One step too far is an exciting recent novel by a favourite author now.

Frankie Elkin has a gift at finding missing persons long after their cases went cold and they always turn to be more interesting than expected.

A man went missing in a national forest while camping with another three colleagues and since then his father hasn't stopped, searching each year because he wants to find the body so he can a peace of mind for everything that happened.

The hunt has lots of difficulties as there are characters that will be very helpful and interested in joining forces, but there are others that see everything as a time lost and are reluctant to help.

It's heartbreaking and thrilling, a story that will make you feel bad for each one of them, but it also brings closure and a great ending.

Very grateful to the publisher for my review copy through NetGalley

4.5/5 stars

One Step Too Far is the second book in the Frankie Elkin mystery/thriller series.

Lisa Gardner is one of my favorite authors. She is the queen of thriller series. And this one is great.

The narrator is Frankie (1st person POV). She is such an interesting heroine. She is a recovering alcoholic who solves cases of missing people. She is tough and so blunt. And I love how she talks to people!

The question many people will want to know is can this book be read as a standalone? The simple answer is yes. The mystery is self-contained in this book. However, some of the case from the first book is mentioned here. The author does try to fill new readers in on a lot of what they missed in book one. However, I personally would recommend reading this series in order. I absolutely loved Before She Disappeared. And you learn so much more about Frankie. I feel like you would be missing out on a lot of character development if you skip that book. And some parts re: a certain character won't have the same impact if you don't know the context.

I really enjoyed One Step Too Far. However it had a completely different feel to the first book. This book is set in Wyoming. And a lot of it is set in the woods, which is such a creepy backdrop for a book.

The story was interesting. However it wasn't until the last third that I was completely on the edge of my seat. The last chapters of this book were mesmerizing and brilliant. And I could not put it down. There was one small thing toward the end that disappointed me. But other than that this was another great book by a fantastic author!

Happy Pub Day! 🥳🎉

Fun fact- One Step Too Far is the 17th Lisa Gardner book I’ve read! 😍📚

I’m always game for a good mystery/thriller and Lisa Gardner is one of my go-to authors. Her stories have always grabbed my attention from the very beginning and the execution is consistent perfection down to every last detail of each crime scene.

One Step Too Far was no different. A bachelor party gone wrong in the dark woods of the national forest- (talk about chills 🥶) One Step Too Far is out TODAY!

Thank you to @duttonbooks (#partner) for my finished copy!

Thank you NetGalley for providing this book for an honest review. I do love ready books by Lisa Gardner. She is an amazing writer and I have enjoyed everything I have read by her. But I have to say that I absolutely love this series with Frankie Elkin. She is a quirky character that you can't help but love. This adventure of Frankie's takes a different turn with the search in the wilderness. I enjoyed the fact that Frankie was honest about her inexperience with camping and hiking. I enjoyed reading her take on the situation as well as the mystery involved. Each of the team is hiding something but who knows more about this rescue than they are letting on. I was intrigued until the very end and even surprised by the final twist. You will love this book!!

Lisa Gardner is a powerhouse and once again she delivers a strong mystery. I was glad to read another Frankie Elkin book after Before She Disappeared and this one did not disappoint. I really enjoyed the small town gossip & secrets that were peppered throughout this story. I do wish I had the lack of self-preservation of Frankie that allows her to help others. It also puts her in these dangerous situations so I’m probably better off on my couch. Stay out of the woods - best advice you’ll receive!

Holy cow! This book is phenomenal. I know you are probably thinking I am biased because I usually love Lisa Gardner’s books, but she has definitely done it again. If possible, she went up a notch. Or maybe it’s like a belt where you have to puncture a new hole on your own because there were no more notches left? It’s that good.

One Step Too Far follows Frankie Elkin on another trip as she looks for a missing man that disappeared in a national forest. I have to say, this is far off what Lisa Gardner typically writes about when it comes to setting. Only once before that I can remember did we end up in the wild on a hunt. Of course, this is the second time we are seeing Frankie Elkin, and her cases of missing people are bound to take her to some weird places.

With that said, I have to tell you how much I love Frankie Elkin. While she is closed off and tries to not build ties to any one place, she is very relatable to a lot of people and I feel like we got to see that side of her in this story. I also came to love a lot of the characters as well. Nemeth was that interesting, dad-type. He was in charge, but he would pay respect where respect was do. Bob was probably one of my favorites along side the human/dog duo. Who doesn’t like an adorable dog? All the characters had so many layers and Gardner did a fantastic job of letting us peel those back piece by piece. This slow build of characters and their backgrounds really added to the story. I was suspect of everyone from the beginning. Slowly I started weeding people out as I got to know them. But… I NEVER SAW THE ENDING COMING. Complete shocker.

This story is a jaw clenching, cover your face, one eye open type of suspense. So many times I was devouring the pages, but also trying to look away because I was scared of what was going to happen. Think jump scare but in book form. How does someone even do that? Well, the thriller writer Queen, Lisa Gardner, figured it out. I was on the edge of my seat. Constant suspense, even in the “quiet” moments of the story. I was constantly questioning and trying to figure out who was doing what. I could not put this book down. I’m usually good at figuring things out along the way, but I was even convinced everyone would die in the end because I had no idea how people were going to survive this. I contemplated ghostly involvement at one point. Gardner had me stumped.

So basically if you are a living, breathing human, you should read this book. It doesn’t matter if you don’t typically like suspense or thrillers. This book is SO good. I’m a big fan of Detective D.D. Warren from Gardner’s books, but Frankie Elkin has won my heart! I cannot wait for more Frankie. Here’s to hoping Lisa Gardner starts writing a few books a year to appease my thriller appetite! One Step Too Far is going on my favorites list. Possibly my favorite Gardner book of all time… so far.

I did not think it was possible to love a series more than the D. D. Warren series, but Lisa Gardner has truly proven me wrong. From the first book, I was absolutely hooked on the main character, Frankie.

The two books in this series could not possibly be more different. Book one takes place in an urban setting and book two takes place in the wilderness. Book one has cop vibes and book two has survival of the fittest vibes.

But the setting and vibes truly show that Frankie is capable of ANYTHING. Her addictive nature fuels her desire to find missing people and she doesn’t stop until she finds them - no matter what.

Frankie’s personality is what makes this series so great, but the stories behind the missing people are also excellent. The characters are all developed very well and the experience of this hiking trip will play out like a movie in your mind.

I HIGHLY recommend this series!!

Despite not reading the first book in the Frankie Elkin series, I didn't feel like I was out of the loop. (That being said, this can easily be read as a standalone if wanted.)

Frankie is a middle-aged recovering alcoholic who searches for missing people. In this novel, she's searching for a young man, Tim, who previously disappeared in a national forest in Wyoming. (Tim and his friends were having a bachelor party/camping trip in the woods when he disappeared after looking for another member in the party who was found.) Tim's father never gave up on finding him and Frankie joins his father, the rest of the groomsmen, and other local searchers to try and find Tim years after he disappeared.

The first part of the book was kind of slow but it definitely picked up the pace during the second half when Frankie begins to discover some troubling things. Will all the searchers make it out of the woods alive? Where is Tim? There were so many questions I had throughout the book and am glad that they were answered (although a little more detail would have made me happier).

All in all, I think this is a good book that doesn't necessarily have to be read in a series.

3.5 stars!
Frankie is back on the hunt for missing persons when she decides to take on the case of Tim. Time went missing on his bachelor party out in the wilderness years ago when they were camping. His father has never given up on finding him and every year, Tim’s dad and his groomsmen reunite to hike into the forest and search for his remains. Frankie tags along, totally unaware of what she is getting herself into.

I was disappointed in this sequel. I loved the first of this series, but found this installment to be repetitive. There was a lot of info about Frankie’s past which we know already, and the same details are repeated multiple times. I found the first 50% to be very slow, but I loved the second half as the amount of tension just skyrocketed as Frankie made some discoveries. There was a lot of focus on surviving in the wilderness which just doesn’t tickle my fancy. The final twist was great and I did not see it coming.

Loved reading another Frankie Elkin book! In this one, she is helping a father find his son who went missing a few years ago during a camping trip with friends. She, the father, the young man's few friends and some community members make the hike today to find the young man (or his body). I really enjoyed the array of characters in this novel. I found that it helped bring the story to life as all the characters were well developed. Like the first Frankie Elkin novel, this one is face-paced and will keep you guessing until the end.

One Step Too Far by Lisa Gardner
I give this book 4.25 stars

A young man disappears during a stag weekend in the woods. Years later his family & friends are still searching for him.
They hike deep into the wilderness,with them is missing person specialist Frankie Elkin.
What they don't know is that they are putting their own lives in terrifying danger, and may not come back alive . . .

This is book 2 but can be read as a standalone.
Frankie is a character l have taken to my heart,she is a recovering alcoholic and has suffered a lot in her past,she lives out of a suitcase and is complex,flawed,determined and strong.
The author does a great job of creating a tense,scary and dangerous atmosphere out in the wilds, lt was so lifelike l felt like l was hiking along with them.Combine this with a varied and interesting group of characters who end up fighting for survival and you have a breathtaking read full of suspicion and twists.Who is sabotaging the mission,……..who is hiding secrets?
(I won’t be going hiking/camping anytime in the future after reading this)

3.5 rounded up

Thanks for the ARC @netgalley! This atmospheric thriller was quite the page turner. NetGalley didn’t mention this was the second in the Frankie Ellis series when I requested it. It can be read as a stand alone as I did, but I look forward to reading the first book for some background on Frankie and some depth to a few things mentioned throughout the book.

Frankie is a drifter who is obsessed with solving cold cases and bringing closure to the loved ones of the kissing. Tim went missing five years ago on a bachelor party backcountry camping trip in Wyoming. Tim’s friends and father want to know what happened and find his body and Frankie is just the woman to help them. The group ranges from expert hikers to complete beginners on this difficult trek and the group is quickly in over their heads.

This is my first thriller by Gardner (I know I know!) and I really enjoyed her writing style. She so vividly captures the rough and beautiful terrain of Wyoming. She also writes such a flawed and realistic people, I really cared about and connected with this whole group of searchers.

The only reason this lost some stars for me was because once the reader got answers towards the end of the book, things were wrapped up really quickly. I definitely wanted a little more explanation to tie some loose ends up. But I can’t wait to read the rest of this series!

⚠️Trigger Warning: Missing Person, Violence, Alcoholism, Cancer, Abortion, Blood, Death

✨Themes: Survival

I loooved Before She Disappeared, Lisa Gardner’s first novel led by Frankie Elkin, the amateur searcher for missing people. That one was set in Boston, in an underserved Haitian community. The author created a whole raft of great characters and I was looking forward to spending more time with them, but, in an audacious move (and maybe a little bit like Jack Reacher), Frankie has not only left Boston, her newest case is in the wilderness of Wyoming. But rest assured, there’s a whole new raft of intriguing and well-developed characters and a thrilling and tense mystery for Frankie to solve.

Five years ago, Tim O’Day disappeared into the Popo Agi Wilderness after his bachelor party camping trip broke up in disarray. There have been multiple searches since, but now as Tim’s mother lies dying of cancer, there is one last push. A search party is set up, a mix of outdoor professionals, the remains of the bachelor party, and by a twist, Frankie whose only experience of camping is an aborted backyard one with her alcoholic father.

Once out in big nature, it gradually becomes apparent that a) pretty much everybody is hiding something and b) somebody is unhappy about the search party’s presence. The tension ratchets way up when the party arrives in Devil’s Canyon and it becomes violently clear that somebody does not want them there.

I was gripped the whole way through but I did feel a little let down by the tidiness of the resolution, which the more I thought about it didn’t quite add up. There’s been a few 3am “but why did x person do that?” and “why didn’t x person do that?” sessions while I threshed through the plot.

Nonetheless I hugely enjoyed my time with Frankie and co and look forward to her next adventure.

Thanks to Dutton and Netgalley for the digital review copy.

Absolutely incredible book from Lisa Gardner with a bit of a different feel since it all takes place outdoors. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I’ve heard Gardner talk about hiking several times and it’s absolutely clear that she knows her stuff, and I loved it all from the characters to the descriptions, the hiking and wilderness knowledge, down to figuring out how far a parent would go to recover their child and the character development for Frankie.

Publisher description: “From #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner, 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.”

Look, there will never be a day that I don’t jump at the chance to read a Gardner book. She is an absolute masterful storyteller and thriller writer, and I’m already looking forward to the next one.

This is a five star must read novel, and thriller lovers are going to gobble this up.

**Many, many thanks to NetGalley and Dutton publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions, though gushing, are my own.**

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.