Book Review: One Step Too Far by Lisa Gardner ( Frankie Elkin #2)

My Rating:

 4.5⭐️

“Five guys went into the woods. One has never been seen again. And the other four . . . they are not who they used to be either. Life is like that.”

Haunted by her past, Frankie Elkin is “an average, middle-aged white woman, short on belongings, long on regret” who specializes in cold cases mostly involving the “underserved” in the community. While on the way to Idaho, where she plans to take up the case of an eight-year-old boy who has been missing for sixteen months, she comes across an article about thirty-three-year-old Timothy O’Day who disappeared while on a bachelors’ camping trip with his college friends in the Popo Agie Wilderness on the edge of Ramsey, Wyoming five years ago. Tim’s father has been searching for any clues about his son’s fate for the last five years and is about to venture out on his next trip into the wilderness where Tim was last seen. Frankie changes her plans and joins the search, motivated by her desire to bring closure to the family of a missing young man whose mother is dying of cancer. Even though Frankie has no experience of hiking or search and rescue in the wilderness she joins the group who, though skeptical of Frankie’s ability to hold her own in the rough conditions , reluctantly agrees when one of Tim’s friends has to drop out.

“Eight people head into the woods. A grieving father, a hiking guide, three college friends, and three semiprofessional searchers. On the surface, it makes sense. So why do I have a feeling eight of us won’t be coming back out.”

The group faces injury, sabotage, harsh terrain and internal conflict wherein it is revealed that there was more to the events of that fateful night five years ago than was initially reported. Added to this is the fact that Tim is not the only person to have disappeared in the area. There have been reports of several hikers gone missing over the years. When the group makes a shocking discovery and one of them is severely injured, hidden secrets and agendas come to the surface. Is someone in their midst playing games or are they being followed by someone who knows what happened to Tim? Cut off from any outside assistance, it ultimately boils down to who between themselves can be trusted and how they can survive when being hunted by someone who obviously wants them out the way. What begins as a search for a missing person soon becomes a fight for their own survival.

Taut and twisty with an ending that I did not see coming, One Step Too Far is a gripping thriller that will keep you hooked till the very last page. The descriptions of the landscape add to the dark and atmospheric tone of the novel. Lisa Gardner is brilliant in crafting thrillers that keep you on the edge of your seat. In Frankie Elkin, the author portrays an admirable protagonist. She is an intelligent and strong woman battling her own demons, who goes above and beyond to bring justice for those who have been marginalized and whose calls for help have fallen on deaf ears. Even though she prefers to be a drifter, she is not indifferent to the people around her and does establish emotional connections with people she meets on her journey. I’ve enjoyed both books in Lisa Gardner’s Frankie Elkin series and hope for more in the future.