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)
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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

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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.

Tim O' Day disappeared 5 years ago. Frankie joins the search for Tim with her cadaver dog Daisy. Tim's dad and his friends who he was with when he disappeared are on the search. I enjoyed learning about cadaver dogs. This book was quite the thriller and kept me reading way past my bedtime. I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.

Frankie Elkin is back at it! I’m a huge Lisa Gardner fan, and instantly gobbled up the first story of her newest character - Frankie Elkin, that I was desperate to get my hands on the second in the series, out today!

Frankie is on the road again, this time, helping a search party look for a man, who disappeared in the dead of night in the dense Wyoming forests, during his bachelor party. His friends and family gather every year to search for him and come up empty. When Frankie offers her services to help find the missing man, everyone is skeptical. She doesn’t have proper hiking gear and she isn’t professionally trained. But they agree to her help and what begins as a desperate search for the missing, turns into something sinister.

I really enjoyed this story. It was a slow start, as we were introduced to new characters and settings. However, once the group settled in the dark forest for their first night, things really started rolling and the story kept running after that. I loved the fast pace, the twists and turns, and the scary spooky setting of an unknown, vast forest, added to the layers of darkness that settled within the pages of this story.

If you love a good mystery+you love a good series, Lisa Gardner’s latest is a WINNER.

The second in the series, One Step Too Far, is equally as good as the first, Before She Disappeared. The main character, Frankie Elkins, is the glue, the key, the axis that will make me continue to come back for me.

Frankie is…complicated. And unlike many other authors who focus merely on plot and have cardboard cut-outs for characters, Gardner fully develops her lead. We see how Frankie’s childhood impacted her in so many ways - the alcoholism, the fears, the strength she now has, the inability to just ‘let it go.’

Frankie is compelled to find missing people in cold cases, and she is really good at it. This time around it is a missing hiker after a drunken bachelor party, but not in an urban city setting; this one is placed in the Wyoming wilderness. The cast of supporting characters are phenomenal, as it the tense, page-turning I had to do.

Can’t wait for Book #3!

4.5 stars! Frankie Elkin is back with another case, an experienced hiker has gone missing In the deep woods.
I loved that this one took place in the woods and not in a city, Not what I was expecting, in the best way. vastly unexperienced Frankie joins a search party for Tim, with his father and his group of experts. This was an intense fast paced story. I didn't want to put it down. It was about finding someone but also survival. You could just picture the woods and the terror that was felt! The characters grow on you so quickly as you try to figure out what and who is out there trying to harm them. I thought I had a slight idea of who but I didn't have a clue, it takes so many turns your not expecting. I really enjoy Frankie as a character, her inner monoulog and the way she thinks about her life and what she could or should do next.I can't wait to see where Frankie goes next and what kind of trouble she gets herself in!

Thank you to Dutton Books and Netgalley for my copy for honest review!

I loved it! It was one of those books that I didn’t want to put down. The plot was so intriguing, and I really liked the twist at the end. My only critique is that I felt it was too long. The same greatness could have been achieved with fewer pages. That’s my only reason I can’t give it five stars, but I still highly recommend this book!

The second book in the Frankie Elkin series will be a hit amongst hikers and outdoorsman. I found it slow moving, drawn out and tedious at times. I look forward to reading another book by this author but about Frankie.