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.

I really liked this book. Frankie is a recovering alcoholic who goes around the country to solve missing persons cases. She doesn't ask to be paid, she just wants to help others. In this story, she ends up in Wyoming to find a man in his early 30's who disappeared when he and 4 of his long time friends went on a backpacking bachelor weekend. Every year the father of the missing man spends a week looking for his son in the wild of Wyoming. Frankie worms her way in to be part of the group to look for him or his remains. The group of eight which includes the groomsmen, the father and some experienced guides/trackers hike out into the wilderness and that's when things get weird. Nobody who is who them seem and it's up to Frankie to figure this out. Lots of twists and turns. Once I got started reading I couldn't put it down. Very suspenseful and lots of surprises.

(Sorry, posted before coffee and clicked on the wrong book! Review of One Step Too Far coming soon!)

Frankie Elkin, who searches for missing people, learns of a young man who goes missing in a national forest. Every official agency has given up the search, but his father will not. Frankie joins the group of searchers including his father because she can feel his pain. While hiking in the mountains, something doesn't seem right. It seems them there is someone who doesn't want them to go further. Food is being stolen and they feel that they are being watched. Who will survive? A page-turner with a likeable character, I can't wait for the next installment.

If you are looking for an instant 5 star read, look no further.

As per always, Lisa Gardner, has given us yet another twisted and mind blowing book.

I am a HUGE fan of Lisa Gardner and have read every one of her prior novels. One Step Too Far was a gripping, fast pace read that kept my attention the entire time . The writing style is perfect and very well done.

From the minute I started reading I felt as though I was in a constant trance, anxiously awaiting to see how the next page would unfold. There was no way I could put this book down once I had started.

Frankie, has had a complicated past, although she has struggled, she has used that to push her onward and upward. Frankie is a character you fall in love with and you will find yourself rooting for her every step of the way.

I don't want to give away any spoilers so I will leave you with this, if you do not purchase this book, you will be missing out !

I absolutely love Frankie! The first book in this series, Before She Disappeared, took place in a gritty part of Boston where Frankie was a bartender and searching for a young girl. This book takes place in the mountains of Wyoming where Frankie joins a search party for a man missing after his camping bachelor party, Highly suspenseful, edge of your seat and I did not want to put it down. Bring on more Frankie Elkin books!

FRANKIE ELKIN DOES IT AGAIN!
I have read Lisa Gardner’s books for years but my favorite lately have to be Frankie Elkin! I love everything about her character and she’s a badass!!

This novel is nightmarishly real! Stranded in a forest, hiking where wild animals live and hunt, without hiking experience, while being hunted…dark and eerie!

I loved the characters and pictured every scene like a movie in my head.

I can picture the diner, the friend group, the diner owner, the father, and my favorite, Bob. Every person was clear in my mind based off description and other than Frankie, every person was a suspect.

LOVED! 5 STARS!!!

This second installment in Gardner’s new series starring cold-case solver Frankie Elkin is a page turner from the beginning. Recovering alcoholic Elkin seeks out cases around the country that have been abandoned by officials and works to help to solve them. In One Step Too Far, Elkin turns her attention to the disappearance of Tim O’Day 5 years prior while on a camping trip with friends in a remote area of a national forest in Wyoming. She joins the 5th anniversary search party and heads out into the rugged wild, quickly realizing that almost everyone in the search party is hiding something. Gardner’s choice of setting makes this book and creates an almost constant feeling of dread as Elkin works to understand what happened to Tim O’Day and why. This book kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time I was reading it. Loved it!

Wow. I grew up reading Lisa Gardner’s books – I shared them with my mom, with my grandmother, and we all LOVED them. Mystery novels were my first love for reading – but it’s been awhile since I’ve read a 5 star mystery novel.

Lisa Gardner knocked this one out of the part. A lot of the time with mysteries, it takes awhile to build up to what happened, but not in this one. This one started immediately and maintained the high suspense nearly the entire time – not revealing any of the impactful secrets until the last few chapters of the book. I didn’t want to put it down. My mom COULDN’T put it down. And even though I guessed the killer on a complete fluke, it was an incredible story to read.

For a bit of detail: four groomsmen follow a soon-to-be groom into the woods for a bachelor party of sorts, but only four of them return. The groom is missing and search parties reveal nothing. Turns out, the events that transpired are not exactly as the groomsmen once claimed they were, but even still, there’s more going on within the woods than just a disappearing man. Six or so similar cases have transpired in these woods, with the people and bodies never to be seen or heard from again. Enter Frankie. Frankie Elkin loves to find people. Usually with the use of a computer and her people-person skills, but entering into a high-risk hike with complete strangers? Sure, why not. And when Frankie is present, all the secrets come pouring out, whether anyone wants to hear them or not.

If you haven’t read Lisa Gardner’s books, please change that. While a second in a series, this book can be read as a stand alone and I urge everyone who likes, loves, or is interested in mystery novels to pick this one ASAP!

I liked this book. It was a bit slow to start but really picked up. If you like Lisa Gardner books then I’d highly recommend this one

Another missing persons case this time in the wilderness of the mountains sets the scene for an adventure not to be forgotten. When a group of strangers set out to trace the last steps of a missing young man none of them can imagine the horrors that await them both physically and mentally.

After reading Before She Disappeared last year and loving it, I knew I had to read book #2 of that series which was released last month. I wasn't disappointed. This new one can be read as a stand alone as there is a good amount of information about Frankie Elkin, her past and her obsession with finding people who have gone missing. Instead of a Boston setting we move with Frankie to the Wyoming wilderness.

Frankie Elkin is a recovering alcoholic and a troubled soul who has been roaming the country trying to help locate people who have gone missing. It's the cold cases that the authorities have all but given up on that call her to action. Her latest travels brings her to Ramsey, Wyoming where a young man named Tim O'Day had gone missing while he and his buddies were on a bachelor party weekend camping and drinking outing in the national forest five years earlier. Tim's mother is now dying of cancer and his father Martin, wants one final attempt to find the couple's son. A party of eight, along with a cadaver dog named Daisy are about to begin what will prove to be a most frightening ordeal. It quickly appears that some of them may not escape this wilderness alive.

From the very first lines of this book I was riveted:
THE FIRST THREE MEN CAME stumbling into town shortly after ten A.M., babbling of dark shapes and eerie screams and their missing buddy Scott and their other buddy Tim, who set out from their campsite before dawn to get help.

"Bear, bear, bear," the first guy moaned.

"Mountain lion!" the second guy insisted.

Third guy vomited.

Frankie Elkin is a wonderful character, she damaged yet she feels deeply and suffers guilt and remorse over things that have happened in the past. There are very specific details about wilderness survival, clothing, equipment, things needed in an emergency - all that was fascinating to someone like me who has always made it a point to stay out of the woods. I loved the dynamics between the characters, most of them have changed and suffered in some way since Tim's disappearance. Frankie is a newbie to this group and, of course, she's an outsider that needs to observe and carefully weigh what she says and does to this group of strangers. Bad things happen deep in these woods and the tension and wonder about who will survive this ordeal and whether Tim or his remains be found was always on my mind as I read. I thought this book was very good and I loved that this one had an ending that I hadn't thought about as well. Don't miss this new series.

Rating - 4.5/5 stars

Wow. I wasn't sure what I was jumping in to with this book - I didn't realize it was a book 2 until I was a ways in but decided to push ahead because by then I was already hooked.

This book was a wild ride. A bit of a slow burn in the way of suspense but honestly, the wait was sooo worth it. I was transfixed by the setting thinking - how in the world will this go down? And I was not ready (in the best way).

I found Gardner's writing to be easy to get lost in. Her main character to be relatable and real. Her details to be tight and useful, creating suspense without trying too hard. I also really like the wilderness aspect of it and the cast of characters she created. I truly cared for them all by the end of the book.

If you can look past the rather excessive F-bombs, don't mind some description of wound care etc., but love a great suspense set in the wildness - this is the book for you!

!! There is quite a bit of language and some graphic scenes described.

My rating: 4.5*

___

Thanks to NetGalley for this advanced copy - all opinions are my own.

*Thank you to Penguin Random House, Lisa Gardner, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

Previously published at https://www.mysteryandsuspense.com/one-step-too-far/

“Maybe in this case, it’s not about asking the right questions or having an ear for the wrong answers. Maybe it’s simply that I know and accept in ways most never do that for everything going on in this nearly impenetrable wilderness. The biggest danger comes from the eight humans who just hiked into it.” –Frankie Elkin, One Step Too Far
Frankie Elkin is my new hero. Another version of the famous Kinsey Milhone, with few friends, few regrets, and the heart of a wanderer, Frankie searches for missing people long after they disappear, when everyone else has given up. I haven’t read the first book in the new series by Lisa Gardner, but it is the next on my list. One Step Too Far has Frankie on the search for Tim O’Day, who has been missing for five years in the Popo Agie Wilderness in Wyoming. She joins a yearly search crew, headed up by Tim’s grieving father, Martin, when one member of the crew falls ill the night before the search begins.
Tim went missing five years ago, while camping with his four college buddies, as a bachelor party, before he married the love of his life. Frankie is on the team with the man’s three remaining college buddies, Tim’s dad, a local wilderness expert, a Bigfoot hunter with a big heart, and a Search and Rescue member and her cadaver dog, Daisy. Frankie learns quickly that, except for Daisy, each person is carrying a multitude of secrets. Quickly into the book, the search team becomes the hunted and Frankie must use her survival skills to get off the mountain and to safety before she becomes the next missing person.

Sometimes in novels, when there is a large group of people to identify with, it’s hard to learn what each person is about. Gardner does an amazing job with Frankie interviewing each character, several of whom are not happy to be there at all. By the end of the book, I cared about each one of them. Especially the three friends Tim had been with when he disappeared. Instantly cold to Frankie as the new person, she found that individually she was able to get them to open up to her about what happened and who Tim O’Day really was. As the story progresses, and they start to include her and her quirkiness, the reader cares about all of them. Even without reading the first book in the series, Gardner writes as if Frankie is a friend that we care about and get to know. Some of her history is explained throughout and we understand why she does what she does and how she is so successful at it; 16 successful expeditions. It is difficult to put into words how much we care, as the reader, rooting for the underdog to be safe and make it down the mountain, knowing she is battling an unknown killer.

I loved this book and read it in two sittings. It has everything you could ask for in a great mystery; secrets, suspense, excellent pace, and great characters. There is a twist at the end that will make the reader go back and read certain parts until it all makes sense. I am anxiously awaiting another Frankie Elkin novel to devour. One Step Too Far was published 01/18/2022 and I am definitely giving copies to all of my friends.

Solid showing by Gardner with this latest Frankie Elkin story. This one started off a bit slow for me but by the middle I was in it and had a hard time putting it down.

I loved the band of brothers we meet in this story. If only we could all have friends like that. And Daisy, oh Daisy! I found some of Frankie’s reflections on her past to be a little repetitive and over dramatic at times, perhaps for the reader who wasn’t familiar with the character in the first novel. I get it, but I have to confess I found myself skimming those sections. I do like the recovering alcoholic part of her character and feel like that explains a lot of why she is the way she is.

The ending was a bit ScoobyDoo-ish, but that’s ok. I don’t read fiction for realism. I loved the wrap up and will be back for the next Frankie installment. Definite recommend for anyone who enjoys a straightforward, entertaining thriller. (And for those looking for a break from the oh-too-common psychological thrillers of late.)

Thank you to Netgalley who provided the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

When the prolific Lisa Gardner introduced a new character, people-finder Frankie Elkin, in last year’s “Before She Disappeared,” I was picturing the TV series (and wishing for it) even before I finished the book. Turns out, I thought like Hilary Swank, who will play Frankie and plans to produce a just-announced adaptation. (No word on where or when.)

Meanwhile, Gardner brings Frankie back in “One Step Too Far” (Dutton, 410 pages, $27), due out Jan. 18. This second in the series finds Frankie — a jobless, essentially homeless recovering alcoholic who has made it her life work to find missing persons, if only to give their families closure — on the move again. From inner-city Boston, where she toyed with a relationship with a sympathetic cop, Frankie heads for the wilds of Wyoming to find a hiker missing five years. She is not, to understate the matter, suited for the wilderness.

Going along with her, however, is riveting. I enjoyed every bit of “One Step Too Far,” from Frankie’s resourcefulness in unfamiliar territory to the quirky crew (a Bigfoot hunter?) with which she teams up for the search. Especially the cadaver dog.

A thank you to Netgalley for sharing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I don't have a lot to say about this one. I'm a much bigger fan of Gardner's harder edge DD Warren & Flora Dane series as well as several of her standalones. I didn't much care for the first book in this new series (strained credulity a bit too much) and while this definitely required a lot of just go with the flow during particular scenes, I thought it was a lot more fun and I appreciated this rugged mystery. A fun, fast read when you just want to chill. Likely good on audio.

4 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

One Step Too Far gripped me from the opening paragraph. The disappearance of a young man in a national forest has long gone cold by local law enforcement, but his father refuses to give up the search. Frankie Elkin (Before She Disappeared) agrees to join the search party. No stranger to cold cases, Frankie realises quickly that there is more to this than a simple missing man. The track becomes increasingly dangerous as someone tao sabotage the search and the father faces threats. Tensions simmer en route as the search becomes increasingly more difficult and moods become dark on the team. The truth behind the missing man's disappearance is not simple. Frankie is up against time and something more sinister. A thrilling read. #onesteptoofar #lisagardner #Netgalley

I really enjoyed this second book in the Frankie Elkin series! Lisa Gardner never disappoints. I loved the atmospheric tone and the nods to the first book. It can be read as a stand-alone as well, which is a testament to Gardner's writing ability. It did feel a bit long winded towards the end, but the twist was one I did not see coming! I would definitely recommend this one to friends and family.