Set in the woods, this fast paced thriller was impossible to our down. Several times throughout the book my heart was truly in my mouth and I just had to keep going to find out what would happen next. There was lots of curveballs that had me questioning lots of characters at different times.

a thrilling new novel that sends missing persons expert Frankie Elkin into a national forest in Wyoming looking for a young man who disappeared without a trace. But when the search team encounters immediate threats to their survival, Frankie realizes she’s up against something very dark—and she’s running out of time.

Frankie is following a cold case in the wilderness of Wisconsin where 5 years ago a group of 5 friends hiked into the forest for a bachelor's weekend, only the groom never came down ever again. The case took great media interest and volunteers from everywhere searched the woods as much as possible but it seemed like the man just vanished into thin air. Now, 5 years later, the father of the groom is packing up a team of volunteers along with the local guide to hike in search of his son, one last time and Frankie convinces them to let her join the crew.

As a psychological thriller, Gardner has crafted a fine story. It’s haunting and totally immersive

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone for an advance copy in return for a fair and honest review.

When I first read Before She Disappeared I found myself really liking Frankie Elkin as a character. She is flawed, so very flawed, and nothing like your all action heroes of many a thriller. She's about as far from the average archetypal Private Investigator type that you can get, well aside from a latent issue with alcohol, but then she isn't exactly a Private Investigator. There is no big reward at the end of a case for Frankie. No guaranteed payday. In fact half of the people she finds are in no position to thank her as mostly she is only able to bring closure to a grieving family, with next to no exceptions. Drifter by design, lost person tracker by trade, she moves across the various states, drawn by the stories of missing persons, choosing cases where she believes she can make a difference. She longs to find a reason to fnd one place to stay, and yet is equally as scared of what commitment may cost. Fuelled by grief and side order of grit and bloody mindedness, she is someone I was completely drawn to and in One Step Too Far, Lisa Gardner continues her story in an impromptu missing persons search which may well just turn out to be her last ...

I don't want to say too much about the plot. The blurb tells you all you need to know. Man goes missing some five years earlier, in a . His father is determined to bring his son home, embarking on what everyone knows will surely only be a recovery mission. But Frankie has a knack of finding the untraceable and intrigued as she is by the young man's story, finds herself venturing to the wild reaches of Wyoming to add her talents and instinct to the search. She is well out of her comfort zone on this mission, the very nature of the landscape and it's punishing spirit a hurdle to overcome before you even consider the scale of the task at hand.

This is one heck of a thrill ride. The tension is high from the start, a never ending kind of threat that pulses along with the narrative. The sense of a key revelation being just out of sight. And the atmospheric setting provides an added kind of jeopardy, the wilderness itself providing as much risk to life as any potential foe. Wildlife, even just the claustrophobic nature of the dense woodland, the sudden drops and ridges that threaten, and torture, Frankie as she strives to keep in step with the more seasoned trekkers in the party, keep that conflict and suspense alive. But this is so much more than a walk through the woods, a retracing of what were potentially the final steps of a missing man.

This is a mystery, but also a chilling action thriller, perfectly camouflaged, the suspense embedded in each and every scene. It's perfectly paced, with wonderfully observed characters who add colour and heart to the story. Rich in emotion and full of authenticity, the narrative flows, the adrenalin ebbing and flowing with as much force as the afternoon storms they are forced to endure. I loved every minute of this thriller and I am loving this series. Definitely a winner for me.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5

Frankie Elkin #2

Frankie Elkin learns of a young man who has one missing in a national forest. Law enforcement has abandoned the search, but a crew of people led by the young mans father are still looking. Sensing a father's desperation, Frankie agrees to help - but soon sees that a missing person isn't all that's wrong here. And when more people start to vanish, Frankie starts to realise she's up against something very dark - and she's running out of time.

Five young men go into the Shoshone National Forest for a bachelor party but only four of them return. They tell terrifying stories of of weird screams and dark shapes. Despite many people searching for him, Tim was never found. Now five years later, Tim's father has arranged a final search to try and find Tim. Frankie Elkin likes to travel around searching for missing people in cold cases. She does this free of charge. Frankie heads to Wyoming to join the search.

What a great addition to the series this book is. The story is descriptively written and filled with betrayal, suspicion, tension and twists. I could not put this book down. I was hooked after a few pages. I can't wait to read the next book.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #RandomHouseUK #Cornerstone and the author #LisaGardner for my ARC of #IneStepTooFar in exchange for an honest review.

Loved this book set in the wilderness of Wyoming in a search for a son and friend who went missing 5 years ago. The characters are developed really well and the suspense keeps you reading. Fabulous book from a great author

I am a HUGE fan of Lisa Gardner, I was so excited to read my copy of One Step Too Far. As a person who likes hiking I related to that aspect of the book.

Frankie Elkin searches for missing people and in this book (second one) the storyline takes her into a national forest to help a father who’s son disappeared on his bachelor party 5 years prior.

It has a variety of twists and turns that’ll keep you engaged and guessing, the storyline was written so well and the characters were portrayed perfectly as they have done from previous books.

One Step Too Far kept me on the edge of my seat, it had tension and suspense, the secluded and mountain environment adds to the eerie-ness and keeps the storyline so suspenseful and wanting to keep turning the pages. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I am a big fan of Lisa Gardner and have read all her books. Before I started this book, I knew it would be good but this book actually ended up surprising me. In all the previous Frankie Elkin books, she would go on the hunt for the missing person - In this book the hunter becomes the hunted :-) Also the setting is so different - Instead of the city, this book takes Frankie to the wilderness of Wyoming, completely out of her comfort zone. While reading the book, I had doubts if Frankie would even survive the trek and if she would ever get to the bottom of the mystery. I never saw the final twist coming. All in all this book is an excellent thriller, gripping, fast paced, unputdownable (was awake till 3am this morning finishing this :-)) and all the other adjectives one can think of.
Thank you Random House UK, Cornerstone for an advanced copy of this ebook and giving me a chance to review this book!

I had read the previous book in this series and had quite enjoyed Frankie’s character, so was looking forward to this story - big mistake. The plot was over-the-top unbelievable. Sometimes I can read a book and accept some things that are a little too implausible just because the story is so good. However, this one takes the biscuit. Just one example. There’s a small hiking group searching for a dead body. They’re in a wild canyon miles from anywhere surrounded by steep cliffs, forests, huge rocks, boulders etc. One of them gets badly hurt, and I mean badly hurt. Huge gash in his skull, blood galore, concussion, can’t speak, can’t stand – you name it, he’s got it. I got the impression he was dying. So ill that the group decides they have to abandon the search that they’ve been planning for a year and get him back for medical help. They make a pulley and have to carry/drag him. Only a few hours later he seems to have made a miraculous recovery. He’s helping Frankie to tug and drag branches from trees, and is merrily telling her about his past and his new girlfriend before he throws himself onto the back of a killer and tries to tackle him. What? Another example (yes, I know I said one). The only part of this book I loved was the cadaver dog Daisy. It’s odd how at the end of the book she scrabbles at the door of a certain room and zeros in on a tube of synthetic corpse scent to reveal the killer – the same tube that was in the backpack of one of the group at all times in the canyon, but she somehow never got a whiff of it? Give me strength.
The constant recounting of Frankie’s past might have been useful to those who had not read the previous book but they were just wasted pages for me. Pages and pages of repetitive things I already knew. Also, pages and pages of ‘how to survive in the wild’ that I didn’t know but didn’t care to know either because there was just far too much of it. Add to that the too-many-to-count wrong words, missing words, extra words, and referring to Scott as Josh in the canyon, when actually Josh was miles away in hospital, and it gives some idea why I just can’t give this book more than one star. I hope all the errors are corrected before publication day, but in my opinion they shouldn’t have been there in the first place.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC, and I hope other readers enjoy it.

This was an OK read but there is a lot of repetition. I haven't read the first in the series but numerous references to Paul and Frankie's alcoholism were tedious. I also thought the plot was a stretch of the imagination. Tim went missing on a hike with his 4 friends five years previous and every year his friends and Tim's father retrace their steps to see if they can find out what happened to him. Frankie arrives by chance and joins the team, even though she has no equipment or hiking experience, when one of the group drops out. An imitation rock in the middle of a national park was a step too far.
Despite my reservations, I'm sure a lot of people will enjoy this book.
This is an honest review of a complementary ARC.

I really enjoyed this book. 5 years ago a group of 5 young men attended a stag party camping in the wilderness, but one of them never came back. Now they are back searching for the missing man again, joined by Frankie who is a missing persons investigator. What they don't know is that they are all in danger of their lives from an unknown stalker. This is a real page turner which will keep you on the edge of your seat to the end. Thanks to NetGalley for a preview copy.
Copied to Goodreads.

I enjoyed this thriller, there were that many twists and turns that it kept me enthralled. I didn’t see the twist at the end coming either.

Many thanks to netgalley and Lisa Gardner for the advanced copy of this book. I agreed to give my unbiased opinion voluntarily.

I'm still not sure whether I liked this or not. Whilst the first half was a little slow, from midway the pace picked up - as did my interest - and I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. But, then sadly it was one of those where after racing to the end, you're then left thinking 'really?' I mean I never could've guessed the outcome but that was because it was ridiculously unbelievable. Main character Frankie was also difficult to like being a stubborn, critical loner but she had a acerbic wit and seemed to be on a journey of self love or discovery, so it was quite disappointing when in the end that came to nothing. So, overall an enjoyable but anti-climatic read.

Tim disappeared into the woods on his stag do. Five years later his Dad and his friends who were with him are still looking for him.
They are going out again but this time there is someone new with them. Someone who knows all about hunting down missing persons.
But are they doing the hunting?
This will have you guessing to the very last page but will you be right?

My first book by this author and not a bad read. I do like Frankie as a character. Not a bad story either- in fact that sort of sums it up- not bad.. I imagine the author is a keen walker/hiker because there is so much detail it felt a bit like I was being preached to. It also read more like a film score than a book and is this what the author is aiming at? A film deal? Wyoming sounds like a great place to visit so from that point of view job done. I quite liked the ending too although ultimately a little predictable but I did find Frankie's musings about her future very interesting. Who knows? When I see the film I may enjoy it more

Frankie Elkin is on her way to find the next missing person, this time she is distracted by a newspaper article and instead of heading off to find a missing 8 year old boy, she makes a detour to the small town of Ramsey, Wyoming to help find a hiker who has been missing for the last five years.

Timothy O’Day was last seen in the mountains with his groomsmen, Josh, Miguel, Scott and Neil but after Scott goes missing and Tim goes to get help, it’s Tim that never returns. His father is leading the final trip to find what must now be the body of his son, is reluctant to take Frankie with them but eventuality when one of the team drops out, the team agrees to let her join them.

At first things go well and the group camp after a lot of hiking ready to take on Devils Canyon the following day. But when things start to go wrong the first night, the whole trip seems to be in danger, especially when one bad thing happens after the other. Will the group find Tim and will they all return to Ramsey?

I saw this book on and was really looking forward to reading it. Unfortunately I found it was book two in the Frankie Elkin series so quickly bought book one so I could make a start. This was another great book. Full of twists and turns and cliffhanger chapters that kept me saying “one more chapter”. I think Frankie is a great character with so much complexity but who really does care for people. She’s a lost soul who is just looking to help find some lost ones. I really hope there will be a book three because I will definitely be buying it. A really great book.

“Somewhere outside, a person is screaming.”

That sentence alone will pull you into the twisted, terrifying thriller that is One Step Too Far. Frankie Elkin tracks missing people. Timothy O’Day has been missing for five years after he disappeared from his bachelor party/hiking trip in a national park. And for the fifth year in a row, aided by the surviving members of the wedding party, his father Martin has organized a search for his remains. This year he’s joined by a local guide, a cadaver dog and her handler and Bigfoot Bob, who knows a lot about wilderness survival because of his dedication to finding…yes, Bigfoot. Frankie volunteers to assist and soon she’s headed into uncharted wilderness. What happens next will keep you turning pages as fast as you can, discarding theory after theory, and learning a lot about basic survival in the woods.

One Step Too Far is an unputdownable 5 star read. The characters all become so real that you can see them as they press deeper into the forest. Frankie is troubled but quick to learn. Her descriptions of how to find the missing are fascinating. Bob, a large red-headed giant with a gentle soul, was my favorite character. The plot was well crafted, fast paced and full of surprises. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House UK, Cornerstone and Lisa Gardner for this ARC>

If you are into hiking this is the book for you, unfortunately I`m not so ended up skipping through it.

Frankie Elkin searches for missing people and in this book the second of the season it takes her into a national forest to help a father who`s son went missing 5yr ago on his bachelor party.

Read all of Lisa Gardner`s books so was looking forward to this one but was disappointed as spent lots of the book describing how to survive in the wild and what you need to do so, which didn`t interest me sorry.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review

Tim O’Day went missing on his bachelor party whilst camping in the woods, and 5 years later, his father and his buddies are still continuing to search for his remains, with the help of others who are experienced in wilderness search strategy and tactics, including cadaver dog Daisy.

Frankie Elkin is a recovering alcoholic with no roots, she travels the country searching for missing persons who’s searches have been abandoned by officials - the cold cases. She receives no cash payment for her troubles, but her reward is bringing back their remains for grieving families.
Frankie manages to get herself a place on the search party to coincide with the 5th anniversary of Tim’s disappearance. The hike through the woods is particularly tough going for Frankie, and sleeping out in the woods in freezing temperatures makes it even more unbearable.

Other hikers have gone missing in these woods before, and when strange things start happening, Frankie wonders what’s really going on!

Gosh, this one had me on the edge of my seat, the tension was unbearable, suffused as it was by the threat of constant danger. The remote location - the beauty and majesty of the mountains, set against the dread of the thickly wooded areas, adds much to the storyline.
One of my favourite books this year, absolutely loved it, and a mention for Daisy the dog, who is adorable

This is the second Frankie Elkin book and I liked her more in this one although she is still my least favourite heroine written by the author. This book felt as much a disaster movie as a missing person investigation. Frankie is part of a group who trek out into the wilderness to find out what happened to Tim many years ago. Strange events and attacks put them on edge and soon the danger is even more real. There is a tense atmosphere throughout. Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC.

I've been interested in reading more about Frankie after reading about her in Before She Disappeared, so I was really excited about getting my hands on a copy of One Step Too Far.

In One Step Too Far, Frankie volunteers to assist a search party, to find Tim, who has been missing for 5yrs. Tim went missing in a National Forest, so the search involves a hike....a very long hike!

While the party of 8 are searching for Tim, somebody is seemingly hunting them too! This book is filled with suspense and tension! I held my breath....and I would have closed my eyes if I'd been watching this on TV! The last 15% of the book was a bit crazy, but when we read, we suspend reality...right?

I really enjoy Frankie and I enjoyed this story! I didn't know whodunnit until the absolute very end!