A new cold case to solve for Frankie, but this one leaves more questions than answers as you’re transported to Wyoming in the newest book by Lisa Gardner. The setting was different than her usual, but kept me guessing until the very end.

Really enjoy Lisa Gardner's work. This read definitely had me holding my breath and trying hard not to ruin the surprise, by reading ahead. One of my top novels of 2022!

What a creepy cover! This storyline had me gripped and I raced through it...well worth reading :) I can't wait to read more from this author!

5 stars. It’s been a while since I’ve read a book in one sitting. One Step Too Far is a PAGE TURNER! This psychological thriller is not to be missed. A fathers heartbreak. A group of college friends dealing with grief and guilt. One woman’s desire to help find missing persons.
My adrenaline soared as I read this grueling and heart pounding recovery mission through a treacherous mountain range. I connected with every character and connected to each individual story line. I was ready to dive into the next Frankie Elkin adventure immediately following the end of the story. This series is a must read.

A Hunting Trip that’s suspicious

One Step Too Far starts with Frankie Elkin, who has devoted her life in helping people by finding their loved ones and when she finds out about a new case of a boy called Tim, who went missing around five years ago in Wyoming, she decides to become a part of the search party conducted by Tim’s father every year.

This was not a typical mystery thriller kind of book because it was all emotional. You could connect with the characters emotionally and even learn the life of Frankie little by little.

Interesting part of this book starts during the search when there are forces that are stopping this search and meanwhile there are hidden secrets with every member of the team. Frankie connects with us and the team members emotionally and turns this hunting trip memorable yet mysterious.

Overall enjoyed this book a lot.

Thank you to the Dutton Books and Netgalley for the review copy in exchange for an honest review.

"One Step Too Far" is the 2nd book in the Frankie Elkin series, and although I didn't read the first, I never felt that I was out of the loop while reading this novel. That being said, I would like to read the first now that I've been introduced to the series! I highly enjoyed being in the wilderness with this cast of characters, some increasingly suspicious! I think readers will enjoy working out the mystery alongside Frankie as she gets to know/interviews the people surrounding Tim, the missing person in this novel. The fact that all of this is taking place while the group hikes and survives in the wilderness adds to the tension and suspense as the mystery unfolds.

For the majority of the book, I had mixed feelings about whether I'd make it through (my book hangover probably added to this, so I stuck through). Since this is the second book in the Frankie Elkin series, I didn't know what I was getting into and didn't think I needed to read the first; which I still stand behind, but yes there are small backstory details that Gardner drops at random times, making it obvious they come from the first book, and might help in building Frankie's character but doesn't take away from the current plot if you're in the dark.

Gardner is an avid hiker in real life and makes it obvious she does her research; she immerses you in the environment of the wilderness and details of survival when nature (and predators) take control. This is one of the things I almost felt went a little overboard, but I'm also not a rough and gritty nature lover and that could be why. Now as far as character development, Frankie does her role as sleuth and slowly works her way into getting each character to open up about their role and backstory of how they got involved with the expedition; Frankie has a few of her own flashbacks giving us the building blocks of her own development. A majority of the chapters end in suspense which made me want to continue reading, especially when I was teetering on setting the book aside for something else. When things start getting a bit alarming (and deadly) it's all bets off, and really mind-boggling who is behind everything and all these missing hikers; because as a reader we know it has to be someone already mentioned in the story by now. Let me tell you, the way the ending plays out; story saving, can't-believe-I-didn't-guess-it, wouldn't have thought, action-packed goodness that couldn't have been better, (just maybe a tiny bit more condensed). Frankie is going to be one of those series' main characters that keep peeling the layers of her own personality/past while giving us some great adventures.

I'm debating if I enjoyed this more so than the first and I think I did!

This is exactly what I want when I look for a wilderness mystery book. There was drama, there was survival, there was hidden caves and just an overall sense of doom and unknown.

The characters leveled up from the first book. These characters had depth and had fortitude
I was rooting for half of them even when they showed their true colors.

The mystery was at first difficult to figure out but advanced readers can pick up on the hints thrown in very easily.

I hope there is a 3rd book because I am very curious to see where our leading lady travels to and discovers next.

I have been SO EXCITED for this book to come out, and boy it did NOT disappoint.

Frankie Elkin is a relatively new character in the Gardner world, and she is becoming one of my favorite characters to follow. (Although Detective D.D. Warren and Flora will always remain my all time favorite.)

Frankie Elkin has spent her life searching for missing people. She is a quirky, socially awkward character, that surprises you with her cleverness and strength at every turn.

This story follows Frankie searching for Tim O'Day, who disappeared five years earlier on a camping trip with his friends. The setting of the deep mountain hike, while being trapped in the wilderness added so much to my stress levels, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. Especially since hiking would be my personal idea of hell. The cast of characters had you falling in love with them one minute, and then suspecting them for murder the next. The ending was such a shock and I can't wait to see what Frankie does next!!

Overall, Gardner does an exceptional job at building a high intensity thriller, with a goofy and lovable cast of characters. Do not sleep on this book!!

Lisa Gardner does it again! The story of a drifter who specializes in finding missing people, she is drawn to the case of a man who has been gone for 5 years, and joins the search party that sets out to find him one last time. Suspense, adventure, a little bit of horror, and some excellent character arcs all combine to make this a fast-paced, exciting read that you won't want to put down until you know the ending.

Review posted to blog: books-are-a-girls-best-friend.com

Love the storyline and the tension but this one didn’t quite do it for me - and I have a great reason. It’s all about Frankie..

Hear me out Folks!

I’m a huge Lisa Gardner fan. While I haven’t yet read all of her books, I’ve read most of them and will say that Flora Dane is my favorite character of Lisa Gardner’s so far. Having read the prior Frankie Elkin’s book, I admit to being a little disappointed. I didn’t quite feel the same adoration for her, so I went into this one with a bit of trepidation. (I admit, however, that it takes time to love a new character). That said, we all got to know who Frankie was, quite well, in Before She Disappeared. In that book, Frankie was a pretty tough gal, who was kind, yet strong and was a hard nut to crack.

First, let me say that I really enjoyed the storyline in One Step Too Far, including Frankie, aiding in the search for Tim O’Day, who has been missing in the wilderness in Ramsey, Wyoming for over 5 years. Someone doesn’t want him found and they will do anything to stop that from happening.

The tension here never lets up. Full of action, intrigue, and suspense, I was all in! (So was Kaceey! Whoop!)

My issue with this book is with the character of Frankie, herself. Here, Frankie seemed like an entirely different character than she did in Before She Disappeared. It’s true that Frankie was out of her element in the woods, having never really been hiking, camping, or rock climbing before, however, the core elements that made up her character in the prior book were missing here - she was neither mentally strong nor self-assured or even remotely confident in her persons, until the very end of the novel. Simply put, she seemed like an entirely different character altogether. If I ignored that aspect of the book, I enjoyed it immensely. I chalked this up to this only being the second book in the series and the author, Lisa Gardner, not quite having her character fully fleshed out yet, which was unfortunate. I do however look forward to seeing what happens with Frankie Elkins as I think she has potential. (That said, I personally hope Flora Dane’s story isn’t over yet.)

A fantastic buddy read with Kaceey that gave us much to discuss. Kaceey, thank you for listening to my thoughts on this one - especially all of my thoughts on the character of Frankie! You’re the best!
3.65 stars

A big thank you to Penguin Group Dutton for the arc via NetGalley.

Published on Goodreads and Twitter.

Outstanding story. I loved the setting in the Shoshone National Forest. The plot is full of twists and when you think it is over, there is another turn. I liked all the characters they felt very real to me. This is the second book in the Frankie Elkins series. I'm looking forward to the next one.

Wilderness camping takes on a whole new layer of dangers in this story of five young men who celebrate the last days of Tim Oday’s bachelorhood with a camping trip in the wilderness of the Wyoming mountains. Tim disappears and for five years, his father has brought the four remaining men together in a search for Tim’s body. Lisa Gardner has introduced us to the main character, Frankie Elkin in Before She Disappeared. Frankie, a free-spirited recovering alcoholic, sees it as her mission to find missing persons. Unasked she shows up in the small Wyoming town and manages to get included in the mission despite having no experience in black country hiking and camping. The hunt is tense and terrifying as the search party find themselves targets of an unknown assassin. When Frankie finally finds the killer, its even more terrifying in who she uncovers. I really enjoyed the details about back country camping and how cadaver dogs are used in search and rescue, but at times the story seemed to drag a little with the detail.

A special thank you to Dutton/Penguin, Lisa and NetGalley for this review copy! As usual, Lisa never fails to deliver an intense, emotional and amazing read that leaves you wanting more.

Frankie Elkin’s goal is to find the missing. A recovering alcoholic, she’s made it her mission to find those people (dead or alive, though preferably alive) and bring them back to their families. Emotional turmoil a plenty, Frankie has had her share and more of a tough life but, she’s selfless in wanting to give joy to others. In this book, she’s looking for missing hiker, Tim. Tim disappeared while on his bachelor trip with his friends.

I truly enjoyed this read, Lisa is a genius at writing and coming with stories that just make sense and keep the reader wanting more and not wanting the story to end. This is without a doubt, a 5 star read. Highly recommend!

Thanks to Lisa Gardener, Random House and NetGalley for the ARC of One Step Too Far.

When I first picked this one up, I hadn't realised that One Step Too Far was the second in a series, with the main character Frankie Elkin on her second cold case mission, that said, it worked perfectly well as a stand alone text.

Frankie is battling her own demons - a recovered alcoholic who lost the one she loved, She sets out to solve the cold case of a young man who went missing in the woods, something she does as a way to bring closure on her own personal challenges.

5 years ago Tim went camping with friends for his stag do, In the middle of the night, one of the group went missing so he set off to find them. Whilst Scott returned, Tim did not. Every year since, Tim's father Martyn has taken the group back to the woods to try and recover his son's body and learn the truth about his disappearance. With his wife dying from cancer, this is his last chance to learn the truth. But what is the truth and how far will someone go to keep it hidden? Who can you trust?

I loved learning about the back story and relationship between these 5 friends, and the intensity of the woodland setting and the constant threat was really gripping. This book however is LONG and at times I did find myself wanting things to happen a little faster. As such, despite enjoying the book, I felt almost relieved when it ended. It's quite an intense read.

GIVE ME ALL THE FRANKIE BOOKS. I am such a huge Lisa Gardner fan. Beyond book series, I have the most books of hers. I am so excited that the Frankie storyline is continuing. She is such a relatable and accessible character that it's good to read.

I love the setting of One Step Too Far. It's mostly my worst nightmare to be stuck in the woods, which is why I could not put One Step Too Far down. This is a MUST READ book.

One Step Too Far: A Novel (A Frankie Elkin Novel Book 2)
Frankie Elkin is my new favorite character. She doesn't know the woods, but knows how to find people.
Tense, terrifying and a great setting in Wyoming make for a great thriller and the suspense is palpable, plus there is a search & rescue dog! the cast of characters is awesome. AMAZING!

thank you to the publisher for my copy, all thoughts are my own

The second in the series featuring Frankie Elkin, a drifter whose specialty is missing people. This installment was absolutely riveting and conjured images of the Supernatural episode Wendigo. As a very indoorsy person, the great outdoors terrifies me because of how vast and unforgiving Mother Nature can be.

Timothy O'Day disappeared on a bachelor's party trip with his buddies, but he knew the woods...it can't be as simple as getting lost or making a novice mistake. Something sinister is in those woods, something so sinister that Timothy's friends won't even talk about what happened that night.

I got actual anxiety when the trek into the Wyoming wilderness began. The descriptions were so beautifully, painstakingly written, I felt that I was there, hearing the snap of the branches and feeling the abrupt drop in temperature at sundown. I wouldn't last five minutes outdoors, and reading about what the search party endured just about did me in.

If you haven't picked up this series yet, you need to! Frankie is such a deeply flawed, complex character, and the ending of this one *perfectly* paved the way for book three!

One Step Too Far is--yay!-- another novel about Frankie Elkin, the alcoholic middle-aged woman who solves missing person cases. This time, she's venturing into the wilderness and I loved. this. book! Frankie is flawed and amazing and so well written. Kudos to Lisa Gardner for this fantastic and compulsively readable novel!

Within minutes of starting this book, I knew I would have trouble setting it down. It began with a frightening scene of five young male college friends on a bachelor weekend camping in the Wyoming wilderness. What happened would change their lives irrevocably. One Step Too Far is an immersive novel packed with mystery, tension, twists, surprises, a wonderfully vivid and dangerous location and characters that imaginatively support an enthralling story. The story is cleverly structured to keep the momentum high, anxiety taught and twists exciting.

On a stag weekend in the Shoshone National Forest, Tim O’Day and his friends; Neil, Scot, Miguel and Josh, experience a commotion and wailing one night. They take off running only to discover when they reassemble, Tim is missing. In the many searches that followed, Tim was never found, and now at the fifth annual search, there is a mood that this is the last time they will undertake this exercise. Led by Tim’s ferociously driven father Martin, Tim’s friends, Nemeth a local hiking expert, Bob a bigfoot hunter, Luciana and her cadaver dog Daisy, and Frankie Elkin, are the group that will undertake this latest search.

“My name is Frankie Elkin and finding missing people is what I do. When the police have given up, when the public no longer remembers, when the media has never bothered to care, I start looking. For no money, no recognition, and most of the time, with no help ... Why do I do what I do? Because at the end of the day, the people left behind matter as much as the ones who are missing.”

Lisa Gardner has a fantastic ability to introduce a wide array of characters with intriguing backgrounds in a measured way that helps savour the different personalities contributing to the story. Frankie is the main protagonist and a tremendous character that works well in the setting and the life mission she seems to be on. While I appreciated her thought process on the search and how she deals with people, I’m still trying to fully understand why she chooses to manage her income in the way she does. The psychology behind the other characters is fascinating, and the group of friends need to find a way to move forward and get on with their own lives but do they harbour a secret?

The search is full of danger, and it isn’t too long before things start happening that look like someone is trying to jeopardise the search and put everyone’s life in peril. What starts as a hunt for Tim ends with each being hunted.

“Eight people head into the woods. A grieving father, a hiking guide, three college friends, and three semi-professional searchers. On the surface, it makes sense. So why do I have a feeling eight of us won’t be coming back out?”

This is first-class entertainment for thriller lovers, and I highly recommend reading this book. I also want to thank Penguin Group, Dutton and NetGalley for providing a free ARC in return for an honest review.