A year ago I read my first book by Lisa Gardner, Before She Disappeared, and in the review I said it wouldn’t be my last. When the second book in the series about Frankie Elkin, self-appointed missing persons expert, came up on NetGalley, I knew I had to read One Step Too Far.

Frankie is on a bus in Wyoming, heading to her next case — a missing 8-year-old boy in Idaho — when she learns about Timothy O’Day. Tim and his 4 groomsmen were hiking in the Pogo Agie Wilderness 5 years earlier when Tim disappeared. His father, Martin, is leading one last search for his son at the request of his dying wife. Along for the ride are the groomsmen, a search-and-rescue dog and her handler, a Bigfoot expert familiar with wilderness searches, and a local as their guide. When one of the groomsmen suddenly can’t make the trek, Frankie volunteers to take his spot.

While Frankie is an expert at searching for missing people, her expertise lie more in asking questions that others haven’t thought of, and being able to cover areas that law enforcement can’t. She’s out of her element with the hiking, camping, and outdoor experience, not to mention gear, needed for the last-ditch search area terrain.

The supporting cast is an interesting one. Something about the story of what happened the night of Tim’s disappearance doesn’t add up, and Frankie is determined to get to the bottom of it. The friends have agreed to this one last search, but each has their own secrets they’re hiding.

I enjoyed One Step Too Far‘s setting of the Wyoming wilderness — the exact opposite of inner city Boston from the first book — plus the mystery of what happened to Tim, which I did not figure out at all. While Frankie’s alcoholism took less of center stage in this one, we learn more about her childhood and the roots of her drinking.

Whenever I review a book in a series I consider whether reading previous books are necessary for full enjoyment of the new one. In this case, I would say it’s not. I did enjoy Before She Disappeared more, and while events in that book are referenced, I don’t think readers would feel like they’re missing anything by not reading that one first.

If you enjoy thrillers set in the outdoors, secrets, and introspective heroines, check out One Step Too Far.

Even though I didn't read the first book in this series, I fell right into the story. The wilderness...wow...I do not want to go into the wild for a while! I thought this was filled with suspense and creepy moments that made the story really compelling!

One Step too Far
by Lisa Gardner
Pub Date January 18, 2022
Dutton Books
This book was great! I loved the beautiful setting and the characters. My favorite character is Daisy, an adorable yellow lab who also happens to be a phenomenal search and rescue dog. Dog lovers are going to fall in love with her!
Thanks to Dutton Books and NetGalley for the ARC. I am glad to recommend this thoroughly enjoyable and tension-filled, along with a comedy book.
5 stars

I was a huge (HUGE) fan of Before She Disappeared which introduced Frankie Elkin. This is not that book, which was much more layered and complex. That's not a negative and it might actually be a positive because this will work fine as a standalone and hopefully send new readers back to the first. Frankie, who uses her observational and logic skills to find missing people, has attached herself to the search for what are likely the remains of Tim, who disappeared five years ago while on a camping trip with four of his buddies. She's not a camper not a hiker, not from the area but she manages to convince Tim's father Martin and Nemeth the guide that she can hold her own. Also on the trip are Louisa and her search dog Daisy and Bob the Bigfoot hunter. Bad things happen in the woods. Very bad. What does the group find? Will all of them make it? No spoilers from me but keep alert. It's well paced and twisty enough to keep you guessing. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. While it wasn't what I expected, I very much enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to more searches with Frankie.

This is one of the easiest 5 stars ever. It's my first Lisa Gardner book and by Chapter 5 I knew I wanted to read the rest of them. One Step Too Far has had me on the edge of my seat, it has distracted me from work, it has kept me up well past my bedtime. I have laughed, I have cried.

This is Gardner's second novel with Frankie Elkin, the semi-pro self-proclaimed missing persons finder, as the main character. The setting is small town Wyoming, where multiple missing people have created concern. Elkin steps into the picture just as a rag-tag search party is being assembled. The trigger event is a bachelor party/camping trip that ended in disaster several years ago, and the party has never gotten over their friend's loss. The characters are as finely drawn as Gardner's earlier works, their interactions make for a compelling read, and yes, there is an adorable dog as part of the search and rescue team. Elkin says that searching "is my gift, this is my curse. I joined seven people I never knew, and within a matter of days, I learned, loved and lost. And yet I am a loner, belonging to no one. For all the hiking through the woods, the novel is fast paced and filled with lots of action, as the team confronts one threat after another. I highly recommend this book and hope you will become a big Gardner fan as I have.

I am a ravenous readers for the kind of stories Gardner produces. One Step Too Far is a heart stopping, blood pounding kind of read. I like Frankie. A woman alone, itinerant self professed finder of lost people, she has her own demons to slay. I loved the setting of Wyoming. Reading this was like watching an action packed film. I pressed on to discover who was behind the killings. I cheered Frankie on during the entire book. But my favorite character was Daisy, the SARS canine. Dogs rule.
Don’t overstep by not reading this book.

Frankie Elkin joins a team of people on the trail of a young man who went missing five years earlier. As they travel deeper into the remote area of Devil's Canyon, Frankie begins to think they will not survive to find the answers they are searching for. Another tense and intriguing thriller filled with well written characters, lies, secrets and a deadly landscape that had me looking over my shoulder for what might be lurking behind me. You won't want to put this one down!

WOW!
What a thoroughly taut, tense, and engaging mystery. It is filled with breath-holding chases through the back country of Wyoming. I was engrossed from beginning to end and hope that readers will be equally as captivated as I was.
NOTE: No harm comes to Daisy the dog.

This is the second book featuring Frankie Elkin, who I am so glad that Gardner brought back for another installment. She's a complex woman with a driving mission to help find missing people, and she'll use any means necessary to bring closure to the family. She hears the story of a young man who disappeared in a national forest five years previously during a drunken bachelor party weekend. His friends, father, and some other searchers are headed out to find his remains, and Frankie joins the group. It becomes clear that they aren't alone, and that everyone is hiding something.

I couldn't turn the pages fast enough to find out what was going to happen and hoping that everyone from the group would survive. There's a large cast of characters and it was difficult for me to keep them straight at first, but eventually I got to know all of them and was moved by their different struggles. I also liked how their lives caused Frankie to ponder her own life and choices.

There is so much tense action throughout, but it is also tempered by some humor and real heart. I loved Frankie in the first book, and I love her even more now. Just as Gardner's other characters have become integral parts of my reading life, Frankie now holds a place of honor along with D.D., Tessa, Quincy, Rainie, and the rest. This book can totally be read as a standalone, but why would you want to do that? Go get a copy of Before She Disappeared and get to know Frankie from the beginning.

“A KNOCKOUT!” Frankie Elkin steals the show for the best female heroine and series for 2022!

One of my favorite authors, Lisa Gardner returns following BEFORE SHE DISAPPEARED where we met Frankie Elkin #1. We fell in love with the tough but compassionate sleuth in an urban setting, and now she returns in ONE STEP TOO FAR (Frankie Elkin #2) —to the remote mountain wilderness of Wyoming.

Name: Frankie Elkin
Loner. Introvert. Addict. Alcoholic. Sober 10 yrs.
Driven. Street smart. Compassionate. Tough. Intuitive.
Haunted past. Leads a nomadic high-risk lifestyle.

Occupation: Find missing people. Solves cold cases. (dead or alive)

Everything she owns fits in one suitcase. Owns an old flip phone. No iPhone, computer, tablet. No car, office, home, or family. Old school, An unpaid position. No recognition is desired.

Setting: Ramsey, Wyoming
Shoshone National Forest | Devil’s Canyon

Missing Person: Timothy O’Day
6’2” 180 lbs. Age 33 | Went missing 5 yrs ago mountains/bachelor party camping trip.

Hike/Search Team: Who will survive?
Martin O’Day (father)
Nemeth (experienced hiker-leader)
Daisy (Cadaver dog-yellow lab)
Luciana (handler)
Bob (bigfoot hunter)
Tim’s friends (former groomsmen)
Scott, Neil, Miguel. Josh, in hospital. Too drunk to go
Frankie Elkin (least wilderness experience)

After the last book, Frankie spent time in the inner-city neighborhood of Boston; there have been many cases and families calling out to her to find their sons or daughters.

One case which she has read about intrigues her. She was not invited but showed up. She is not prepared with the proper equipment or the fitness training for such an expert wilderness hike for a 7-day trek into the Shoshone National Forest | Devil’s Canyon. She gets on a bus and heads to Ramsey, Wyoming.

Timothy O’Day has not been seen since he went missing 5 yrs ago in these mountains at his bachelor party camping trip. Each year on the anniversary, the dad, Martin organizes a search party. At the moment, his wife is dying of cancer and her last wish is to find her boy so she can be buried next to him.

Eight people, including Frankie, are part of the search team and Daisy the Cadaver dog-yellow lab. Frankie winds up taking Josh’s place and his equipment. Even though she is the least experienced in the wilderness, she has determination and tenacity.

Frankie is intelligent. She possesses excellent interview and people skills. She begins by spending time with each of her fellow hikers to gather more info. Soon into their hike, strange things begin happening with their food and provisions, wild animals, and secrets surfacing about that night. They have no cell phone reception and no way to get help.

TRUST NO ONE! Nothing is as it appears. Soon Frankie discovers that the most significant danger is not the wilderness but the seven others on their team who hiked into it.

Who will survive and be left standing? Frankie had not considered that there may be more bodies than the one they were searching for.

WOW! This is one INTENSE book. Dark evil secrets of the past are unraveled. The setting is atmospheric and claustrophobic. If you are an avid hiker like myself, ONE STEP TOO FAR will have you thinking hard about the next time to tackle the wilderness alone (in this case, you cannot trust the people you are with).

I LOVE FRANKIE! Lisa Gardner has outdone herself with the creation of Frankie to add to her list of tough-driven female characters and series like: Det. DD Warren, FBI Kimberly Quincy, and Vigilante Flora Dane. (A huge fan —I have read all her books)

Combine Lisa’s killer talent and these top-notch characters, plus they are plot and character-driven = masterpiece. The best crime thriller author out today.

SERIES ADAPTATION: So EXCITED! We already know Hilary Swank is to star In & EP ‘Before She Disappeared’ Series Adaptation From eOne (if you have not read #BeforeSheDisappeared do so now and meet the heroine Frankie Elkin).

If you loved her in #1, you will devour her in #2. This series joins the others. Lisa has brilliantly created and cannot wait for more Frankie! Wilderness, hiking, murder, cold case, mountains? What is not to love? Cannot wait to see where she lands next! Please, let there be more books in the series, or Lisa, please put Frankie on a case with DD and Flora!

I read this one in one sitting and was excited to catch up with Frankie Elkin - what a series! Thank you #NetGalley and #Dutton for a digital ARC. Heart-pounding riveting suspense!

I also pre-ordered a signed first edition hardcover copy (pre-order at Barnes and Noble while supplies last). I also pre-ordered the audiobook narrated by the fab Hillary Huber. Get this on your list, now. Top Books of 2022!

Check out my review and my interview with Lisa with Before She Disappeared (Frankie Elkin #1). Highly recommend all her books and this series.

Blog Review ONE STEP TOO FAR (Frankie Elkin #2)
www.JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins
#JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 ++
Top Books of 2022

One Step Too Far is the second book in Lisa Gardner’s Frankie Elkin series. You don’t have to read the first novel (Before She Disappeared) to follow this one, but it does contain spoliers for the previous book.

As wild bachelor parties go, it wasn’t much of one. Just some guys, some brews, some tents and a whole lot of the Wyoming wilderness. But sometime in the night, one of the groomsmen wanders off and groom-to-be Tim O’Day, the only experienced woodsman in the group, sets off to find him – and disappears himself. Search parties go out, the original missing man is found - but five years later Tim is still missing without a trace.

Frankie Elkin looks for missing people. When the search parties have stopped, when the police budget doesn’t allow for more man hours - that’s when Frankie steps in. She reads in the paper that Tim’s mother is dying, that her only wish is to be buried near her son, that his father Martin is launching one final search to bring his boy back, and Frankie makes a snap decision to join the recovery party to find  Tim’s remains. She jumps on the next bus headed toward Ramsey, Wyoming. She doesn’t have much wilderness experience but she’s darn good at locating misplaced humans.

Frankie’s journey begins on an ominous note. Hitching a ride from the bus station to the diner where the search is being launched, she learns from the local giving her a lift that a lot of people go missing in those particular woods. Be careful, she is advised. Be wary. There is an unnamed danger stalking the area.

It isn’t long before Frankie can give first hand testimony to that fact. Once they head out, their party faces obstacle after obstacle until it is all too clear that theirs is an ill fated expedition. The question now isn’t whether or not they will find Tim’s remains. It is whether or not they themselves will become the subjects of a missing person search - and if so, will it be down to  bad luck or is someone deliberately sabotaging the team?.

Ms. Gardner, as always, does a fabulous job with her pacing, moving us along so briskly in the story that it is an almost non-stop adrenaline ride. Moments where she gets bogged down by the difficulties of roughing it in the Wyoming mountains/woods can slow the story down on occasion but the action is so addictive the reader can power through those easily even if they, like me, aren’t that fond of survival in the wild-style details.

The secondary characters are brilliantly handled. Frankie is part of a search party of eight - three of the original bachelor party (Scott, Miguel and Neil), Martin, Luciana and her cadaver dog Daisy, Bob (a bigfoot hunter who is more at home in nature than the city) and guide Nemeth. Each has a unique, well-drawn personality and the author does a fabulous job of utilizing the situation they are in to show us who they are, help us see how they fit together and let that knowledge influence how we see the events unfolding. We are attached to them and worried for them as the unknown danger stalks them along their journey, but we are also suspicious of them, especially the three friends from the original camping trip. Is one of them the reason Tim didn’t come home? And if so, why?

Frankie is her usual irascible, tenacious self. She solves crimes by being methodical but also by a near magical gift of being able to tell when people are lying to her and manuvering them into a position where they want to tell her the truth. The setting of rough, dangerous terrain and forced intimacy due to being the only eight people for miles and miles plus the natural tensions in the group set Frankie up for some natural - and very enlightening - tête-à-têtes.

My only complaint with the story is the believability factor regarding the finale. I obviously can’t go into details about the ending but I could only think as I finished the book that it was completely unrealistic and unbelievable. Completely. I didn’t even have to take a moment to think about it - as I read it, I was thinking, “Nope.”

Fortunately, that’s just the last few pages. For the large bulk of the book One Step Too Far  is a fascinating, engrossing, thrilling and chilling mystery that will keep you reading late into the wee hours. I recommend it to fans of the author as well as anyone who enjoys a good suspense story.

Buy it at: Amazon, Audible or your local independent retailer

Visit our Amazon Storefront

As a Lisa Gardner fan who enjoyed “Before She Disappeared “, I didn't find this to be quite as good. The plot didn't catch me and I felt that the story was rushed. Lisa Gardner has done better.

This book is a true 3.5 stars for me, but would actually round up for review purposes. This is the second book in the Frankie Elkin series, but can be read first without feeling lost as the author does a great job giving you the background of Frankie Elkin. The only negative to reading this first is getting clues to figuring out how the first book ended. The first half of this book I flew through it, it had my attention from the start and was fast paced. Around 50-60% it slowed down for me a bit because I just wanted to get to the end as fast as I could, and of course the ending flew by. Only thing I can say is I'm definitely not rushing to go camping in the wilderness after reading this.

This is the second book in Gardner’s new Frankie Elkin series and I definitely think you could start with this because she does a great job of providing enough back story for Frankie, the missing person investigator from book 1 Before She Disappeared. Frankie’s passion is searching for the missing and in this story she travels to Wyoming to help with the case of a man who went missing 5 years before in a national forest. That’s really all you need to know about the plot- things take off very quickly once frankie arrives, there’s a large group of searchers- some who may be harboring old secrets and grudges and the suspense builds in layers and complexity. If you like mysteries and serial killers stories set in the wilderness this is for you. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole story but will say I found myself confused and not quite fully buying the resolution as far as motives go. I had to re read parts and that didn’t really alleviate my confusion but that’s a minor criticism

I did not read the first book about Frankie so I wasn’t sure what to expect but it was not this intense wilderness thriller.

“My name is Frankie Elkin,” I state. “I specialize in working missing persons cold cases. And I’d like to help to bring your son home.”

Timothy O’Day went missing on a bachelor camping trip five years ago and has never been seen again. His father has come to search for him to fulfill his mother’s dying wish.

Suspicion and danger are everywhere. Frankie like all new main characters by this author had to grow on me and by the end I was totally in her corner.

Lisa Gardner has long been one of my favorite suspense authors. Her stories are edgy and not always for the faint of heart but no matter what she writes it’s always holds you in it’s grip and doesn’t let go until the shocking ending that you’ll never see coming.

Thank you to Dutton Publishers for an advanced e-copy of this book.

This is the second book in the Frankie Elkin series. I can't believe how explosive this book was. 8 hikers head in to the wilderness to look for one of the hiker's missing son, Tim. Things quickly begin to go south and members of the hiking team begin to get hurt / go missing. Once I got familiar with all the characters, I found it pretty easy to determine who was who.

The book was especially intense the last 25% and the ending was pretty surprising!

I love Frankie. She is fantastic. The snark, the fight, the stubbornness. And the whole cast of characters were brilliant

I was pleasantly surprised that this was more thriller than procedural.

The only thing that kind bugged me was the ending was drawn out. I had an idea of how it would play out and and I learned a long time ago that doesn't make for a bad book. It just means I read too much lol.

But it IS in the execution and I just would have liked I snappier and twister reveal. The way it played out was a bit drawn out.

I loooooooove this series. The emphasis on cold cases makes it very interesting and Frankie's tenacity and ability to draw people out makes this spellbinding. This is a departure from the first book. It has Frankie in a more tenuous and threatened environment. In this story she is more raw and less of a know it all kind of. This time she may have bitten off more than she can chew when she's thrust into the wilderness of Devil's Canyon and has never been hiking. The amount of detail in the story makes you feel every bit of dirty and sweat and muscle ache she feels as she joins the search for Tim. He disappeared after a bachelor party and hasn't been seen in five years. The 4 remaining memver of the party, his father, and guides embark on one lost expedition to retrieve him. Except Frankie can feel someone watching them from the moment they step into the wilderness. In all honesty we spent too much time in the wilderness every time I thought we would be getting out, it started all over again. It felt never ending but Gardner spreads out the twists and turns of this story into an unforgettable, daunting, and gory story. I did not see that ending coming.

While I didn’t enjoy this one as much as the first book in the series “Before She Disappeared “ this was still a good, solid read. I would give it 3.5 stars but I rounded down instead of up on,y because I had high hopes for this going in and it didn’t quite get there for me.
Frankie is still doing what she does, which is finding missing cold case people. She finds herself constantly on the move, and at one point reads a Wyoming newspaper article about a man who’s been missing for 5 years and his family & friends who go every year in and search for him. So Frankie decided that this is her next case and she gets on the bus and heads to meet the family. The mother is dying of cancer, the father is obsessed with finding answers and the friends who went camping with him when he went missing are a mess of issues. As per usual, Frankie is good at listening and getting people to talk, and as such, she finds out that there’s a lot more to the story of how Tim went missing and she sets out to join the search party, including Daisy a trained cadaver dog. While doing so, secrets come to light, and Frankie learns to face some of her past as well.
This was an interesting look at life in the wild and those who are into hiking and camping will enjoy the setting of this story. As someone who hasn’t done a lot of either, I learned a few things.
Can’t wait to see what Frankie gets up to next.
Publication date: January 18, 2022
Thanks to Dutton Books and Netgalley for this Arc in exchange for my review.

One Step Too Far by Lisa Gardner is the 2nd book in her Frankie Elkin series. I have read a few series by Gardner, and I think she is one of the best authors who write suspense thrillers, as I have loved all her books.

Frankie Elkin, our heroine, is the star of this series; she is a recovering alcoholic, who devotes all of her time to find missing people that are cold cases. Over the years she has found 15 people, with the majority not found alive. When she reads about a woman who is dying, and wants to be buried next to her presumed dead son, Tim, who disappeared 5 years ago; she learns that a group is planning to do another search, and Frankie decides to join them. The experienced group consists of the missing boy’s father, the four boys who went camping together 5 years ago, a woman and her cadaver dog, the local wilderness expert, and a bigfoot expert. When Frankie approaches them, at first, they do not want her, even if one tells them she does find missing people; but one of the boys gets sick, they allow Frankie to become part of the search.

The difficult trek into the woods has them all exhausted, but Martin, the father, pushes them to keep going. In a short time, things change, as overnight they are being sabotaged (food stolen, camp in disarray, etc.); and they realized that someone is out to stop them from continuing the journey. The story was set in the Shoshone National Forest, which became creepy each passing day, especially after they learn many more people were missing over the years.

I loved Daisy, who was the perfect search and rescue dog, and her handler, Luciana; with Frankie becoming closer to them. Frankie is a great heroine, as she is tough, street savvy, smart and tenacious. She makes sure to talk and question all the other members of the group, to get her feel of what really happened, as well as being concerned by who is now hunting them.

The last half of the book was a tense, scary, exciting thriller that kept me glued to my kindle, especially with everyone fighting for survival, and the danger escalates as slowly one by one they fall. Who will survive? Who is the villain?

What follows is an amazing, action-packed, exciting & intense thriller, where Frankie finds herself in some dangerous situations, as she desperately tries to survive in the wilderness. As we get closer to the end, there are a number of surprises and twists, which had me on the edge of my seat.
Once again, Lisa Gardner gives us a fabulous intense exciting story, that was very well written. As noted previously, you can never go wrong reading Lisa Gardner, who always writes fantastic suspense psychological thrillers. I suggest you read One Step Too Far, which was a fantastic story.