Zero Day by Jan Gangsei

From Goodreads,

"Eight years ago, Addie Webster was the victim of the most notorious kidnapping of the decade. Addie vanished—and her high-profile parents were forced to move on.

Mark Webster is now president of the United States, fighting to keep the Oval Office after a tumultuous first term. Then, the unthinkable happens: the president’s daughter resurfaces. Addie is brought back into her family’s fold…but who is this sixteen-year-old girl with a quiet, burning intelligence now living in the White House? There are those in the administration who find her timely return suspicious.

When a national security advisor approaches Darrow Fergusson, Addie’s childhood best friend and the son of the president’s chief of staff, he doesn’t know what to think. How could the girl he’s missed for all these years be a threat to the United States? Still, at the risk of having his own secrets exposed, Darrow agrees to spy on Addie.

He soon realizes that his old friend is much more than the traumatized victim of a political fringe group. Addie has come with a mission…but will she choose to complete it?"

Goodreads - Zero Day

Addie was kidnapped as a young child, but returns eight years later.  Her return comes as a shock to her family and the media, especially since her father is the president preparing to run for a second term.  Everyone tries to adjust to Addie being home and Addie tries to adjust to life back in the spotlight.  While everyone is focused on helping Addie get better, Addie is focused on something and someone else entirely, which proves to be a risk to herself and those around her.

This book was so realistic and in sync with what is happening in today's world.  I feel like there is constantly an attack happening on someone, somewhere.  On top of the attacks, there seems to always be a group who is taking credit for what happened.  This book stayed aligned with the idea of a group plotting and carrying out attacks.  There were multiple terrorist groups that were in the book, which really stays true to what is happening in today's world.  I felt like this suspense of who would make the next move kept me turning the pages and reading.  I was constantly trying to piece everything together to figure out what Addie had in connection with Cerberus.  This realistic aspect and the suspense kept me moving forward to solve the mystery before the book ended.

I didn't care for the ending of the book or the way the chapters were written.  I really wish that the chapters had been labeled with who was "writing" the chapter and telling that particular part of the story.  It would have been a much easier way to keep up with characters in the book than having to remember and recall everybody's story and place in the bigger picture.  As for the ending of the book it ended so abruptly that I didn't know what happened to the "bad guys".  I was so frustrated that I didn't get a good closing with them.  The book was definitely written as a stand alone, but was also left with an open ending that could allow for a second book to be written.

This book was tough to read at the beginning.  I really had to push myself to power through the first third of the book.  Once I got past a certain point it really started to take off and get interesting.  The cliffhanger ending really dropped my rating.  I give this book 3.5 stars out of 5.  I would recommend this to anyone wanting a political suspense book.