“Stay calm, keep smiling, and watch your step”
‘False Step’ by
Victoria Helen Stone
Book Beginnings

There was no official tour for this book, and I did explain at the time to the lovely Katie from Little Bird Publicity, who organized the promotion on behalf of publisher Lake Union Publishing and download facilitators NetGalley, that my review might be some time after the publishing date.

False Step by Victoria Helen Stone, is now almost at the top of my TBR pile, and it is about time for me to share those all important and often intriguing, opening lines with you. So …

For all you ‘First Page Browsers’

BOOK BEGINNINGS

CHAPTER ONE

The man jogged through the parking area of a mountain trailhead, his blond hair wild and disheveled, a dead leaf caught in the golden waves. The small body in his arms bounced with each step. A young child, two or three years old, limbs disturbingly limp. It was difficult to tell much more past the jittery movement of the camera and the shadows of pine trees cutting lines of darkness across the scene.

“He’s okay,” the man said to the cars he passed, then again and again as a couple of other people stepped into view. “he’s okay, he’s okay.”

Tears streamed down his face, but the boy’s face was hidden, turned away. Impossible to tell from the video whether he was awake or asleep or alive. His legs hung down in dirty sweatpants. His hands were lost in the sleeves of his stained gray hoodie.

A black dog barked excitedly, running forward and back, sniffing at the child’s shoes.

“I found him!” the man yelled. Then the video, shot on someone’s smartphone, froze and ended.

AUTHOR VICTORIA HELEN STONE

…

So you have taken a look, will you read the book?

Let me know what you think in the comments section below.

Just to give you an extra helping hand, here is the book’s premise …

…

FALSE STEP – (premise)

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.

…

You might also like to visit Gilion, over at ‘Rose City Reader‘, where you can share links to the book beginnings from her own reading schedule and that of many of our fellow bloggers. There are always plenty of new authors and titles to be discovered.

…