This is the second book with the main character Frankie, I didn't read the first one but was never lost when they were talking about her past and why she does what she does. This book started off slow to me, it took a bit for me to get into it but then so much happened and it didn't stop until it ended and I just couldn't stop reading it! Around page 200 I couldn't stop until I finished.

Frankie helps find people, those who are no longer looked for, the forgotten. She understands that people need closure, they want to know what happened to their loved ones, even if they just find a body or just bones. Just knowing what happened it sometimes all people need. She comes across a story about Tim, a man who went missing 5 years ago when him and his friends went camping. She joins the search party with his father, Tim's friends that were with 5 years ago, a local wilderness expert, a search and rescue member with a cadaver dog and a Bigfoot hunter. A few don't think she should even be hiking, Tim's friends don't seem all that close and don't want to be there at all. The only ones who are helping her are the Bigfoot hunter and the search and rescue member. The hike is tough, and a lot harder than she could have anticipated. Not all is what it seems, provisions start to go missing, hey hear screams that are told are animals and it seems like someone is trying to sabotage their mission. Her time in the woods turns into something far darker than she ever could have imagine. With so many characters I thought it might be overwhelming but you get to learn about what really happened that night 5 years ago, Frankie is able to get everyone to open up to find out what really happened.

Gardner does a really great job at keeping the story interesting with so many characters and a few twists and turns to keep the reader glued to the book. You learn more about Frankie herself and why she does what she does and the impact it has on so many people and the importance of what she is doing.

Great book, and I will definitely read her other books!

I love Lisa Gardner. Her ability to write a book that just SUCKS you in is incredible. This one was no different. Frankie Elkin's character is so different than other characters. You just want to keep reading because there is something about her that makes you like her. The premise of this book, a lost hiker, his family and friends go looking for him in a remote part of Wyoming, is so good. It's so believable.

In the end this book really felt like a Criminal Minds episode that was just slightly too long. There were SO many things that happened. It felt like one thing would wrap up and then a totally different hitch would be thrown in the way. The final twist at the end was SO unexpected and I really enjoyed it.

Unfortunately, because it was just so drawn out, I enjoyed it a lot less than I think I would have if it had been 150 pages shorter. The good news is this one doesn't need to be read in order-- I didn't read the first one in the Frankie Elkin series and didn't feel like I was missing out on anything.

Frankie is a favorite character that I'm so happy I got to spend more time with. Like always, Lisa Gardner walks us through a real mystery, dropping clues, but keeping us along for the ride the whole time. This is also a unique twist on series. Characters roles don't match up exactly how you think they will. I don't believe you HAVE to read Before She Disappeared to enjoy this, but I do recommend it.

Frankie is back to help another family find closure. She travels around the country, with only the clothes on her back, to help families solve cold cases and bring missing people home. This time she travels to the Shoshone National Forest in Wyoming to help unravel what happened to a missing hiker years ago.
When she gets there, she discovers that Tim isn't the only one who has gone missing over the years. There is one last expedition in place to try to find out what happened, organized by Tim's father and a few other known trackers.
Tim was out camping with his friends just weeks before he was supposed to get married. They all had a few too many drinks and when Tim went out to check a noise he heard, he was never seen again. These same friends are all back and secrets begin to come to light.
This story had so many twists and turns that I had multiple suspects, but in the end I didn't see coming what she had planned. I loved the story of these friends and how they are so close and willing to do anything for one another. The love they share is not found very often, but of course you can hurt someone you love. There were times I was truly worried that Frankie wouldn't find out who the killer was before they found her.
Thank you to Penguin Group Dutton, Netgalley and Lisa Gardner for an early copy.

What a wild ride this was!⁣
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I really enjoyed Before She Disappeared last year following Frankie and you never know what you’re going to get following the same character but man was it a surprise !⁣
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We are deep in the wilderness in Wyoming, essentially living off of survival skills and unsure what we’re going to come across. 8 people, including Frankie are on a search and rescue mission to find Tim who went missing 5 years ago camping with his friends.⁣
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We have cadaver dog Daisy, who was obviously my favorite; her handler, the three groomsmen who were in attendance the night Tim went missing, a Bigfoot researcher, Tims father, and an outdoorsman local to the area.⁣
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The hike to the canyon is grueling. Everyone was cold and standoffish except for the handler and Frankie has no idea what she got herself into.⁣
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Frankie has a way to getting people to talk and breaks down some of the icy barriers really getting to know these characters. Everything that can go wrong, does.⁣
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Can they make it out alive? Will they find Tim?⁣
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My heart was racing, my knees were shaking, I just needed to know what happened next. This kept me on my toes.⁣
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Thank you @duttonbooks for an ARC for my honest review.⁣
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⁣
#bookstagram #books #thrillers #wilderness #cadaverdog #onesteptoofar

A missing groom vanishes in the wilderness. A search party hunts for him one last time. But someone dangerous is watching. Who will emerge from the forest alive? Find out in Lisa Gardner’s new thriller, One Step Too Far.

My first thought after finishing One Step Too Far is that every human on the planet is looking for a place to belong, an opportunity to matter to at least one other person in the world. In the case of Frankie Elkin—who looks for missing people—she finds herself as well her purpose through her work. Gardner’s novel begins when Elkin attaches herself to a search party looking for a groom who has gone missing during his bachelor party camping trip in a national forest in Wyoming.

From there, readers are taken on a dark and twisty ride through dense woods and around dizzying switchback turns that will keep your head spinning until the very last page. In fact, my mind is still reeling from shock and dismay as to who the villain is. Gardner kept me in suspense until the end! Usually, I have some inkling of who is responsible for all the malice in a thriller, but not this time. Well done, Lisa Gardner!

However, what I really enjoy in this novel is the arc of the protagonist, Frankie. Her thoughts, logic, fears, and desires are written with unflinching honesty and remarkable clarity. As Frankie dares to take a long hard look at who she is, I found myself relating to much of the raw emotion she feels as she gazes into her past.

This type of deep dive into the human psyche results in a thriller that transcends the genre. It’s a book that teaches us that if we are to survive, we must remember that others come into our lives for a reason and that not everyone is cut from the same cloth. And sometimes, if we are very lucky, we encounter wonderfully kind, compassionate people who simply want the best for us and offer us help without any strings attached. When we come across these altruistic people, grab hold of them and don’t let go. Just open your heart to the experience. It will change you forever.

With One Step Too Far, Gardner delivers a tour de force that is as suspenseful as it is life affirming. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy today!

This is the second book in the Frankie Elkin series. I didn’t read the first one (yet), but you don’t need to. There were moments I thought some references that I didn’t fully understand were from that first book, but later I found out the details and the references had more meaning later.

This book takes place in a national park while a team searches for a missing man. I really liked the setting and felt like I was right there with the group . I flip flopped on whether I liked Frankie in the beginning. It was like there was something there that drew you to her, but couldn't quite connect. Actually at the beginning I didn’t like most of the characters, but I can assure you by the end you feel like you know them and care what happens to them. Well except for Daisy, which may be because that’s my cat’s name and I just love when there is a dog in the book, especially when they get to have personalities.

The book moved along at a quick pace and by the end of the book, I didn’t want it to end. I know the series will continue, but Frankie will move along to a new story with new characters and I really did feel connected to this group which surprised me since I wasn’t sure I liked them at the start.

I think this series is a clever twist on a crime/detective series as it focuses on a different type of investigator, but I think those that love the genre will love this book.

One Step Too Far by Lisa Gardner is the second book in her new Frankie Elkins series, and I liked it much better than the first one.

The threats of the wilderness in an isolated area of a National Forest in Wyoming combined with the tension that emanated from the search team kept the suspense high.

Timothy O'Day disappeared five years ago when he and his groomsmen went for a bachelor's weekend before his wedding. Only Tim was a skilled outdoorsman; the other young men were at a loss at how to locate him. The searches at the time and since have turned up nothing.

Tim's father and the four groomsmen are prepared for what might be the final search when Frankie Elkins reads about the search party in a local paper and decides to join in.

A number of interesting characters and a great setting becomes even more intriguing as Frankie senses something intrinsically wrong--in the previous stories, the tension, reluctance, and guilt among members of the search party, and in the disturbing incidents that sabotage their efforts.

I already love several of Gardner's books, and was not at all sure of this new series, but this was a page-turner and that I could hardly put down. Now, I'm ready for the next one.

NetGalley/Penguin Group
Mystery-Thriller. Jan. 18, 2022. Print length: 418 pages.

My review was published The Big Thrill, January 2022. https://www.thebigthrill.org/?p=74006

The plot was tight and the action non-stop. Frankie is just as complex as she was in book one, but we learn more about her past and see her questioning her path in life. I didn't guess the murderer, which was an accomplishment. I loved all the characters, especially Big Foot Bob. I am very much looking forward to Book 3.

Like all Lisa Gardner books, this one grabbed me from page one and never let go. I love all of the different series Lisa Gardner writes, especially D.D. Warren, but this new series (this is book 2) of Frankie Elkin has surpassed them all. I love the flawed, loner, self-reliant main character and the first two books have been simply amazing. Great characters, fast moving plot (I couldn't put it down), and really unexpected twists. Highly recommended

I was pleasantly surprised by this thriller. The plot was fast paced and exciting. I'm still not quite sure I understand Frankie and her motivations (probably would help if I'd read the first book!) but I liked her quiet way of just talking to people rather than interrogating or tricking them. The twists and turns were great and the resolution was unexpected, which doesn't always happen. I'll definitely be reading the next (and previous!) in the series.

ONE STEP TOO FAR by Lisa Gardner. You ask me what book you should read next. This is the book. This book will be a bestseller. Lisa Gardner has given us a lot of great books and this is one of the best She is an avid hiker and it comes through in this book. The story begins with a camping bachelor trip in the Wyoming wilds. which ends with the groom missing. No amount of searching can find anything, not a body or personal effect s. Every year the father ,groomsmen do a search. This year they bring along a Bigfoot hunter,, a guide, a dog and handler cadviar search er, and Frankie the woman who travels the us looking for lost. This hunt turns into more than a search but a week that no one wants to experience

With a disparate group of characters, this is a chilling story that you know is not going to end well. The depth of each character is not immediately seen, but the facts are none the less remarkable when you get to them. The final unravelling is a painful read but worth that final stretch into man's inhumanity to man.

I didn't realize this book was part of a series before I read it but very much wish I had read the first one now! I loved this book! Really phenomenal character building, Frankie was hysterical and charming and I cannot wait to start the series over! The plot was fast paced and compulsive, once you start, you won't be able to stop reading. Thank you so much for the opportunity to read and review! Well done!

One Step Too Far is the second installment in author Lisa Gardner's Frankie Elkin series. This story takes place mostly in Shoshone National Forest, Wyoming. Frankie Elkin is an average middle-aged woman, a recovering alcoholic with more regrets than belongings. She spends her life doing what no one else will—searching for missing people the world has stopped looking for. When the police have given up, when the public no longer remembers, when the media has never paid attention, Frankie starts looking. Frankie been successful in bringing home the lost over a dozen times.

Five years ago, 5 college friends got together for a drunken bachelor party weekend which turned into a nightmare when one of the party, Timothy O’ Day, disappeared without a trace while another, Scott, stumbled back into town not having any memory of what happened. Five years later, Frankie Elkin hears the story of a young man who disappeared in a national forest during a drunken bachelor party weekend and decides that she will join a search party because finding people is what she does best. Thanks to one of the group getting sick, Frankie is allowed to join.

The search party includes three of the missing mans friends, Neil, Miggy, & Scott, Tim's father Martin, who promised to bring his son home to his dying mother, a search and rescue specialist, Luciana and her dog Daisy, a man named Bob who claims to belong to a group known as the North American Bigfoot Society, as well as a former Shoshone National Forest district ranger, now local guide Nemeth. Even though 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, Frankie begins to piece together the real truth of what happened 5 years ago.

She learns that Martin has been getting threatening messages that seem to be designed to get him to call off these yearly searches, but dad is not going to stop looking for his son until he finds his body. Especially with his wife on the verge of going home. The three former college friends all have baggage, and when the hike to the area where this years search is to take place, they reveal some highly stunning things about what really happened. Frankie's only real friend on this mission seems to be Luciana and her dog Daisy who is an air scent dog specializing in cadavers.

I adore search and rescue dogs and give them all the props in the world for everything they did on 9/11 to find the missing among the fallen towers. The author, as usual, adds a bit of her own research to this story. There are approximately 1600 people who remain missing in National Parklands every year. They seemingly vanish into thin air, some of them return and some are never to been seen or heard from again. Even though this is a standalone with a beginning and an end, it seems as though Frankie's job will continue. I'd suggest reading Before She Disappeared to get a better understanding of who Frankie is and what's he's dealt with over the past 10 years.

ᴡʜʏ ᴅᴏ ɪ ᴅᴏ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ɪ ᴅᴏ? ʙᴇᴄᴀᴜꜱᴇ ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇɴᴅ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴀʏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴇᴏᴘʟᴇ ʟᴇꜰᴛ ʙᴇʜɪɴᴅ ᴍᴀᴛᴛᴇʀ ᴊᴜꜱᴛ ᴀꜱ ᴍᴜᴄʜ ᴀꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ᴏɴᴇꜱ ᴡʜᴏ ᴀʀᴇ ᴍɪꜱꜱɪɴɢ.

I say this all the time but I’ll say it again NOTHING good comes from going camping! One Step Too Far is the gripping second book in the Frankie Elkin series. I was ecstatic when I found out Frankie was getting a sequel because after reading Before She Disappeared I was totally hooked on this everyday, stubborn, recovering alcoholic who is dedicated to finding missing people. In general I also love these light banter, whodunnit series because they could be read as standalones, very much like the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich.

Frankie takes the case of a young man who went missing on his bachelor party camping trip. Five years later and countless searches and there is still no sign of him. Frankie takes the case hoping to help the man’s dying mother get her final wish, to see her son laid to rest, but she might be in way over her head. Sure her cases have taken her all over the country to inner cities and small communities, but never to the vast and powerful wilderness. Danger doesn’t just lie in the journey through the mountains but what’s lurking inside. I was sweaty, tried, and hungry just reading Frankie hike up the mountains, not to mention being in the middle of nowhere with 7 total strangers. What could go wrong?

The eerie woods creates a heart pounding, terrifying setting and once things start to go wrong, people getting attacked, and food going missing, the tension and paranoia sets in. This is a character driven thriller which is great because people hold the most secrets. From the start this is a unpredictable and twisty read that I couldn’t put down until I knew whodunnit. It had a noble ending and teed up the next book so well. Can’t wait for Frankie to find a missing 8 year old.

Read if you like:
- Missing person
- Whodunit
- Character Driven Thriller
- Eerie woods setting
- Cute dog (working SAR dog which is soo cool!)

Lisa Gardner has done it again! Her second mystery featuring Frankie Elkin, a recovering alcoholic with a knack for finding missing people, is a propulsive and intense page turner. Five years ago, Timothy O’Day went on a bachelors’ weekend camping trip with his friends in the Wyoming wilderness and he never returned. Frankie who is determined to make finding the missing her life’s work, joins the search party which will hunt for his remains. What follows is a taught, tense and action packed thrill ride full of twists and turns that leaves one unable to put this book down. A varied and interesting group of characters, creepy and dangerous atmosphere, chilling isolation of survival in the wilderness and constant lurking danger result in a brilliant suspense thriller that will keep you riveted. Highly recommend.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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.

This book was even better than the first "Frankie Elkin" book!!!!!!! This one is filled with twists and turns that will make your head spin!!!!

Frankie Elkin learns of a man missing in a national forest. The search has been abandoned by law enforcement, but the man’s father continues and Frankie decides to offer her services. But when Frankie sees that a missing person isn’t all that’s wrong here, she realizes she’s up against something very dark.

This is the second book in the Frankie Elkin series but can definitely be read as a standalone. I loved Before She Disappeared but One Step Too Far was even better! If you’re looking for an intense and twisted thriller, you have to read this book. There were a few slow moments throughout the book but they never lasted too long before the next twist! I love hiking and the mountains so this setting really added to my enjoyment of the book. The ending was bittersweet but definitely has you looking forward to Frankie’s next case!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Dutton Books for my E-ARC!