Every popular mystery/thriller author seems to have a book that centres around gaslighting a woman with mental health issues, this is it for Willingham. Unfortunately, it’s virtually impossible for me to love a book that had this storyline so I struggled through this one. But people keep writing it so they must keep selling it so this is probably for someone just not me!

Whew this book is the definition of a psychological thriller. You are in her head and her head, sleep deprived, grief ridden and possible psychotic. You feel for Isabelle even as you think she is somehow involved in the disappearance of her son. It is a master class in how one word, phrase, idea can seep into our brain and heart and come to define who we think we are, and how the truth then becomes so muddled all perspective is lost. This book is a slow burn but ultimately an excellent read!

I really enjoyed this book. It was a great thriller and I was hooked from chapter one and I highly recommend.

Can I give this 10 star?! Omg wow! Stacy Willingham came to play! Where do I begin?
I was hooked from the first page. She grabbed the reader and kept us glued til the end. I swear I had the plot all figured out… ummm let’s just say I was wrong every single time. I loved her debut novel, but this book is on another level. I can’t wait to get my hands on a physical copy once it’s out. It belongs on my shelf 🙌🏽

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. I didn't expect the resolution, but it was satisfying.

I was so excited to get the chance to read this one because I saw a couple of my favorite people reading it.

The premise of this was terrifying. Baby Mason gets stolen out of his crib in the middle of the night. His mom Isabelle, was justifiably distraught. After almost a year, she agrees to participate in a true crime podcast.

This was such a wild ride and I just could not put it down. I enjoyed learning more about Isabelle's past and was rooting for her as she was trying to figure out who she could trust and what was going on. I highly recommend this one!

All the Dangerous things is about a mother's worst nightmare.

Isabelle Drake's son was taken from their home a year back and she is determined to bring him home. She suffers from insomnia and everybody thinks she should move on. Even her husband Ben, has now moved out and started dating.
On her way back from a true crime con, she meets a podcaster Waylon, and they team up to investigate the case. The story switches back and forth between Isabelle's past and the present timeline. Isabelle's past is dark and sad surrounded by her sister's death.

As with most psychological thrillers, Isabelle is an unreliable narrator. She sleeps poorly at night, she has some memory glitches. Could she have harmed her own son ?

I liked this much better than the flicker in the dark, in which I was able to guess the ending miles away. I felt this story is much more layered and character rich even though, the story had a slower pace.

Stacy Willingham has proved that she is definitely not a one - hit wonder. Looking forward for her next one.
Thanks for the ARC Netgalley !

Okay I just LOVED this book — I finished it same-day because I could not put it down. I don't know exactly what it is that makes a thriller so compulsively readable, but this one has it.

Isabelle has a tortured past and somehow, an even worse present. Her infant son went missing a year ago, and the police have no leads. Unable to sleep, she is obsessively doing anything she can to find her son, including speaking at true crime events and hosting a podcaster in her own home. But all the digging has made her uncover some things about herself — her past leaking over into the present, maybe — and she is starting to fear that maybe she had something to do with her son's disappearance after all...

This is a bingeable book with compelling characters and a perfect setting. I actually was in Savannah, GA on the morning I started it, not knowing that's the area where it was set! There are a handful of small reveals in the story, which I figured out well in advance, but the larger twists both took me by surprise, and I loved them. I would highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone!

Thank you to Stacy Willingham, Minotaur / St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC!

Excellent twisty mystery. Isabelle is a year past her baby son going missing and no closer to the truth or her sanity. Insomnia rules her life. Her husband is moving on. And Isabelle feels like she’s losing her grip. After attending a true crime convention to speak about her case she meets Waylon, a podcaster, who wants to discuss her case. With no other leads, she figures it might be worth it.

I’m a true crime podcast fanatic. So I appreciated that aspect being brought into the story. Stacy Willingham is an absolute genius when it comes to using descriptions that encompass all senses and bring you right into the story. I could smell the marsh, see the gorgeous tree in Savannah, hear Rosco making his dog noises. It truly makes you feel like you are there in the story. I kept feeling like I mysteriously really needed a nap. Haha. (You’ll get it when you read it).

Overall, I thought this was a really good book. While sad at times, the mystery kept me turning the pages quickly. I felt empathy for Isabelle. And I don’t feel like it was a “been done” type of story. So if you like mysteries, unreliable narrators, alternating time lines, and interesting twists, pick up a copy for yourself.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the advanced digital copy.

People never think it will happen to them.

And that’s the problem.

False security.

This book was everything it was promised to be and then some! It was a case of #bookstagrammademedoit and was my first introduction to this author (A Flicker In The Dark has been on my TBR pile too long). I was impressed. I really felt Isabelle Drake’s pain, her exhaustion and her desperation and was quickly swept up in the compelling story. If a cat nap would have helped Isabelle, I would have gladly had one on her behalf. I truly felt sorry for her.

I loved the author’s exploration of violence and the many masks it wears, the examination of the damage societal pressures and expectations put on us, and the guilt we seem to inherit as women and mothers.

It really resonated with me when Willingham shed light on the stories that we create and believe and how they can remain true and hold their power if we can convince others to believe the story, too. How many times have we created a ‘truth’ in our mind, believed it, given it room to grow and verbalized it, thereby giving others an opportunity to believe it too? Too many. I also could relate to one of the characters creating an alternate reality to endure another day. Been there. Done that.

The pacing, flashbacks and twists were amazing.

You need this 5-star book on your ‘to be read’ pile. Now.

I was gifted this copy by St. Martin's Press and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.


Umm whew. This book was a lot!! I was pretty much drawn in from the first few chapters. If I didn’t have other things going on (aka: work) I would’ve possibly finished this in one day. 😂

This book is a little heavy and touches on serious topics (kidnapping, postpartum, etc) but also felt very raw and real. But man, does Stacy know how to write a thriller!! Going between two (kind of three?) timelines, I did not have this one figured out and I felt like the ending was intense but gratifying.

I feel like this book would make an amazing limited series!! If you liked A Flicker in the Dark, read this one next! And if you do, be sure to read the Author’s Note, it made me like the author even more.

Thank you to NetGalley for letting me read this!

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this spectacular book! I loved her previous book, so this was not a shock that the writing and story would be as thrilling. Imagine being a mother and going into your child's bedroom, and you find an empty crib! The storyline tells about her childhood, then her previous life, and how her search for her child is maddening. A great read! The perfect read for a weekend.

Another great book by Stacy Willingham, but be forewarned: this one is darker than her first. I personally have a hard time reading books about missing children, and if this were anyone else, I probably would not have read it. The pacing was a bit slower this time around, but the character is so strong, I stayed with it throughout. I do struggle with the "sleep-deprived" mother idea--I find it such a stereotype for women not trusting themselves/others viewing them as unreliable. That said, it was a good book. I'll watch for her next.

Hands down, favorite book of the year! The author did an incredible job weaving an intricate and intriguing storyline, that kept me reading until the very last page. The story switches between Isabella Drake’s childhood and present day, shortly after her young child went missing. I thoroughly enjoyed her debut novel, but she hit this one out of the park! Highly recommend.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

We hear a lot about a sophomore slump, but Stacy Willingham knocked it out of the park with this follow up to A Flicker in the Dark. In fact, I think this book is better than A Flicker in the Dark! This book started off with luring me in and it kept me the whole time. I was gripped, I was held in suspense, and I couldn’t put this down. I devoured this book in less than 24 hours. As a mother, I was able to relate to Isabelle – I would do anything to find my son if he was taken in the middle of the night. I felt all of Isabelle’s feelings, her anxiety, her fear, and her desperation. Willingham did a great job of weaving the characters in such a way that you will never guess who took Mason. Brava to Willingham for a brilliant 4 star thriller!

Solid 4/4.5 stars (My primary genre is thriller and I have only given a couple of 5 stars). And this is the best thriller I've read in a loooong time. I will absolutely be picking up more books by Willingham.

The story starts out with the main character Isabelle going live on stage for CrimeCon to tell the story about her baby who was taken in the middle of the night, almost 1 year ago. She is on a mission to find out what has happened to him and the story is quickly going cold. She is riddled with anxiety and has had insomnia ever since the night he was taken.

On the way home from CrimeCon, she gets approached by a podcaster, Waylon, to tell her story on a larger platform. She refuses but shortly after decides it may not be a bad idea. She invites him to Savannah, GA, where the story takes place and he even stays with her a bit while they are researching and trying to put together any clues they can find.

We learn about Isabelle's upbringing, in which she grew up wealthy with her mom, dad, and little sister. However, something happens that makes her question her entire childhood and what really happened one fateful night.

Isabelle is quickly unraveling. She isn't sleeping and doesn't know who to trust. Can she trust Waylon or is he hiding a secret too? Not to mention her husband Ben, who we learn about his potentially sketchy past as well. Are the cops and neighbors on her side or does everyone think she killed Mason?

Willingham accurately toes the line of describing every mother's worst fear of their child being taken. Isabelle and the readers are constantly trying to figure out who took Mason and I thought every single character did at some point (including Isabelle). To be fair, Isabelle even thought she was capable of taking him at some point.

I found Willingham's descriptions of all the women in the story incredibly fascinating and really enjoyed the storyline. I typically find the "unstable" mother storyline to be extremely cliche and even offensive at times, but I felt she did a really good job. In the end, she states she is not a mother and was very intimidated to write about such a sensitive subject matter, but I applaud her for her research on such a sensitive matter.

Thanks, NetGalley for the eARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

Stacy Willingham’s sophomore novel brings us more incredible creepy Southern atmosphere like her debut, but her writing has clearly grown and the twists here are both unpredictable and incredibly insightful.

The first half of this book moves slowly, establishing Isabelle and Ben- parents to a toddler who went missing one year ago. Isabelle is determined to keep her son in the news, speaking at numerous true crime events, while suffering with extreme insomnia. Sleep has always been her Achilles heel, Isabelle fluctuates between periods of sleepwalking and insomnia. Ben has left her and says they should accept their son is dead and move on.

Then enters Waylon, a true crime podcast host, who wants to present Isabelle’s story. But things soon go sideways. This story moves to deep and dark places that make a fascinating and important statement about our society and motherhood. I can’t say more without treading too close to spoilers. Once I got to the halfway mark, I couldn’t put this down. I highly recommend this thriller. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Stacy Willingham, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of a digital advanced reviewer copy in exchange for an honest review!

"We just assume that when we fall asleep, the world does, too."

This book follows Isabelle Drake, whose is living every mother's worst fear, the one year anniversary of her toddler son, Mason's disappearance. Isabelle's sole purpose in life is now to do anything that to get him back. She meets with a true crime podcaster, Waylon, and agrees to be interviewed for his podcast and soon thereafter, offers to let her stay with him while he does more research for the show. Isabelle quickly begins to see that Waylon seems to know more about her dark and secretive past than he is letting on and is making her out to be her son's kidnapper.

Wow. Wow. Wow. I went into this novel with pretty high expectations as I rated Willingham's first novel <i>A Flicker in the Dark</i> an easy 5 star read. I love the "out of the box" concepts of S. Willingham's novels. Although it wasn't at the same level as her first novel, <i>All the Dangerous Things</i> did not disappoint. I sped through this book just to know what happened next. I thought I had it figured out a couple times during the book, but that twist came out of literal no where. And even though I loved that element of surprise, it seems slightly rushed over and I would have loved more storyline on it.

Absolutely loved Author Stacy Willingham’s first thriller A Flicker in the Dark so I was so excited to start her newest thriller! Once again Stacy did not disappoint with this perfect thriller! Creative storyline, creepy atmospheric vibes and unpredictable twists throughout! 5 stars!

Twisty rollercoaster ride of a thriller! The number of thrillers and suspense books I have read is immense and this one definitely makes my top 10!! Just ordered her book before this one A Flicker in the Dark and I can't wait to read it!