Title: False Step
Author: Victoria Helen Stone
Published: July 2019, Lake Union Publishing
Format: ARC Paperback, 280 pages
Source: Publisher
Summary:
Stay calm, keep smiling, and watch your step. In this marriage of secrets and lies, nothing is what it seems.
For
days, all of Denver, Colorado, has worried over the fate of a missing
child, little Tanner Holcomb. Then, a miracle: handsome, athletic Johnny
Bradley finds him, frightened but unharmed, on a hiking trail miles
from his wealthy family’s mountain home.
In a heartbeat, his
rescuer goes from financially strapped fitness trainer to celebrated
hero. The heat of the spotlight may prove too much for Johnny’s
picture-perfect family, however. His wife, Veronica, despises the
pressure of the sudden fame, afraid that secrets and bitter resentments
of her marriage may come to light. And she’s willing to do anything to
keep them hidden.
But when a shocking revelation exposes an even
darker side to Tanner’s disappearance, Veronica realizes that nothing in
her life can be trusted. And everything should be feared.
My thoughts: Last year, I read my first book by Victoria Helen Stone – Jane Doe (which I loved!!!) – and I knew right then and there I would be reading more books by her. And as I wait patiently for the sequel to Jane Doe, I was quite ecstatic to get my hands on Victoria Helen Stone’s latest book, False Step!
Now, for those of you that have read Jane Doe – a word of caution…this latest book is quite different, so just be advised. It’s still entertaining and wildly addicting, but that is where the similarities end. And if you have not read Jane Doe yet, you need to get on that!
This book is kind of like when you pass a car-wreck and you just can’t turn away…you want to, but at the same time, you need to see what happened. That’s how I felt with this book, especially in the beginning. I was immediately pulled in, but I didn’t necessarily love the characters. But yet…I needed to know what had happened – I was sucked in and I needed that closure. What is going on in Veronica and Johnny’s marriage? What are all the secrets they have between them? I needed to find out these answers!
The characters are all complex and flawed, so even though I didn’t particularly love them, I did care about what was going on with them. And as the book progressed, I did start to have mixed feelings about some of them…that’s the sign of good writing – that I can start out not liking a character and end up liking them by the end of the book.
This book is all about how nothing is as it seems. There are more questions than answers as we progress further into the book and with the slightest hint that we might have an unreliable narrator, the suspense and tension build from the get-go. This is definitely a binge-worthy type of read that is dark, twisty and full of surprises!
*** I’ll be posting a giveaway for this book on my Instagram page a little bit later today – be sure to check it out!
