Isabelle Drake's son Mason was taken from his crib in the middle of the night. Isabelle cannot sleep until her son is returned. She is having severe insomnia and possibly hallucinations and confusion because of this. It may all stem back from a similar incident in her childhood. Meanwhile, her husband Ben has left her because of her obsession with the case. He wants to move on and feels that she should try to as well.
While trying to gain publicity for the case, Isabelle meets podcaster Waylon who offers to take on her case to gain the attention of anyone who may know information, Isabelle jumps at the chance. But then things begin to go south with Waylon. Who is he really and why is he taking such an interest in the case and her past? And what is up with Ben and his "new" girlfriend?

I really loved this book! It was a 5-star read for me. It was also my first by Stacy Willingham, although I do have A Flicker in the Dark sitting on my shelf. Reading this one has definitely moved her first book up my TBR pile! The twists were great and I loved Isabelle's backstory and how it created some suspicion and tension about her possible involvement in Mason's disappearance. I really enjoyed how everything was wrapped up at the end as well. I can't wait to see what this author comes up with next! Thank you Netgalley and Minotaur Books for the gifted eARC!

I still feel a little torn on my rating for this. I’d honestly probably only give it 3.5 stars, but because I enjoyed it I think 4 is fair.

I enjoyed the “twists” in this book, but I felt like some of them were a bit unrealistic and some were predictable (i. e. Ben/Valerie). I feel like the police investigation in regards to Izzy’s confrontation with Valerie was just like “come on, really?” There’s no way that would’ve just been skimmed over. I also liked that this book was actually kind of eerie because of Izzy’s sleep walking. The dual-timeline with her past, while maybe not necessary, was a nice break in between the main story (which was starting to drag on a bit).

Overall, definitely enjoyed this and have already recommended it to the girls in my book club.

Thank you Netgalley, St. Martin's Press, & Minotaur Books for this ARC.

Stacy Willingham knocks it out of the park again! I loved her debut novel and was so excited to receive an eARC of this novel. It did not disappoint. I was on the edge of my seat and stayed up WAY past my bedtime to finish the book and find out what the heck was going on- WORTH IT.

I loved the way the subplots, characters, and stories were woven together yet so distinct as well. Izzy was a great unreliable MC and I really enjoyed the complexity of her as a character. There were pages when I loved her, pages when I hated her, pages when I pitied her, and pages when I was rooting for her. It was all over the place but worked so well! The addition of her sleeping issues (past and present) was a great catalyst for the story.

My main reasons for rating this book 4 stars instead of 5 stars was the police "investigation" and the ending in regard to the case(s) was very unrealistic and took away from the story (don't want to give too much away). There's just no effing way the police would allow some stuff that happened/didn't happen. I also felt like the ending should have had more in regard to the outcome of the main plot line but it just glazed over that part and the book ended. I was surprised there wasn't more in that aspect.

I did guess one twist pretty early (view spoiler) but was shocked at some of the others (view spoiler) . (view spoiler)

Read if you like:
-Dual timelines
-Unreliable narrators/MCs
-Multiple storylines
-Multiple twists
-Podcast elements

This was my first book by Stacy Willingham! I haven't read 'Flicker In The Dark' yet but now I definitely want to!

This book has been EVERYWHERE! Every day I see a new review for it and lately it's been getting all the hype!

There were sections in this book that I loved, like the sleepwalking scenes and the scenes from the past. Then, there were scenes that I was super bored with where it just started to feel slow going and repetitive, which are things that really drag a thriller down for me. The ending also left me quite underwhelmed which really led to the overall 'meh' feeling towards this book.

I personally think this story had the potential but wish the story went in a different direction.

“ The Truth is, people love violence - from a distance, that is. Anyone who disagrees is either in denial or hiding something.”

This book was brilliant! I thoroughly enjoyed Willingham’s debut, A Flicker In The Dark but this was on an other level. THE TWISTS. THE TURNS. I thought I had it all figured out until Miss Stacy pulled the rug out right from underneath of me more then once!They were well timed, well thought out and at times I didn’t see them coming. There is something so captivating about Stacy’s writing style, her ability to craft a compelling story is incredible which makes the story fun to read - despite the darkness within the novel. Even though this was a bit of a slow burn at the beginning I couldn’t put it down and was enthralled with the story from the very start, the context and character building was incredibly well done and added great depth to the story. The slow burn was largely due to the aforementioned world and character building, however it paid off extremely well in this multifaceted and wildly entertaining story came to a close.

All The Dangerous Things is a Psychological Domestic Thriller that follows Isabelle Drake, distraught, lost and sleep deprived, her life is entirely consumed with uncovering the truth behind the disappearance of her 2 year old son, Mason. Her marriage has fallen apart, she hasn’t had a full nights rest in months and cannot help but think she is responsible for his kidnapping that happened just short of one year prior.

Isabelle is the sole narrator of the story and she is supremely unreliable due to her sleep deprivation and overall lack of ability to decipher her reality from her imagination. The timeline alternates between her childhood and present day, uncovering the root of Isabelle’s past trauma, struggle with sleep walking and her relationship with her mother that led to her inability to fully trust herself.

I’m extremely impressed with this novel as a thriller reader and lover, it checked every box for me and I’m confident that it will be classified as one of the best thriller novels of 2023. All The Dangerous Things is out on January 10th and I highly recommend you grab a copy and indulge in this fascinating story!

A huge thank you to Stacy Willingham and St.Martin’s Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.

It is worth noting that this book has triggers of child abduction, child murder, suicide, miscarriage and post partum depression,

Willingham is still a new author and it shows, her writing can be sloppy in the details and that really bothers me. It's very obvious when she writes about something she doesn't know. In this case she gets all kinds of details about the baby wrong and you can tell she doesn't know babies. But the overall story was pretty good, there were some good reveals. This is her second book and it is an improvement over the first so that's promising.

This one was SO good! I was slightly skeptical because her first book was just ok for me, but this one did not disappoint. I was hooked early on and the twists truly kept throwing me off that all my theories throughout were wrong. I love that she threw in a very subtle hint at a point when I had somebody else as the suspect. Very well written and I look forward to her next book! 5 stars on this one for me!

This book was freaking fantastic. Twisty, keeps you guessing, on the edge of your seat, and the writing was just SO good. After loving Flicker, I knew I needed this & I was not disappointed! She is an auto-buy author me for now!

This was an excellent story. The pace, the characters, the back and forth in time, the unreliable narrator and the dual suspenseful mysteries going on within both timelines was so intriguing this was a hard book to put down. Definitely full of great plot twist a few I didn't see coming. I was so into this story I finished it in 1 weekend. I definitely recommend this one for fans of suspenseful psychology thrillers and / or mysteries.

All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willinghem is a great slow burn thriller about a mother whose son has gone missing over a year ago. The main character Isabelle is struggling to keep her son’s case alive while also battling ongoing insomnia. She’s a pretty unreliable narrator and you can’t always tell if what she knows is real or something she made up. If you’re more into fast paced thrillers, this might not be for you. Willinghem does such a good job creating the perfect moody atmosphere that compliments the complex characters we meet throughout the book. On top of that this story is really about some of the immense struggles that can come with motherhood and what new mothers, experienced mothers, and even women that are struggling to be mothers go through. I think the twist for the end of the story was done really well, the pacing for the entire novel is slower, but it’s like how someone might feel if they are constantly
tired, and then suddenly everything speeds up, like someone that finally feels perfectly awake.
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with this ARC

I throughly enjoyed this and definitely got blindside by a few of the twists. This was heartbreaking to even imagine your child being taken and still feeling he’s alive. The panic of wondering due to your past if you had no some involvement. Definitely highly recommend this one

What I enjoyed about this book includes Willingham’s writing style, the characters she created and the wicked ending. Something that did not work as well with this book for me was the pace. I found it too slow for my liking and not enough suspense. I loved the idea of this plot but it ended up falling a little flat for me.

A missing child, an unstable woman, a checked out husband, and a mysterious pod cast host. All of these characters made for an interesting thriller. Books about troubled unstable women always give me pause - not always sure what the representation is going to be. This book has a creepy lethargic pace. The flashbacks were so descriptive - could feel the oppressive heat and humidity and smell the marsh. There were several interesting twists- although I did figure this one out. After reading so many thrillers it is hard to fool me. How we, this was still a super fun read.

Generally I find the unreliable drunk woman trope in thrillers overdone and uninteresting, but Stacy Willingham finally found a fresh way to approach it! The way 'mom guilt' is written into this thriller struck SUCH a cord with me!
I could not put this book own and was shocked when the bad guy reveal came at the end. Always the mark of a great mystery.

I enjoyed this story with its twists and the way it combined multiple aspects of the main character, Isabelle's, life. It told the story of her search for her missing son, Mason, while also telling the story of her childhood, her career aspirations, and her courtship and marriage. It helped the reader get to know how each part of Isabelle's life might have led to Mason's disappearance. I was rooting for Isabelle to find out the truth - even if it meant that she was the one who had unknowingly caused Mason's disappearance.

This book was a slow start for me. However, once I got into it, I wanted to keep reading to find out what happened. I didn't really love any of the characters, but I did want Isabelle to find her son. No parent should ever have to suffer the loss of a child! This novel addressed some serious topics while weaving everything expertly into the mystery. I will definitely read more by this author!

Thank you to #NetGalley and #St.Martin'sPress #MinotaurBooks for an eARC of #AlltheDangerousThings by #StaceyWillingham - 4 stars

You won’t be able to put this one down! “All the Dangerous Things” by Stacy Willingham will be one of the year’s best thrillers.

Two plots, one main character, a podcast, a kidnapping, a suspicious death - what could go wrong?? Willingham artfully weaves together two stories involving one woman, making you question everything & everyone in her life. But the biggest mystery surrounds Isabelle herself, as she navigates the aftermath of her infant son’s disappearance. Could she herself have abducted her son? Or is there something more sinister at play?

If you’re a fan of psychological thrillers - be sure to pick this one up soon & prepare yourself for an all-nighter!

If you ever want to know what a person goes through when their child disappears, read All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham. Through Isabelle, the main character and sole POV, we get extensive detail about the sleeplessness, the doubt, the worry, the suspicion…everything you could imagine and probably some emotions you would never think of.
Unfortunately, that’s where the book gets bogged down. There is SO much emphasis on Isabelle’s emotions and thoughts that any forward action is often hampered or lost. Not to sound mean, but it sometimes felt like the author was being paid by the word because it was all extremely verbose.
The plot itself is decent, and the childhood memories that start to surface as Isabelle works her way through life (and tries to find out what happened to her son) cast enough doubt on the situation to make the reader wonder whether or not Isabelle is a reliable narrator.
Despite this, the culprit seemed obvious to me early on. I did like how it all resolved itself, however. I did enjoy the realizations that Isabelle came to and the actions she took in the end. For me, the book was okay but might have been better with maybe a thousand fewer words and some tighter plotting.
2.5 rounded up to 3 due to the culprit receiving just desserts.
Thank you to Minotaur Books for a digital copy of this book. **For more reviews, please visit Fireflies and Free Kicks.**

I missed when Stacy Willingham entered the thriller scene last year. Shame on me and my negligence.

Isabelle’s son, Mason, goes missing in the middle of the night while she and her husband are sleeping in the next room. Every parents’ worst nightmare. With three children of my own, I related to her relentless quest to find her son when everyone else had given up. The total lack of concern for anything but her child is something that is relatable even when painful to read or watch. Willing to try anything, Isabelle agrees to be interviewed by a true crime podcaster in hope that it will bring about new information or clues. Through that process, memories from her own childhood tragedy surface that have her calling into question what she knows about her childhood and the night Mason went missing.

“sometimes, the stories we create are about ourselves. Sometimes, other people. But as long as we believe them – as long as we can convince others to believe them – they keep their power. They remain true.”

Willingham had me doing mental gymnastics, as I tried to piece together who could be involved and why. Despite reaching deep into the bowels of my detective brain, Willingham was still one step ahead. A brilliant addition to my very shortlist of auto-buy thriller authors – I would recommend both Flicker in the Dark and All the Dangerous Things, to any fan of a whodunit

So good! Everyone is a suspect as you go through this book. The further in this book you get the more questions you have and the more things you can't but wonder who is telling the truth, who is lying, and who has more to hide. This book was a hell of a ride and I enjoyed it a lot!

✨Ｂｏｏｋ Ｒｅｖｉｅｗ✨

All The Dangerous Things 📚 by @stacyvwillingham

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My second @bookofthemonth
club book and devoured it in less than 2 days 🙌. This is definitely on the list of one of the best books I've read in 2022. The plot twists are incredibly well done and the plot was something different compared to others in this genre I've read this year (i.e. your generic husband/wife crime/drama lol). This is only her 2nd book and I'm hoping she continues to write!
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