After thoroughly enjoying Flicker in the Dark, I was so excited to read All the Dangerous Things. Willingham’s writing style is really rare for the mystery/thriller genre: she takes the time to really build the atmosphere and setting for the reader. In the case of this book, it was set in Savannah, GA and Beaufort, SC. I absolutely love books set in the South, so that was a nice bonus to find out the setting as I dove into the book. The full plot of the book fell a bit short for me. I wasn’t as sucked in by the story as I could’ve been. Maybe I didn’t feel as connected because I’m not a mother, but overall I just think this one was a bit slower than her last book. I still enjoyed the story, but I just wasn’t quite as invested as I would’ve liked to be.

This was a solid domestic thriller dealing with motherhood, guilt and hidden secrets. It was a slow burn and took awhile for the story to really get started. Once the story got going, it was really hard to put down. I had to know what was happening next! I enjoyed the present storyline as well as the childhood storyline. It was interesting to see how the stories were connected and I wasn’t expecting the outcome. Some of the writing was overly descriptive and took away from the action a bit, but I enjoyed the overall story.

Southern storyteller Stacy Willingham returns following her smashing debut hit, A FLICKER IN THE DARK, with her sophomore novel, which is even better, ALL THE DANGEROUS THINGS —a compelling, emotionally charged psychological thriller standalone based on every mother's worst nightmare.

A mother's toddler son is abducted—and she questions her memories and past.

Complex characters, heart-pounding suspense, and a stunning conclusion. What starts as a child abduction warps into something far more twisted and nefarious.

Journalist Isabelle Drake struggles with overwhelming grief and guilt a year after her toddler son, Mason, disappeared one night from their Savannah, Georgia, home.

She cannot sleep, wrestling with severe insomnia, after what happened and second-guessing what she could have done differently. It has been over a year. Her 18-month-old son was abducted from his crib in the middle of the night.

Her husband, Ben, left her six months ago and has already found a girlfriend, Valerie. He seems to have moved on. Something Isabelle cannot do. Ben never really wanted to be a father.

Ben made her feel guilty for working part-time as a writer traveling to North Carolina. But she knew she could not be a good person or mother without first being true to herself.

Did it ignite something dangerous in Ben? NO CLUES or suspects. She cannot rest or move on with her life until he is found.

She will do whatever it takes, including speaking at conferences about her son. Anything to keep the case alive and draw out anyone who knows anything about her son.

While speaking at the TrueCrimeCon convention, she is approached by Waylon Spencer, a successful podcaster solving cold cases. He offers to help Isabella and get her story out to a broader audience with the hope of finding Mason.

However, to do so, he has to delve deeper into Isabelle's background, causing some unwanted memories to resurface, including a childhood tragedy.

What is Waylon's connection?

Her sister drowned, and it ended her father's congressional career. What happened that night in the marshes so long ago with her sister (Margaret), mother, herself, and father? What is her family hiding?

Who took Mason? Is he still alive? Who can she trust to help her? Can she even trust her memories of that night? Where nothing is as it appears.

Haunting! A perfect title, a beautifully rendered tale with vivid descriptions of the area, and excellent storytelling.

The novel is told from the point of view of Isabelle. Alternating from past and present, we learn of her childhood and early relationship with her husband, Ben.

"But aren't all of our lives just stories we tell ourselves? Stories we try to craft so perfectly and cast out into the world? Stories that become so vivid, so real, that eventually, we start to believe them too?"


From highly charged topics of mental health, motherhood, trauma, memories, marriage, and grief—as well as dark hidden family secrets are explored. The author handles them with compassion and sensitivity.

Captivating, atmospheric, vivid, lyrical, disturbing, thought-provoking, and emotional!

There are flawed, complicated, and messy women characters. We see in the novel firsthand, the damage and social pressures and weight on women and expectations of motherhood. I enjoyed the Author's Notes and resources about mental health included.

I enjoyed reading the e-book and listening to the audiobook, narrated by one of my favorite narrators, the fabulous Karissa Vacker! The performance was spellbinding. Highly recommend the audiobook.

I fell in love with Stacy's debut, and her fans and new ones will devour ALL THE DANGEROUS THINGS. Fans of authors, Matt Goldman's Carolina Moonset, Mary Kubica, and Jennifer Hillier's Little Secrets will enjoy.

Thanks to #StMartinsPress #MacmillanAudio #MinotaurBooks #Netgalley for a gifted e-ARC and ALC. #SMPInfluencers #MinotaurInfluencers

Check out my #AuthorElevatorSeries Interview with Stacy (A Flicker In the Dark), where we go behind the scenes of the author and book.

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Pub Date: Jan 10, 2023
My Rating: 5 🌟 STARS
Jan 2023 Must-Read Books

I’ve been bouncing back and forth between 3.5 or 4 stars for this one and am still undecided! I enjoyed the writing in this thriller more than others I’ve read in the past but the ending didn’t pack as much of a punch as I thought it would. There were almost too many plot points to keep track of that when one would be explained or resolved, we were already breezing on to the next. Overall, I did enjoy the story and thought the descriptions of the MC’s experience with sleepwalking was well done and unsettling! I’ll definitely read more by this author in the future & recommend this book to thriller lovers.

I loved this take on the unreliable narrator suspense genre. I found it gratifyingly unpredictable in its twists, but also well planned out with the loose threads of where the plot was going tying together beautifully. That being said, my only slight critique is that the ending seemed a little too “neat” for such a “messy” situation and storyline. While it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the story at all, I did find the way it wrapped up a bit far fetched to happen so cleanly at the end..

Thanks to Netgalley for this advance copy!

Wow!!!! Stacy knows how to write a book that packs a punch! She captured my attention right away and it kept a hold the whole time.

What has happened to Mason? Why can't they police find him? Did his parents do something to him? Maybe his mother?

The story had to many twists and turns and that ending I never saw it coming! I loved flicker in the dark and this is right up there with it.

Stacy is rapidly becoming one of my new favorite authors. I will be reading her next one and it cannot come soon enough!

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur books for this ARC! One of the best books I have read in 2022

I really enjoyed this book. Im not a huge thriller reader but I really liked her last book and the narrator is excellent so I knew I was going to read this. I ended up mostly reading the audio version of this. I like to switch back and forth. I kinda partially guessed one of the twists but otherwise I was totally surprised by how things turned out. Definitely would recommend! I picked up a hard copy from BOTM and will definitely recommend to my Instagram followers closer to the pub date!

I loved Stacy Willinghams debut of A FLICKER IN THE DARK so I was ecstatic to read her sophomore novel: ALL THE DANGEROUS THINGS.

My thoughts:
-enjoyed the past/present timeline, but it wasn’t always clear which time frame we were reading about
-true crime podcast aspect is always interesting to me
-not a fan on unreliable narrator trope but it worked well in this instance
-no major twists or shocking turns for me

I enjoyed this read just as much as Willinghams debut so I’d definitely recommend picking both up when you are in the mood for a quick thriller 😊

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martins Press for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Over the last year I kind of started to give up on books with missing children. I think I just felt like it has been over done at this point. Then along comes All The Dangerous Things. Should I? Should I not? Well I did and it totally paid off.

So I’m not going to rehash the plot because like I said, there’s a missing child and you can all kind of assume/imagine the feelings that come with that, but there is also so much more . I will say that what made this book for me was the writing, the complex characters and just the overall mood of the book. I loved it, I really did. I was emotionally invested in the plot, at times riddled with anxiety and had no idea who or what to believe. I love when a book makes me actually care and feel so I will always give all the stars for that!

I didn’t read the authors debut novel, but I think after this I will. I loved the fast pace, twists, how a podcast was connected, the bayou creepy vibes, Isabelle’s character. The plot was so original with a sleepwalking mother who questions everything, including her sisters ,mysterious death.
Thank you Minotaur books & NetGalley for an advanced e-book copy in exchange for my honest review!

Stacy Willingham does it again! I couldn’t put this book down for a second. A missing child, a grieving and sleep deprived mother, and her fight to find answers. So highly recommended by me, this book grabs you and keeps you wondering!

I have a feeling this one is going to come with many conflicting opinions; but I do believe we can all agree that Willingham is a talented writer. Her prose is stunning, characters well developed, scenery is vivid, and words are thought provoking.

But boy does this one come with triggers. What I'm sure is not an all-encompassing list: cheating, missing child, suicide, murder of a child, infanticide, murder, kidnapping, mental illness, postpartum psychosis. And the list goes on and on. I will say is that nothing is described in too much detail so for those with weak stomaches, it's not gruesome. But it's really messed up and uncomfortable. Which I suppose adds to the brilliance of the story - anything that elicit's strong emotion is a mark of a good story.

I was thoroughly engrossed in this story the entire time. And although I do think it was a bit long, it didn't ever feel repetitive to me, just more drawn out than it needed to be.

If you're a thrilled/suspense fan, and can stomach the triggers, I'd say this is highly worth the read!

Once I started this book I couldn't put it down. I didn't know if I would like it with a missing child involved, but I quickly became hooked and wondered if the mother was a reliable narrator and then I just couldn't stop listening. This is a fantastic story and I didn't know which characters to trust. The flashbacks were well done and added to the story. I highly recommend this book!

AHHH, so good!

I have a new favorite thriller writer & I’m already trying to get my hands on a copy of her first book, because I need more of Willingham’s wonderful writing in my life. I was GLUED to every page, never wanting to put this one down, needing to know if my theories were right or wrong and what *actually* happened. All of her characters were so multifaceted and there wasn’t anything in the plot that went unanswered; we knew who these people were and eventually we found out ALL of their stories (which you don’t often get in many thrillers these days). Sleepwalking, motherhood, missing children, suicides, homicides, postpartum mental illnesses (which DEFINITELY need to be talked about more!!) — I mean this book has it all, but yet, it’s so expertly crafted and incredibly well written, that it all goes together seamlessly into making this extremely unsettling and creepy thriller. Overall, just a really riveting story (and a satisfying ending!)! Definitely add this one to your list, people!

Thank you to Stacy Willingham and Minotaur Books for providing me with an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Good character development and the book itself moved at a good pace. i found it to be a bit predictable as I had guessed what happened before it was revealed. The plot line about the missing boy was good. I did have some characters in this book that I didn't care for.

Unpopular opinion 🚨
Earlier in the year I read, A Flicker in the Dark, the author’s debut, and I ended up really enjoying it. If I remember correctly, I believe I ended up giving it five stars ⭐️. So of course when I was approved for All The Dangerous Things, I was over the moon! Unfortunately, I didn’t end up loving it as much as I expected to.

The story begins with Isabelle giving a talk at TimeCrimeCon about her son, who went missing a year prior. He was taken from his house and there hasn’t been a break in the case ever since.

I wanted to love this one so badly, but I felt that the twist wasn’t as suspenseful as I would have liked it to be. I also felt that the beginning was a little slow and took me a bit of time to become fully invested in the story. At around the 80% mark it finally picked up and there were some twists and turns that I expected, so they weren’t as shocking once they were revealed. Overall, I was intrigued enough to finish the book, hence my 3 star rating but I’m disappointed to say it wasn’t as great as her debut.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.25 of stars rounded down.

I honestly think this had the potential to be five stars if the first half hadn’t been so slow. The setting was atmospheric, I felt immersed in the Savannah & South Carolina coastal settings.

I thought I had the ending figured out, but man I was wrong.

I also enjoyed the mix of red herrings on both timelines.

I definitely enjoyed this more than A Flicker in the Dark, so if that didn’t work for you, try this one out!

TW: stillbirth, post partum mental health

"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."

I LOVE that this story is based in Savannah, Georgia (my current home! 🥹) and I was excited to read on and imagine Isabelle walking down the streets of Savannah. The scene setting of this book was spot on with the description!

With the MC Isabelle’s declining mental state I was worried this story would be about a typical unreliable narrator. But I’m glad this is not a typical case, because it’s definitely more than that!

I was not able to predict the ending but I did have my suspicions 👀 I really enjoyed Isabelle’s past POV, and the red herrings of this story. Some of the twists can be predicted, but otherwise worked out well! All in all I enjoyed this book, it was just a bit too slow of a burn for me.

Thank you so much @netgalley @minotaur and @stacywillingham for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

Isabelle Drake hasn’t slept in a year…not since the day her baby son, Mason, was kidnapped from his crib in the middle of the night. Now, a year later, police are no closer to finding a suspect or fresh lead in Mason’s disappearance. With all avenues seemingly expired, Isabelle turns to a true crime podcaster who promises to figure out what happened to Mason.

However, Isabelle is alarmed by the questions the podcaster asks her about her own past. She’s not sure who she can trust, and nobody is sure they can trust her…but she won’t rest until she knows what happened to her son.

Author Stacy Willingham proves this is no sophomore slump after the debut of A Flicker In The Dark, which was a phenomenal read. This one is a page-turner with intrigue and suspicions galore. It is a bit of a slow burn, but has some juicy and surprising payoffs. I’m highly anticipating Willingham’s next read. Highly recommended.

Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Expected Publication Date: 1/10/23.

Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur books for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

5/5 stars

Holy forking crap. My heart is still racing from the last 1/3 of this book. Willingham blew it out of the park in her sophomore novel and I have to say that I loved this book so much better than A Flicker In the Dark. I absolutely LOVE the MC Isabella and how unreliable she is. Willingham did a fantastic job at the dual POV and showing how Isabella’s childhood could be impacting the person she is today and the recent events that could have happened. I think that being able to get inside Isabella’s head and *trying* to understand how the lack of sleep/grieving the loss of her son are impacting her current functioning. I feel like this aspect of the story just causes the reader to be sucked in because you want to know what really happened when Isabella was younger and what really happens when she sleepwalks or zones out at times.

I also think that Willingham approached the topic of motherhood and the lack of sleep that come along with it perfectly well. She does such a great job at showing the mothers guilt that we experience when our children are fussy due to like colic but then feeling guilty that we might have more negative thoughts. I will say that as a mother to a toddler, this was definitely difficult to read at times and I would have to read another book before bed because I became sooo paranoid about my daughter that I would check her baby monitor so many times before I would even go to bed. So if that is a trigger for you, then this may not be the best book for you. However, with that said, this book is freaking fantastic and I couldn’t put it down. And that twist at the end! I didn’t see it coming from a mile away!
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This review will be posted to my Instagram blog (read_betweenthecovers) in the near future!