Crime author Lisa Gardner returns with another absorbing chiller. Frankie Elkin starred in the first book of aptly titled Frankie Elkin series, looking to locate a missing person in a city. Now she’s travelling and stumbles onto a search in Wyoming. Frankie hears that this is the fifth year a group of family and friends have gone out hiking the Popo Agie Wilderness in search of a man who never returned from a trip. By volunteering to join them, good-hearted Frankie could be taking ONE STEP TOO FAR.
If you like dogs, meet an SAR and cadaver dog Daisy. She becomes Frankie’s new best friend, along with her capable owner, Luciana, whose help is needed with everything from packing to clothing, as Frankie is a recovering alcoholic who carries her past as the biggest burden in her hand luggage travels. From the small town of Ramsey, we set out in search of Tim O'Day, who got lost during a chaotic bachelor party camping trip. His father, Martin, is the driving force behind the annual hikes. The leader is the most experienced person, Nemeth, while others include a genial Big Foot seeker, Bob, who explains that the Big Foot enthusiasts have excellent records of National Park missing persons, and no authority has a database to rival it. The trio of presumed late Tim’s friends, Miggy, Scott, and Neil, understandably hate walking the Shoshone National Forest looking for remains but feel obliged to participate.
Frankie doesn’t have many outdoorsy skills, but by getting people talking as tensions grow, she learns that several of them are hiding something. When strange events reduce their resources or harm party members, Frankie understands before anyone else that not all eight of them will be walking back out of the woods. Way before then, I was hooked.
While I hadn’t read the earlier book, I didn’t feel lost because the adventure in no way depends on those past events. In fact, Frankie does more mental chewing over her life and her struggle with alcohol, than is relevant, and I did get tired of her mutters about people I hadn’t met. Fans of the first book may be fine with this, and as someone packing a heavy load up a mountain trail hasn’t enough breath for talking, Frankie’s inner spirit could be expected. This may serve as a message to stop living in the past--just as Tim’s family and friends are trapped in the past--and step forward, even if that means into a life that is scary. ONE STEP TOO FAR builds atmosphere and tension subtly and skilfully, drawing us further into the adventure even as we start wanting to pull back and get everyone home. I learned a great deal about finding the lost in large wilderness areas, and why they might not have returned in the first place. See how well you would survive taking ONE STEP TOO FAR.
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner, a chilling thriller about a young man gone missing in the wilderness of Wyoming…and the secrets uncovered by the desperate effort to find him
Timothy O’Day knew the woods. Yet when he disappeared on the first night of a bachelor party camping trip with his best friends in the world, he didn’t leave a trace. What he did leave behind were two heartbroken parents, a crew of guilt-ridden groomsmen, and a pile of clues that don’t add up.
Frankie Elkin doesn’t know the woods, but she knows how to find people. So when she reads that Timothy’s father is organizing one last search, she heads to Wyoming. Despite the rescue team’s reluctance, she joins them. But as they hike into the mountains, it becomes clear that there’s something dangerous at work in the woods…or someone who is willing to do anything to stop them from going any further.
Running out of time and up against the worst man and nature have to offer, Frankie and the search party will discover what evil awaits those who go one step too far…
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