This is part of a series but can be read as a standalone.
The atmosphere is so tense. I also liked the characters.
A great read full of twists

The book was archived before our group could download it. We are sure that we would have enjoyed the book judging from the reviews it has received.

I love Lisa Gardner and have always enjoyed her books. This was another great one that I really enjoyed. Highly recommended.

I like this author. She writes good books that will keep you reading. I took slightly longer to get into this one but please persevere as suddenly it’s an absolutely brilliant read. I’ve read it in 2 sittings and can’t wait for her next book!

Absolutely brilliant read from the very first page to the last, I could not put this down. This was great as I was going through a time where I could not really get into reading and this helped get my flow back this was really well written with good characters. With a few twists and turns, I would highly recommend this book.

I really enjoyed this book. I wasn't sure it was going to be my kind of read but I kept with it and soon I couldn't put it down! I needed to find out what had happened to Tim who had gone missing five years previous. I liked finding out about the lives and points of view of Tim's friends. Overall, a good read.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC - It's a good thing I've downloaded all my books ahead of time before they were all archived. I know it's late but here is my review.

Lisa Gardner is one of my auto buy authors and this novel did not disappoint at all. It does not happen in her usual setting of New England but in a the Wyoming mountains and forests. Of course it still has her mind blowing plots and flawless character development but it felt different from her other books (awesome different though). This is part of the Franke Elkin series which I'm a fan of as well. Gardner doesn't fail to build up the tension and throwing in some elements of distraction. She gives just enough breadcrumbs for readers to follow throughout the ending. I would highly recommend this book and can't wait more books in this series.

Really enjoyed this second book in the Frankie Elkin series. The concept of a woman trying to find herself by finding missing people is strong and revelatory and Gardner keeps the series fresh by taking us away from the inner city and into a hostile wood and cliffy hiking region - two such very different environments can do nothing other than create a very different dynamic and allow Frankie's character to blossom as she faces adversity in nature as well as of the human variety.

Gardner keeps the clues coming and ratchets up the tension nicely by creating diversions and muddying the waters on occasiopn. Secrets kept for many years, grief and guilt feature strongly in this narrative and I have to confess that my one attempt at guessing the killer was flawed.
I think the best part of this series is Elkin herself. A woman filled with tragedy seeking to assuage her guilt and to make up for past wrongs makes her both powerful and very vulnerable. Her dogged determination to improve , her focus in the face of adversity whilst still allowing th reader access to her vulnerability make her a true hero in my eyes. Can't wait for book 3 in this series.

A great second book. I would highly recommend people to pick up book 1 and 2 and speed through them. It is a good mystery with lots of twists.

Note; Nothing happens to the dog - Always my biggest fear in books

Absolutely brilliant read from the very first page, I could not put this down. Really well written with fabulous characters I would highly recommend this book.

I started this after experiencing the biggest book slump and I can tell you, this UNPUTDOWNABLE read instantly broke that. Immediately hooked, not only was this hard to put down, it was impossible to: a novel I read into the small hours, happily, just to know a little more about the secrets in those woods.

My second, and THE second, Frankie Elkin book, but I've essentially read every other book by Lisa Gardner; this was up there with one of my favourites from this incredible author. The survivalist spin might not be for everyone - I wasn't even sure it would be for me - but it was fascinating. The research that has gone into this was clear throughout making this subversive and, quite frankly, educational. (I've actually done more research into the subjects in this novel more after reading!)

A lot of characters but all unique and developed well throughout, Gardner ensures, as always, that the reader knows everyone is hiding something, though this is no slow-burn: super fast paced and twists constantly make the reader question everything - even the genre! And for a Gardner lover like me, I was still surprised at how scary this was.

The ending was a surprise, perhaps a little rushed, but maybe that was the pace I was reading to get to the bottom of this chilling, twisty read. A full 5 stars from me, and as always, I'll be waiting for Gardner's next instalment.

i was really excited to read this book, but it archieved and now i cant download it im now planning on buying the book.

A search for a mystery man. A few twists and turns but nothing gloriously exciting. The setting was exceptional but I felt the characters were weak.

I love Lisa Gardner, she is one of my favourite authors, and she never disappoints. I really like the character of Frankie Elkin, and this is the second book that she appears in. Fuelled by a difficult past, Frankie has decided that her future is in finding missing people. Mostly it is bodies she recovers, but she is able to bring closure and comfort to the family and friends of the missing, and that is what drives her on. When she hears about a search for a bridegroom-to-be, lost on a stag weekend in a forest five years ago, she knows that she has to join the search party. However, there is more to this search than first appears. Eight people go looking for Tim O'Day; how many will return?
This was a bit different from Lisa Gardner's usual books, with more of a seat-of-your-pants adventure element (those bits reminded me a bit of a Matthew Reilly novel, lots of action and a very fast moving plot) but you also get to know the characters and your opinion of them changes as you find out more about them. By the end of the book, I felt as wrung out as the characters were! So although this was not my favourite Lisa Gardner, it was still really enjoyable and a very good read.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author. It’s also the second book in the Frankie Elkin series. Whilst it’s part of a series, I read it easily as a standalone book and didn’t feel as if I needed to have read the first book to understand the storyline. The book was a little different to what I expected though. I imagined this to be a crime story with the main character, Frankie, being a detective of some sort. This was far from what it actually was though – Frankie’s a recovering alcoholic who travels around looking for missing people, or more specifically people who everyone else has stopped looking for. Frankie finds herself looking for Tim O’Day, a young man who went missing on a camping trip with his friends five years previously. She joins a party of searchers, organised by the missing man’s father, and they head up into wilderness to look for him.

I must admit, I did find this book a little slow initially and it took a little while at the beginning for the action and suspense to build. I enjoyed the book more and settled down into the storyline once the group had set up camp. The scenery and location were perfectly described, giving it a scary yet beautiful feel to it. I really liked Frankie’s character and found her interesting. Whilst she had her problems, she seemed an easy character to get on with and was great at getting people to open up and talk, even if she didn’t find that easy herself. The storyline, based out in the wilderness with talks of bears, Bigfoot and unexplained things happening, gave it all a very eerie feel. The storyline did change into something more sinister as the book moved on and there were twists and turns from the halfway point through to the end!

Whilst I enjoyed the book, there were a lot of characters to get to grips with initially and the slower start did hinder it slightly. However, once the group were out in the wilderness and the pace began to pick up, this is where I settled down into the story and found myself gripped into what was happening. There is lots of suspense and tension and as I wasn’t sure where the storyline was heading, there were a few nice (or nasty, depending on how you look at it!) surprises along the way. I would definitely like to go back to the first book in the series and get to know Frankie a little bit better!

Full disclosure (despite the fact it makes me sound like a bit of a muppet): I picked this book up by mistake. I saw it and said to myself, “Oh, I loved her last book – I must read this”.

Turns out, I actually confused this author with someone else (honestly, I’ve no idea who), and have never read any of her work before.

Given this is the second book in a series featuring the main character, Frankie Elkin, that might have placed me at a slight disadvantage as far as my enjoyment’s concerned.

Despite having no idea about Frankie, I warmed to her and didn’t feel I’d missed too much by not reading the first book. She is a flawed and inherently interesting character, and I enjoyed the snippets into her backstory. However, I really struggled with the constant repetition and general doom and gloom of her monologues. It got quite boring, quite quickly which is a shame.

I also really struggled with the pace of this book and found many of the characters to be forgettable/inherently unlikable. When the pot really started to take off, everything fell to pieces. Honestly, it just didn’t make sense and I’m left with so many questions. The problem is, I’ve lost interest in getting any answers.

I hate to be disparaging of an author’s hard work, but this felt like a first draft. There’s something there, but it really needs a lot more polishing to become a complete and coherent piece of fiction.

On the bright side, there’s a dog, who I’d love to meet.

So, there’s always that. Two stars for Daisy.

In requesting this novel, I did not realise it was the second of a series. Consequently, I felt I was late to the party with the character of Frankie. I enjoyed the setting though, the author describes the landscape very well but the novel was not for me.

I’m so glad Frankie is back, what a great character.

She’s driven and makes you keep turning the pages to find out what is going to happen-so tense.

Really enjoyable read and I hope there will be more in this series.

In this second outing for Frankie Elkin, she reads about Timothy O’ Day in a small local newspaper. Timothy went missing in the Wyoming wilderness several years ago while camping with four friends prior to his marriage. The National Guard and volunteers searched initially but after finding no trace they gradually gave up.

Tim’s father, Martin O’ Day, along with a group of friends and trackers are still looking, but now only searching for a body. Every year on the anniversary of his disappearance they hike into the area where Tim was last seen. This will be Martin’s last attempt as he tries to fulfil his wife’s dying wish.

Frankie is a unique protagonist, a recovering alcoholic, living out of a suitcase, unable to settle, flawed and likeable. This case takes her out of her comfort zone but finding lost people is her driving force.

Despite threatening messages the search is going ahead, although the group aren’t particularly happy about Frankie tagging along. However, one of Tim’s friends has pulled out due to sickness and eventually Frankie is accepted in his place. She is unprepared for the hardships and dangers of the wilderness but grits her teeth and gets on with it.

One Step Too Far is tense and atmospheric, laced with secrets and lies. A seemingly straightforward search that becomes fraught with danger, morphing into a desperate fight for survival. The setting is perfect — the wilderness with its rugged and dangerous beauty where hikers have been reported missing in the past.

Lisa Gardner has created an interesting and diverse mix of characters. Tim’s still grieving father, the driving force behind the expedition. The college friends who obviously didn’t want to be there. Bob, friendly and cheerful, obsessed with Bigfoot. A local guide and Luciana with her cadaver dog, Daisy. The action escalates after a steady start, and with unexpected violence and surprising twists. One Step Too Far is a tense and compelling read.

Thanks Netgalley for the ARC.

This is the second book to feature missing persons expert Frankie Elkin. I hadn't read the first and it certainly didn't spoil this as a stand alone. It had me on the edge of my seat all the way through. Many thanks Lisa Gardner.

A stag do deep in the woods leaves one man missing and the rest broken. Every year his father and surviving friends make the hike to the woods to search again. This year however is to be the last. Joined by a bigfoot tracking expert, a search and rescue cadaver dog and handler and the local guide who has helped out every year the group prepare to make the pilgrimage one more time.

This year however the case has caught the attention of missing persons expert Frankie Elkin. With no wilderness, hiking or camping experience Frankie manages to get herself invited along unaware of the danger they are all in. Will any of them make it back alive?

I loved this edge of your seat page turner. Highly recommended.