I read “Girl on a Train”. It was good-ish.  I RARELY buy an e-book that costs more than $2.99 and I spent more than that on “Girl on a Train”.  I splurged on this book because the reviews were great.  Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t awful, I just didn’t think it was amazing.  I was left with that feeling of disenchantment and longing for something really good to read.  Good news!  I found it.

One Step Too Far – Tina Seskis

There are a lot of similarities between “One Step Too Far” and “Girl on a Train”.  They are both set in England.  They both follow a non-linear timeline and they both have vaguely unlikeable protagonists.

In “One Step Too Far”, we jump into the life of Cat Brown who has just run away from home and left her family behind.  The story takes us, agonizingly, through her attempts to build, from nearly nothing, a new life for herself.  The great mystery here is why Cat fled in the first place.  And Seskis does a great job of never revealing the tragic surprise.

In the meandering story, we get to meet Cat and her husband, her unbalanced sister and wonderfully flawed friend, Angel.  Each character is well developed and interesting and you feel a bit sorry for the family that  Cat has abandoned, but still you root for her because she is likeable in her mournful struggle for a new life.

“One Step Too Far” is well written, but not in an unapproachable way.  It strikes that balance that I like between being entertaining and still leaning toward literature.  There are thinly veiled themes of baptism and rebirth for the English major in me to work out, but the story moves along quickly and could just be read as a good beach book.  The winding path of the story is laid out perfectly.  It holds your interest, but never leaves you wondering where you are and who are these people again?  I did find myself getting that slightly lost feeling with “Girl on a Train” which tells me that the characters weren’t interesting enough to capture my attention.

So, if you liked “Girl on a Train”, or, if you just kind of liked it, read “One Step Too Far” next.  And let me know if you liked it as much as I did!