This was a well written intriguing mystery of a missing child. It’s told as a dual timeline story from the prospective of main character, Isabelle. It goes back and forth between the story of her childhood and death of her sister to current times and the investigation of her missing son. I gave it 4 stars because I found it to be extremely slow paced. Nothing really happens in the first 60 percent of the book. However, the plot was intriguing enough for me to stick it out and finish the book. I had to find out what happened to her sister and her son! The ending was worth the wait so I’m glad I finished it.

I read this book in two sittings. Yes, it's impossible to put down.

"I understand what it's like now, how maddening, lying awake in the middle of the night with nothing but your thoughts for company."

I loved this book wayyy more than A Flicker in the Dark.
I think this one is more my style. Also, I didn't see anything coming and I ooooved being surprised.
Isabelle used to sleep very well when she was a child.
Almost too well. She used to sleepwalk and remembered nothing that she did at night.
When her baby was taken in the middle of the night, she went from a great sleeper to not sleeping at all. And sleep deprivation can cause hallucination and paranoia.
Isabelle is willing to do anything to find her son. But she can't trust her memories and thoughts, since she hasn't had a good night's sleep in a year. So how is she going to find her son?

I highly recommend this super gripping thriller!

All the Dangerous Things is every mother’s worst nightmare. Imagine waking up and finding your child gone. Even worse, what if it is somehow your fault?

Isabelle Drake has lived a year without her son Mason. Now that the case has gone cold with the police, she speaks out at true crime conventions around the country. It’s unconventional, but she refuses to let her son fade from the public’s memories. She will talk to anyone to keep the search for Mason alive.

When a podcaster approaches her after a convention, he convinces her that this will help her reach so many more people than these one off events, but his interview questions makes her wary and she begins questioning his motives. Fitful and sporadic sleep for over a year has caused Isabelle to become a little fuzzy and unfocused. The podcaster’s leading questions make her question her every thought, even revisiting trauma from her childhood and wonder if she had something to do with Mason’s disappearance.
As things come into focus, Isabelle has to make tough decisions, but she will stop at nothing to find out the truth.

Thank you to Netgalley, Macmillan Audio, and of course Stacy Willingham for the advanced copy of the audiobook. All the Dangerous Things is out on January 10th. Don’t miss her debut novel A Flicker in the Dark in Goodread’s 2022 Choice Awards! It was stellar too! All opinions are my own.

Whew! I loved this!! Isabelle is totally haunted after her son Mason disappeared from his nursery. The story unfolds in a then-and-now fashion, with tons of twists and turns. I actually gasped at one point! Willingham does an amazing job of reeling you in… and so clearly describes the horrible worries that moms can have. Twisty and gripping, I think it is a must-read for my psychological thriller friends!

Thank you to the publisher./Netgalley for allowing me to review this audiobook!

Wow okay so this was such a good thriller. I enjoyed the build up and the ending was amazing! This was definitely a step up from her debut novel (which I also enjoyed) and I will be instant buying anything this author creates!

Although I highly enjoyed this, there were moments that felt out of sync and didn't exactly fall in line completely. I am sure that those minor details will be handled as this author becomes more confident in their work. The audio of this book was great! I highly recommend it :)

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good thriller that turns the tables on you and makes you second guess your own thoughts.

Stacy Willingham is a force In the literary suspense world and I’m excited to continue to read her books. This was an excellent sophomore novel. She takes certain overdone tropes (alcoholic - unreliable in Flicker) and insomniac in Dangerous and adds a certain complexity and humanity to the storyline that pulls you in. You search for answers along with the protagonist, all while questioning everyone. I devoured this in about 24 hours. Happy with the conclusion and how things were wrapped up as well.

Karissa Vacker does an excellent job with narration.

3.5 raised to 4 stars

I was trying to solve the mystery all through Stacy Willingham’s A Flicker in the Dark, so I was looking forward to listening to her new book All The Dangerous Things.

The story felt rather familiar. An 18-month-old child disappears from his crib one night. His mother grieves the loss, is sleep deprived, and constantly searching for answers. To make the situation worse, her husband can’t take Isabelle’s obsessing over her missing child, so he moves out.

The story then unfolds with flashbacks of Isabelle’s childhood. As the plot unfolds, if you’re like me, you’ll find yourself jumping from this person to that as the kidnapper.

The plot didn’t necessarily feel unique, but the combination of Willingham’s writing style and Vacker’s narration easily managed to keep me listening. And as the story progressed, so did my interest. The descriptions seemed to bring the story to life without taking up too much space.

My Concerns
The pace drug at times and even felt repetitive, though it picked up considerably in the last third.

Final Thoughts
I enjoyed the audiobook, though I’m not sure if the slow pace would have made reading the book difficult.

The ending didn’t come as a complete surprise, though I have to be honest, I guessed so many endings that there was no way I couldn’t have guessed it! And really, the cast of characters could almost be counted on one hand!

Stacy Willingham gently, but expertly, made it feel like the ending was relatively obvious. And it was . . . almost.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to listen to the audiobook and review the story with no stipulations.

This compelling and intriguing "Who Dunnit?" thriller about a sleep-deprived mother's abducted child is guaranteed to keep readers up at night.

One year ago, Isabelle Drake's toddler son, Mason, was abducted from his crib in the middle of the night while she and her husband were asleep in the next room.

With no forensic evidence, the case quickly goes cold but questions persist:

1) Who abducted Mason? Was he still alive?
2) Since there was no forensic evidence, did one (or both) parents murder Mason?

Told in alternating timelines between “Then” and "Now", this gripping tale was replete with red herrings, twists, deeply flawed characters (my favorite!), and many gasp-worthy moments. The book started out slow, but it quickly picked up.

What set this book apart from other books in its genre was the author's strong characterizations and cleverly crafted storyline. In other words, this was not a "typical" child abduction book.

I listened to the audiobook read by Karissa Vacker, one of my favorite narrators. Karissa Vacker did an outstanding job with the narration.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
4.5 stars.

" 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘶𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳. 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘶𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘨𝘰 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘸𝘯.

𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖: Isabelle & Ben’s son Mason has been missing for one year. Isabelle has been working day in and day out to find out what has happened to their son. On the other hand, her husband Ben has seemed to just come to terms with the fact that he is gone.

𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒: Wow! Another amazing book by Stacy Willingham. She is becoming one of my favorite thriller authors. She is the queen of unreliable narrators and she just kept throwing in twist after twist after twist. I had no idea who was to trust in this one. Just when I thought I had it figured out I was proven completely wrong – it was a complete rollercoaster. I highly recommend this one – especially for lovers of Little Secrets by Jennifer Hiller.

𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆: I loved it!

*Special thank you to Macmillan Audio, NetGalley, and Stacy Willingham for an ALC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Satisfying thriller about a woman whose child is kidnapped and her efforts to find him, all the while suffering debilitating insomnia.
The ending was a bit implausible and required a suspension of reality, but the book kept my interest.
Recommended for Mystery/ Thriller readers.

Fantastic!!!! I loved This book even more than her debut. An unreliable narrator, two harrowing stories, and a solid female lead. Highly recommending this. The audio narration was also fantastic. Easy to listen to, well paced, capturing the characters effortlessly. Thanks for sending me this arc.

This was a great listen - great narration, great story full of surprises. It was a quick listen, as I couldn't leave it alone until the amazing conclusion!

Stacy Willingham has become one of my top ten thriller authors thanks to this book. All the Dangerous Things sucks you in from the very beginning and is unlike any thriller you have read before. The ending was not something that I would have predicted, and it had a combination of things that I just loved. I listened to the audiobook and really enjoyed the narrator.

All the Dangerous Things was a twisty read I could not put down! I loved the subtle suggestion that Isabelle might not be a reliable narrator, and the several twists throughout the book. Overall, this story was suspenseful and entertaining, though the ending felt slightly anticlimactic and unbelievable compared to the rest of the book. That said, I would still recommend All the Dangerous Things to any lover of thrillers. I am already anticipating Stacy Willingham’s next book!

A huge thank you to the author, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

OOOOhhhhhhhh SW is quickly becoming a new favorite of mine. I will recommend A Flicker in the Dark to anyone who will listen (go read it if you haven't!!!). Any-who - this book kept me hooked. I love books where you think everyone has done it but it's never quite who you think. Just the intriguing was everything was weaved together - chef's kiss. I'll definitely be pushing this when it comes out!!

Every mother worries when their child is in danger! Isabelle Drakes child Mason was taken from his crib. Isabelle and her husband Ben did not hear anything.
🍼
After a year the case goes cold.
Isabelle is trying to recall memories from the night before the abduction and suffers while getting very little sleep. Isabelle and her husband Ben separated after the disappearance and he has already moved on.
🍼
Isabelle gives speeches about the abduction trying to get any information about their son. She is making sure she remembers all those who attend to try to gather clues. She is trying everything she knows to get answers. She even talks with a podcaster. Unfortunately Isabelle had something that traumatized her in her childhood and the abduction of her son brings back those painful memories.
🍼
Did Ben have anything to do with his sons appearance? Is Mason still alive? This novel is a page turner and dealt with postpartum psychosis and other trauma.

Thank you NetGalley, Macmillian audio, and author Stacy Willingham. This novel is out January 10, 2023. Karissa Vacker is the narrator and is fabulous. I highly recommend this authors debut A Flicker in the Dark as well. 💙💙💙

This was such an addictive mystery. I listened to the audiobook version and the narrator was wonderful. I finished in less than 24 hours because I couldn't wait to figure out what happened. And I had no idea how it would end! Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!!

After enjoying Willingham’s debut, A Flicker in the Dark, I couldn’t wait to read All the Dangerous Things. Isabelle’s son was kidnapped from his crib one year ago and Isabelle hasn’t slept since. After agreeing to a true crime podcast interview, Isabelle begins to question herself as new clues about her son’s disappearance and her own past come to light.

I read a lot of thrillers and unfortunately this one felt very similar to a few others I’ve read in the past couple of years. Unreliable narrators and podcasts have become quite the trend in the thriller book community. The major issue I had with this books was the pacing, it really didn’t pick up until the last 20%. There were some twists that I didn’t expect but overall, this was middle of the road for me.

I did enjoy the narrator, she did a great job switching between the characters’ voices.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars, rounded up
I was a fan of Willingham’s debut novel, A Flicker in the Dark. So, I was curious where she would go with her sophomore effort. This one was a slower burn for me.
Isabelle Drake is dealing with something no mother ever should. A year ago, her toddler son went missing from his bedroom in the middle of the night. The abduction caused her marriage to fail. She takes an approach I couldn’t envision, speaking at multiple true crime conventions trying to keep the cold case alive. Then, she agrees to be interviewed by a podcaster she met after one of those conventions.
Isabelle is a mess. She’s been suffering from insomnia ever since her son went missing. She’s doubting everyone, including herself. Given that the story is told solely from her perspective, she fits the mold of the “unreliable narrator”. Her morals were questionable, which I struggled with. I also found her dense and at times, dumber than dirt. As my mother would say, a leopard doesn’t change its spots, which folks would do well to remember.
The story is told using two timelines - the present day and back when Isabelle was a child. And through Isabelle’s memories, we are also given the story of her adult life before her marriage.
Willingham provides the reader with multiple suspects. It took a while for me to get invested with the story. The numerous references to her insomnia got on my nerves. The pacing was extremely slow in the beginning and I felt a better editing job could have helped here as there are several scenes which are repeated. The pacing did pick up around the 50% mark, good thing or I would probably have stopped listening at that point. Which would have been a mistake, as this ends with a great twist. The last 20% literally made up for the first half.
Karissa Vaicker was the narrator. She imparted a lot of emotion to the narration, but I wasn’t as impressed with her tackling Isabelle as a child.

If you enjoyed Stacy Willingham's debut novel, A Flicker in the Dark, then you will love her latest thriller, All the Dangerous Things. Many of the same themes are present in both books including missing children, a possibly unreliable female narrator, and plenty of twists and turns throughout. In All the Dangerous Things, we are introduced to Isabelle Drake, who had her son Mason taken from his bedroom one year ago. Since then she has been unable to live a normal life, staying awake all the time and doing all she can to go through the evidence to find out who took her son. Her relationship with her husband Ben has crumbled, and she's been thinking more and more about her past which is causing her to question what might have happened to Mason. Full of surprises that will keep you reading up into the night Willingham's latest is a great sophomore novel!