Genre: Thriller

Format: Audio

4.5 stars - I really liked it!

Tysm @netgalley and @librofm for the complimentary audio copies!

@stacyvwillingham’s sophomore book, and it delivered! It was interesting, kept me engaged, and surprised me! I also appreciated the deeper themes regarding motherhood throughout the book.

I thought her twist on an unreliable narrator was so creative and enjoyed the podcast elements integrated into the plot.

The setting, character development, and writing were all done so well and the audio was also the *chefs kiss*.

I would recommend for fans of The Push!

After loving A Flicker in the Dark I was excited for Willingham’s sophomore thriller. She delivers the twists and turns as a mother investigates the disappearance of her son.

Our lead Isabelle is a bit unreliable with a history of sleepwalking and the general sleepless nights of motherhood, but she teams up with a true crime podcaster to try and find her son.

The pacing was good and I was suspicious of everyone at some point. Enjoyed it overall, especially the audiobook — Karissa Vacker has become one of my favorite narrators.

Stacy Willingham is surely a great writer but unfortunately I was not prepared for some of the triggers in this book. As a reviewer I prefer the opportunity to view trigger warnings before viewing a book. For anyone who is sensitive to triggers surrounding children, this is not the book for you. Especially moms or moms-to-be.

Absolutely enjoyed this audiobook. Then and Now POV, twists I didn’t see coming when I thought I had it figured out, haunting audio narrator and one of my favorites from previous books. Listened in one sitting and a suspenseful mystery well done.

Isabelle Drake's young son, Mason, was taken from his crib one night while he was sleeping a year ago and Isabelle has never given up looking for him. She speaks a true crime events to keep the case fresh in people's minds with the hope that somebody may have information. She's hardly slept at all in the past year and her whole existence revolves around finding her son. Enter a true crime podcaster who works with Isabelle to find out information but gets very personal with his questions that makes Isabelle very nervous because she has secrets of her own.
This was a very good thriller. Just about all the characters in this book are keeping secrets and the reader is kept in the dark pretty much during the whole story. I listened to the audiobook and while Karissa Vacker does an excellent job with the women's voices, all the male characters sound the same. Their is no differentiation in their expression, voice or tone and at times that was confusing. This would have been a better audiobook if the male characters were read by a male.

I really enjoyed Stacy Willingham’s debut
novel, A Flicker in the Dark so her newest book was a highly anticipated read for me and it did not disappoint. It is my favorite kind of thriller- a slow burn that gives the story time to build. With dual timelines, an unreliable narrator and a Southern setting I was in book love.

I both read the physical book and listened to the audiobook and they are both equally wonderful.
Psychological thrillers are my go to and when they are done well there is nothing better. This one is done to perfection. If you are looking for a book that you can’t put down and will keep you flipping pages until late into the night get a copy of All the Dangerous Things immediately!

Thank you NetGalley & Macmillan Audio for this audio book in exchange for an honest review.
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Isabelle Drake is a sleep deprived mother whose son was kidnapped a year ago while her and her then husband were sleeping in the next room. The case is still open and unsolved- leaving Isabelle unable to sleep or cope well. Not to mention she has always had insomnia and used to walk in her sleep as a child. - plot gets even stickier when explaining Isabella’s bouts with sleep walking and the death of her younger sister Margaret. But for all those details you’ll have to read to find out how they intertwine with Isabella’s current story.

As the story progresses we find Isabelle’s husband Ben, has moved on with another woman. Who looks like a younger version of Isabelle herself…. Oh and let’s not forget his first wife, Allison, who also stuck a striking resemblance to the woman.

I loved the narrator who kept me enraptured throughout and left me needing to find out what happened to Mason myself.

This one had me gripped! I listened to it in one sitting and it had my attention from start to finish. You are not only wondering what happened to the main characters son but what happened in her childhood as you go back and forth in time unraveling two mysteries in pieces

The narrator was amazing to the point that I thought for a moment that there was a second narrator.

I really enjoyed this book. It kept me guessing what happened and all came together at the end. The narrator. She was very easy to listen to.

If you liked A Flicker in the Dark you will enjoy this book. It will make you wonder if you can rely on your own memory or if you just remember what you were told. This passage struck me so much as it explains what reading and words have always meant to me as an avid reader.

"The Great Skedaddle.” I had never heard that word before, skedaddle, but I liked it. I liked the way it made my tongue feel, like it was dancing. In learning to read, I was also learning to fall in love with words; I liked how each one was different, unique, like a fingerprint. How some hissed through my teeth while others rolled off my lips, slippery like oil, and others clacked against the roof of my mouth like a verbal gum smack. Each new word was a new experience, a new sound. A new feeling. And each combination led to a new story to read, a new world to discover." Thank you Stacy Willingham

This was a tense and suspenseful read that grabbed my attention immediately! Told from duel timelines from Isabelle of “Then” and “Now”, I was captivated by her as an unreliable narrator and her questions and doubts around the idea of motherhood.

I had similar feelings regarding this one as her debut, A Flicker in the Dark. I’d seen some remarkable reviews and a few mixed ones, so I tried to go in with an open mind and was not let down! Was it my favourite book of the year like I’d seen some reviews? Certainly not. Was I not mind blown by the “twisty” ending like her debut, no, but did I enjoy the ride regardless? Absolutely!

I found it a bit of a slow burn at times but I was intrigued and engaged the entire time and found it to be a solid domestic suspense! I look forward to what Willingham does next!

ALL THE DANGEROUS THINGS
Stacy Willingham, Author
Mystery/Thriller

When Isabelle Drake’s baby is taken in the middle of the night a year ago her life changed dramatically. Her mind is playing tricks on her and now she suspects everyone around her has taken her baby. On top of that her husband has left her for a lady with a striking resemblance to herself.

This book takes you on a wild ride. Through the ups and downs of Isabelle life and the huge twist at the end of the book. She realizes that she may not be as crazy as everyone thought she was. I would give this book a solid 5 out of 5 stars!

I loved this one! The dual timelines helped move the story along and kept me reading so I could find out what happened next. The author’s thoughts on motherhood and the guilt that we all carry were spot on - and those feelings increased my empathy for the main character even though she was clearly an unreliable narrator. I guessed one of the twists, but there were still several surprises. This is my first book by Stacy Willingham, but I will be reading more!

This is by far the BEST audiobook that I have listened to, thus far. I am fairly new to reading along with audiobooks, but they are definitely starting to grow on me.

Karissa Vacker's voice was the absolute PERFECT voice for Isabelle Drake and the way that she seamlessly switched between the higher female voices and lower male voices was just incredible and so, so believable. I felt every single emotion in her voice as she was reading... and she just pulled me directly into the story. After listening to the first two chapters, I immediately found myself searching for every other audiobook she's voiced, and I'll be listening to every single one of them, starting with Stacy Willingham's first book, A Flicker in the Dark.

The book itself--All the Dangerous Things--was also absolutely perfect. This was my first Stacy Willingham book, and it certainly won't be my last. While the subject matter of the book was incredibly hard and gut-wrenching to read as a mother of an 18-month old baby, there was just something about it that just had me so completely immersed.

Yes, it's a slow burn, but it is one million per cent a slow burn done right. This particular story doesn't need all of the action of a fast paced thriller. The pace of the book is actually one of the things that I loved so much about it, especially given its plot. A book about a mother who hasn't slept for a year because she spends every waking second thinking of and looking for her missing son, doesn't call for action, nor should you expect that. It calls for believability, and part of that believability comes from the past year being the longest one of her life, reflected in a slower--but ultimately super twisty--mystery.

This is no doubt one of my new favourite crime books and it's one that I'll be recommending to others for years to come.

Thank you to NetGalley, St Martins Press, Raincoast Books & LibroFM for the gifted review copies: physical, digital, and audio.

I read Stacy Willingham's debut novel because there was so much hype around it, and I must say that it fell a bit flat for me. When I saw that she had a new book I was a little hesitant to read it because again I was hearing lots of hype, but let me tell you I was really glad I gave her another shot! This book was fast paced, suspenseful and there were so many twists and turns. I thought the characters were good, the storyline kept me involved the entire time wanting to know what was going to happen next. There are lots of red herrings and the story goes back and forth in the time line to throw you off what is actually happening. And just when you think you know what is going to happen the story shifts. I think this would work well as a tv series for sure. I can't wait to see what she puts out next!

Such a fantastic book! I was a little hesitant because of the topic of kidnapping and the fact that I have a young child. It is a very real concern with me. The story though was so focused on the mom and her finding the truth that it wasn't a trigger for me. It was so well written and such a great mystery. I also have to say that I loved and related to the ending of this one! The narrator was also fantastic!

Great story. Invested in characters from start. Easy to listen to. Will purchase for library and recommend as a good read/listen!

Stacy Willingham’s second novel, All the Dangerous Things, was such a phenomenal book. It was atmospheric, relatable, and terrifying all at once. The novel follows Isabelle Drake as she grapples with her past and her present following the kidnapping of her son. While it feels like the rest of the world, including her estranged husband, have moved on Isabelle turns to the true crime podcast hosts and their followers, to help her solve the case. Along the way, she examines her past and her own memories of the night Mason disappeared.

Stacy Willingham uses family secrets and the hard truths of motherhood to weave this haunting, unpredictable story. Twisted and full of suspense, All the Dangerous Things was an instant win for me, made even better by the excellent audio narration of Karissa Vacker.

ARC provided.

I adored reading and listening to All the Dangerous Things! I am new to this author and cannot wait to read more. I felt this story in my bones. The depth and breadth of emotion I felt for Isabelle was shocking to me. I was not expecting the punch this story packs. I suggest going in blind and letting things unfold for you. I loved the breadcrumbs as well as all that happens on the periphery.

Suspenseful and heartfelt, with twists and turns! I highly recommend All the Dangerous Things.

In a Nutshell: A slow, slow, slow “thriller”. Worth it for the final resolution, but the journey to reach that point was eye-roll-inducing. I’m making it official: I am tired of 1st person unreliable narrators that ramble too much and trust only themselves.

Story Synopsis:
Isabelle Drake’s toddler son Mason was kidnapped a year ago. She hasn’t slept since. The case is now cold, with no clues and no leads for the police. Even her marriage is over, not being able to stand the strain of a missing child. Isabelle tries to keep the investigation active by speaking about Mason at true crime cons. At one such event, she bumps into a crime podcaster who wants to highlight Mason in his next show. But as they proceed with this, Isabelle starts questioning her own memories of what happened that night.
The story comes to us in the first person perspective of Isabelle from ‘Now’ and ‘Then’ timelines.


Where the book worked for me:
😍 The identity of the kidnapper and the resolution of the mystery were easily the best parts of the book. It is this section that caused me to push up my rating to 2.5. Until then, I was sitting firmly on the 2 star mark.


Where the book left me with mixed feelings:
😐 The author has a tendency to use analogies in her writing, and almost all of these are excellent. It’s after a long time that I noticed such nice descriptive writing in a thriller. Then again, do people want beautiful prose in a thriller? Let me not open that Pandora’s Box.

😐 The mystery/suspense feels very guessable but has enough surprises and twists to keep you on your toes. A couple of the twists are nice but many of them were just silly. Some were farfetched.

😐 In the ‘Then’ timeline, things are pretty interesting and I was quite hooked onto the events that might have affected contemporary Isabelle. But towards the end, there come two “big reveals” that are utterly out of the blue and didn’t make sense at all. These killed the impact of this timeline for me.


Where the book could have worked better for me:
😬 The word ‘thriller’ applies to the book in its loosest possible sense. Most of the book is more of a slow-burn mystery. If you want adrenaline-filled thrills, this is the wrong book.

😬 As this is advertised as a thriller in every blurb and almost every review, I was hoping for something fast and high-octane. But this was too slow and meandering for my mood. Thank God for the audiobook!

😬 I’m beginning to hate the use of first person in this genre. All we get is “I think”, “I wonder”, “I imagine”, “I feel”,… after every few lines. It kills the momentum of the plot. I understand that first person povs will always have some inner monologues, but there should be a limit to them, especially in genres that function on pace.

😬 Isabelle is the typical contemporary thriller protagonist: a woman obsessed with an idea and who assumes herself to be correct while everyone around her has to be wrong. Clichéd to the core! I didn’t understand why she felt that only she could find out what happened to Mason, and yet she was so determined to sabotage her chances of doing so by taking one stupid decision after another. I might have enjoyed this better had I been able to connect with Isabelle.

😬 Why can’t we have one “thriller” where the husband turns out to be a good guy who is equally devastated by his child’s kidnapping without being a gaslighting, cheating dickhead?

😬 As usual, the police didn’t find out anything important. It is our unreliable narrator who manages to resolve the case almost entirely on her own, a whole year after the incident. So basically, nothing much happened for a year, and then every secret started unravelling within a couple of weeks and the mystery is resolved too neatly, tied together with a ribbon on top.


The audiobook experience:
The audiobook, clocking at nearly 10 hours, is narrated by Karissa Vacker. She is pretty good. I loved how she voiced Isabelle distinctly for the Now and Then timeframes. I wasn’t a big fan of her male voices, but overall, she did a nice job.


All in all, except for the ending, this was too slow and too melodramatic and too whiny and too clichéd for me. But as usual, I am the only one whining about it in a melodramatic way. Almost all of my friends LOVED it. So please read their reviews and take a call on the book while I sit here alone on Outlierland. Sigh.

2.5 stars.


My thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the ALC of “All the Dangerous Things”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the audiobook. Sorry this didn't work out better.