False Step book review

False Step by Victoria Helen Stone
Published by Lake Union Publishing on July 1, 2019
Pages: 269
Goodreads

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.

False Step was a book that I got for free because I have Amazon Prime. I was so excited to read it so jumped right in. The book follows Veronica in her failed marriage and the aftermath of her husband finding a missing little boy. I have to say that the overall plot was a little predictable only because there wouldn’t be a story without the inevitable happening, which was a little disappointing. That’s not to say the ending didn’t get my heart pumping because it definitely did, I sort of lay there in bed afterwards not entirely sure what to do with myself. I did find it hard to connect to the story in parts purely because of how much of a slow burner it is, there were moments when reading it I thought I could just put it down and deal with not knowing how it ended which is why it didn’t end up scoring any higher than 3 stars for me

One disclaimer I have is that none of the characters are likeable, not one of them apart from maybe Veronica’s little girl actually caused me to have any connection other than watching their lives go by. It was almost as though it was a competition with each other to see who can be the worst to each other. It actually made me resent them rather than empathise with them. I think in False Step that Veronica is the WORST, I don’t understand her beliefs or reasons for anything. They all seemed to be huge justifications and things to hide behind so she could carry on being an awful human being to everyone around her. The characters definitely drove the story forward but I didn’t connect with any of them and wouldn’t want them to be my friend!

I think the best bits of False Step would definitely have to be the ending. It really was the most climatic part of the book. It was so satisfying but then also really shocking all at the same time. I think the ending is definitely why this book got the 3 stars and not something lower. I loved the way that it all turned out and even though I had kind of guessed what was happening, it still shocked me and left me reeling.

The worst bit of False Step – definitely the disconnect I had with the characters I would have loved to have more of a connection and really got to grips with them as people but unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be. Another sore point for me was definitely how predictable this story line was. I think the ending definitely redeems this a little but I can’t get over how I knew everything was going to happen ahead of time!

I think this book is a little bit of an enigma in the sense that although the pacing felt a little off and the characters weren’t my favourite I still kept reading! So actually I would recommend False Step, it has good writing and a great ending!

Have you read False Step? What did you think of it? Did you have any of the same issues as I did? Let me know in the comments!