the tension level is somehow maintained at a high level, as well. It's not often a series hits a peak early on and maintains that level of excellence throughout the rest of the volumes.

The plot was well-thought out, albeit with a couple eye-rolling moments, but those didn't really detract from the story, and in fact, probably helped it along.

I don't know if I'll ever read this series again, but I would definitely recommend it!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2179181280

4 stars

This is the third book of Ezekiel Boone’s trilogy about spiders running amok in society.

This book is made up of several vignettes illustrating the conditions of people trying to survive all over the United States and in other countries. What they are afraid of, hiding and running from are spiders. Huge, people-eating spiders. Nuclear hits in the major cities have turned the country into a wasteland. While the spiders are currently “resting,” they are becoming active once more.

People are moving east, hopefully away from the rapacious menace. They’re afraid, desperate and in a hurry to escape. The United States’ only hope now is to rely on the scientists to come up with a plan to eradicate the spiders for good.

The novel is a brilliant finish to the series. I enjoyed the first two books more because there was less political er, ah – stuff and more creature feature action. The suspense continues throughout the book. It is both well written and plotted and I must say a very credible scenario of what might happen if we were really invaded by such creatures. Dare I be tacky enough to say…the book was fun! (Oops?) The series was action-filled and adventurous. Ezekiel Boone is a remarkable writer and I very much look forward to reading more of his novels.

I want to thank NetGalley and Atria Books/Emily Bestler Books for forwarding to me a copy of this great book to read and enjoy.

I've followed this creepy-crawly series from the first book, and thrilled there wasn't a full year in between each novel.  It's so much easier to remember the characters.

With all the horrors these characters have experienced, there are more to come in Zero Day.  Without a doubt, the president has the best storyline this time around.  There are some intense moments, and battle lines are drawn over differing opinions on actions to take with the spiders.  

All the plot lines are wrapped up by the end, but admittedly, I thought the author played it a little safe.  As with the first two books, I have to wonder why so much backstory is given about characters who only appear for a few pages and aren't pertinent to the plot.

If spiders aren't your kryptonite, this is a fun series to read.  Thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC.

The last in the trilogy, Zero Day, keeps you on the edge of your seat until the very end. Spiders taking over the world is a realistic scenario,as are the reactions of the humans involved. The third wave spiders have evolved yet again, there's still not a plan to successfully eradicate them, and all hell has broken loose. Wonderfully written characters, a suspenseful page turner that never loses its edge. I highly recommend all three books.

Arachnophobia aside, I've loved -almost- every second of this series so I'm sad to see it end. That being said, if it has to end Zero Day makes for a fantastic conclusion.
Following the events of Skitter tensions in the White House have escalated and President Stephanie Pilgrim is once again faced with a difficult choice. The spiders are evolving and this third-wave could be smarter and deadlier than the first two putting Melanie and her team of scientists in a race against the clock to find a way to eradicate the spiders before its too late...
If you haven't picked up The Hatching or Skitter yet than you should. And then you need to go and pre-order this!

I'm kind of torn on how to rate this book, because the story as a whole is fantastic, yet I was a bit let down on book 3. My problem was with how safe Mr. Boone played it. I don't want all the main characters to die..ever./Well, maybe sometimes. But, I do like it when an author doesn't play it safe and kills off at least of few of them! It ups the stakes. Makes me worry a bit more when I know that anybody could die horribly at any moment. There were few tense moments in this book. All the same, the trilogy as a whole was excellent, and there were some characters that I genuinely enjoyed. So, I guess I'd rate this third book as a "beach read," and give it 3 stars, but the trilogy is a definite 4 star. My thanks to Atria/Emily Bestler and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review.

The United States goes to war against the queen spiders that threaten to overtake the human race forever in this thrilling and horrifying finale of the “captivating, engaging, and completely terrifying” (My Guilty Obsession) internationally bestselling Hatching series.

The world is on the brink of apocalypse. Zero Day has come.

The only thing more terrifying than millions of spiders is the realization that those spiders work as one. But among the government, there is dissent: do we try to kill all of the spiders, or do we gamble on Professor Guyer’s theory that we need to kill only the queens?

For President Stephanie Pilgrim, it’s an easy answer. She’s gone as far as she can—more than two dozen American cities hit with tactical nukes, the country torn asunder—and the only answer is to believe in Professor Guyer. Unfortunately, Ben Broussard and the military men who follow him don’t agree, and Pilgrim, Guyer, and the loyal members of the government have to flee, leaving the question: what’s more dangerous, the spiders or ourselves?

My thoughts
This is at least for me a five star read , it's the last book in what is a really good creepy story , in fact if you haven't already read books 1&2 then you have to, for me reading this series was great because it kept me up all night reading, and kept me pulled into the story , and also reminds me of the old black and white Syfi mounters movies from the 50s and 60s ,so with that said I want to say thinks to NetGalley for giving me a chance at reading and reviewing the last book in a series I love to read

It ends how it starts, boombastically (yes, I know, but this spelling just seems more appropriate) and it's just as much fun. Kudos to Boone for maintaining the quality of this trilogy so evenly. Nice timing too, didn't have to wait too long, the third book came out while the others were still relatively fresh in my memory and I didn't have to try to figure out who's who. And this novel has such a cast of characters, that who's who is really important. With Zero Day Boone picked up all the pot threads, saw them through and tied them up all neatly with a bow. Now the story is complete. This one is definitely action driven, since the character building was pretty much done and now the world needs to be saved. Very entertaining, silly at times like a huge SGI movie, but tons of fun. It would be very interesting to see what the author does after this. Thanks Netgalley.

Zero Day by Ezekiel Boone

I had been waiting for months for this book to come out! Since the moment I finished Skitter I was anxiously awaiting the finale of this series. I loved the first two books of The Hatching series. I thought they were intense, full of action with an interesting plot and just enough gore to make me audibly squeal and cringe in my seat! I hate spiders so I was really intimidated with the first book but could not put it down. I was happy to continue with the second book which kept up that high energy and intensity. Then I finally got Zero Day and I am unbelievably disappointed in this finale. I’m not sure what happened. The other books had me hooked within the first few pages while this one was a struggle to read.

There is very little action and honestly not much of the presence of spiders that the reader was taught to fear in the first two books. We know they are there but the center of the story rest on the interactions of the humans struggling to figure out what to do next, and honestly, they weren’t very interesting. I feel like the plot fell apart where it had once been so structured and well thought out. Boone poured over the smallest details causing the story to drag. Miscellaneous characters that he introduced in the previous books were brought back but they served very little purpose in propelling the story forward. There was a military coup that was supposed to make the reader struggle with right vs. wrong when there was a solution to the problem the entire time. The spiders finally resurfaced near the end of the book, but that was problem was solved almost instantaneously.

This was not the end I was expecting from this series. It took quite a lot for me to even finish this book. I was tempted to put it to the side while reading the first third of the book and pushed through because I genuinely thought that Boone could still pull it off. I’ve reached the end of the novel and am sad to say that this story simply was not pulled together to make strong conclusion. This series limped to the finish line, with an unexpected and unimpressive ending.

I was originally told that the Hatching series was going to be a series of about 5 or 8 books. Much as I like the series, that’s way too much. I mean, there’s only so much you can do with hungry, hungry spiders.

Well, I’m happy to say that somewhere in the publishing universe, the message was received, and we now have the third and final book in what was an excellent series. (A dreaded trilogy is much better than a dreaded octology.)

Honestly, as I read the first two books, I simply had no clue how our author was going to solve this multi-legged problem. I mean when your enemy is legion and completely overwhelms you with venom and fangs and sheer numbers, how do you fight that?

Well, the author manages to come up with something with a very satisfying punch!

I did think he took it a little easy on our characters. Love ‘em as we do, realistically, more of them needed to be spider chow. But I did love meeting them again and if I’m ever facing down millions of hungry arachnids, I know who I want on my side!

However, the ending is very satisfying!

I’m looking forward to whatever chompy goodness the author throws at us next!