This was my first Willingham book and, wow, it did not disappoint "All the Dangerous Things" centers around Isabelle, a new mother, whose life begins to unravel after her son, Mason, is taken from his crib in the middle of the night. While there is an obvious mystery at play (duh!), this book felt more than a whodunit. You learn SO much about Isabelle's past and how it shapes her present. Did I mention how character-driven this book is? My favorite.

This book IS a little slow to start, but I personally loved getting to know Isabelle. As a relatively new mom myself, I *might* be a little biased, but I couldn't help but feel for Isabelle. From the sleepless nights to the inner thoughts you may never want to admit out loud, I might have been the target audience with this one. Ultimately, I loved how much of this book stemmed around feelings of guilt and how Isabelle's perception of past situations shaped her current thoughts and actions. So relatable! The twists didn't hurt either.

I can't wait to go back and read her debut novel.

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!

** Thanks so much to NetGalley, Stacy Willingham, and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for this ARC! All the Dangerous Things will be out January 10th, 2023. **

Plot: Isabella Drake is living every mother's worst nightmare - her toddler son, Mason, disappeared from his bedroom in the middle of the night a year ago. She knows all of the statistics, knows that her son is most likely dead, but can't accept this explanation. As her marriage with her husband, Ben, deteriorates, and Isabella's mental health hangs by a thread, she begins to wonder if she really knows anything at all about what happened that night.

Review: This book is Stacy Willingham's sophomore novel, a follow-up to her very successful book, A Flicker in the Dark. Set in Savannah, this is an atmospheric, twisting thriller that I couldn't wait to finish. Definitely recommended! The sleepwalking was especially terrifying.

Isabelle Drake's life changed forever in one night. Her son disappeared during the middle of the night with only a smattering of clues and very few leads for the police to work on. She won't rest until she either finds her son or finds out what happened to him.

I really enjoyed Stacy Willingham's debut novel, "A Flicker in the Dark" and was really excited to read her next book! I felt the book was a bit slow to start, but started to grab my attention a little more towards the middle-end of the book. I hate to say, but it was a bit predictable when I got to that attention grabbing part of the book. Maybe it's because I've read so many thrillers that I can kind of guess now whodunnit. Overall a great book though.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press in exchange for an honest review.

Review of uncorrected eBook file

It has been a year since Isabelle Drake’s eighteen-month-old son, Mason, was stolen from his bed in the middle of the night while she and her husband, Ben, slept in the room next door. Since then, except for an occasional catnap, Isabelle has not slept for a year . . . an entire year that Mason has been missing.

After a year, Mason’s kidnapping case is a cold case. Despite some misgivings, Isabelle agrees to an interview with Waylon Spencer, a true crime podcaster, hoping to find a witness or some new clue.

Suffering from sleep deprivation and a tragedy from her childhood, Isabelle begins to wonder if she can trust herself. Is she, in some way, responsible for what happened to Mason?

Can Isabelle find the truth? And what will it reveal?

========

In this heart-wrenching story, told from Isabelle’s point of view, the present-day narrative slips into the past from time to time in order to provide the backstory of Isabelle’s childhood and of her relationship with Ben. Readers, pulled into the telling of the tale from the outset, are sure to find themselves invested in Isabelle’s story and the question of who took Mason [and why].

Ben seems to have had no problem “moving on” [and leaving the marriage], but readers are likely to find his comment to Isabelle that she needs to "accept what happened and move on” to be both cruel and heartless.

The inclusion of the true-crime podcast gives the telling of the tale an immediacy, ramping up its relatability for the reader. Coupled with every mother’s nightmare of something horrific happening to her child, the story is pulse-pounding and frightening as well as both desperate and sad.

The intriguing plot twists and turns offer readers some surprising revelations as it leads to an unexpected denouement readers simply won’t see coming.

Highly recommended.

I received a free copy of this eBook from St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books and NetGalley
#AlltheDangerousThings #NetGalley

This book was good. I liked the ending but the beginning was slow and hard to get into. I only pushed through because I loved flicker in the dark. I think flicker in the dark was better. This plot line was meh. Good twist but a bit boring overall.

In All the Dangerous Things, we meet Isabelle Drake. She has not slept in 365 days, since her 18-month-old son was kidnapped from her home while she slept. Since his disappearance, her life has become focused on tracking down who took him, determined to find him at all costs, distancing herself from her husband, her family, and her friends.

Isabelle meets Waylon Spencer, a True Crime podcaster, and agrees to tell him her story, and allow him to help her investigate Mason's disappearance. Everyone has their own secrets in this novel, and we are slowly fed information about Isabelle's tragic past, in flashback format. Isabelle's disordered sleep makes her an unreliable narrator, and there are twists and turns in this novel, showing that all is not as it seems.

I had read Willingham's previous novel and liked it well enough, but this one really clicked for me, especially as a mother. The struggles and the constant feelings of guilt were very accurately, and heart wrenchingly portrayed. This book pulled me in very quickly and I finished it in one afternoon/evening.

Generally, thrillers are hard for me to enjoy, but I recommend this one highly! Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books, and NetGalley for the electronic ARC of this novel for review.

2.5 rounded up to 3!
All the Dangerous Things has a release
date of 1/ 10/2023
In the beginning of the book we are introduced to Isabella Drake a mother that has been sleep deprived for a year since her toddler son Mason has been missing. Isabella is haunted by the occurrence of that night and has made it her mission to uncover the truth no matter to who it may lead to .
The book weaves between two time periods, one where Isabella is a young girl living at home with her parents and her sister Margret. The other is the present, a year after Mason’s disappearance.
After reading Flicker in the Dark I was excited to read this one , however I was left disappointed. The premise of the
story also piqued my interest but unfortunately it didn't follow through instead we are repeatedly brought to an unnecessary timeline that truly doesn't move the strong along in any manner.
The story was really slow and the pacing just felt drawn out to me. At about 80% that is when the book finally gets interesting.
This book may be great for fans of unreliable narrators, dual timelines, and stories revolving on kidnappings.
Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Minotaur Books for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Read from: Sep 23, 2022 - Oct 16,

I thought this was. Good read. It had a lot of good plot points. The characters were interesting and really kept me guessing. I would recommend.

What a great book. It's my first read by this author but it won't be my last. Has me unsure of the outcome til the end. A few surprises along the way.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of All the Dangerous Things.

I loved Willingham’s first novel and couldn’t wait to dive into her second one. A complete nightmare- a toddler disappears from his crib one night, and a mother desperately searches for answers. Tormented by insomnia and a tragedy from childhood, she starts to wonder what’s real and if she’s somehow to blame.

Dark and well written with a surprising twist, I couldn’t put this book down. I was convinced I knew what happened and wow, was I wrong. Isabelle is so easy to relate to and sympathize with. We see flashbacks of her childhood (heartbreaking on so many levels) and realizations that she might have been wrong about certain things all this time. I loved the addition of a true crime podcast to this story, it worked with the plot really well, and it was interesting to see a CrimeCon from the viewpoint of a victim.

Highly recommend this book! It’s well written, absolutely gave me moments of dread, and ended perfectly!

Thrillers can be hit or miss. Sometimes you get an awesome plot, but subpar writing and uninteresting characters. Sometimes the writing is good, but the story itself leaves a lot to be desired. Stacey Willingham delivers on all ends of the spectrum: fully developed characters, captivating mystery, and a plot that keeps you guessing & on the edge of your seat.

All the Dangerous Things is a bit of a slow burn, and it goes in quite a few different directions. At its heart, it’s the mystery of Isabelle Drake’s missing toddler, Mason, who was stolen from his room in the middle of the night one year ago. But it’s also a deep dive into motherhood, into childhood trauma, into the decisions women make that sometimes aren’t the greatest.

Isabelle isn’t an especially likable character, but she has redeeming moments. I really liked how Willingham pieced together the backstory of Isabelle because it helped ease you into liking her - hard to explain without spoiling anything, so I’ll leave it at that!

I also really liked the plot points about sleep: sleeping so hard you sleepwalk & feel out of control, and not sleeping at all so you start to not trust yourself. It added nuance to the book without cheapening it.

Overall, a fantastic and creepy read. I’m not sure I’d call it a thriller; it’s slightly disturbing with an air of mystery. If you go into it expecting a twisty thriller, you might be disappointed.

Thanks to the publisher for giving me a free eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book had me fully immersed from page one and didn’t let up until the end. I didn’t want to put it down! I had to know what happened to Mason. I really liked the little tidbits here and there that really made me question so many things and wonder what was really going on. There was also more than one mystery going on which made it so interesting. I also was dying to figure out what happened with Margaret.

I felt so much for this main character with her inner dialogue about motherhood and how raw and real it was portrayed. And her loss. Especially having read the authors note and realized the authors isn’t even a mother. She clearly did a ton of research and it really showed. I loved all the layers and discussions of mental health.

I kept guessing with this one and while i did figure out most of the twists, it really wasn’t bothersome because i wasn’t sure if i was right or not and it was one of those things that was like yess! I knew it! And then the end definitely left me shocked. I didn’t see the twist of events there.

I devoured this book and she’s definitely on my autobuy list.

Isabelle suffers from insomnia after her son Mason went missing one year ago.
She starts discussing the case with a podcaster, hoping for new leads. There's trauma from Izzy's childhood that she's trying to deal with as well, plus the separation from her husband.
This was a slow burn and didn't pick up the pace until about 75% in. There were some twists that I didn't see coming and the resolution was satisfying.
Decent read, but slow beginning.

Slump is over! I needed a book that would demand my attention and keep me guessing and this book was all that and more. Isabelle, our narrator, is dealing with a parent’s worst nightmare. Her young son was kidnapped out of his crib while she and her husband, Ben, slept. The investigation has come up empty handed on suspects and any hope of finding Mason. Ben has moved on but Isabelle can’t and is determined to solve the mystery even though she’s not exactly the most reliable narrator. She hasn’t slept a night since her son went missing. Suffering from severe insomnia, Isabelle struggles to trust even herself. I really appreciate the author’s style of writing. She does a great job of painting the scene and setting the mood without being overly descriptive. I often would find myself rereading a sentence just impressed with her ability to effectively communicate the confused, complicated feelings of this hurting mother. I enjoyed the author’s first book but this one has made me a true fan that is eagerly awaiting her next book! Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

I loved this book and maybe lost sleep over it (better than why the protagonist did though)! Isabelle's son was kidnapped a year ago, her marriage fell apart, and she can't sleep. Heartbroken, she gives presentations hoping someone will have some information even though the police have no leads at all. On plane she meets Waylon who runs a podcast and is interested in featuring her. Attempts are made but there's something "off" about him. Alternating between past and present, her "sleepwalking" days as a child and her now-wakefulness, the novel reveals her heartbreak and emptiness as she attempts to piece together the events of that fateful night. Wow, what a fast-paced nightmare that had me gasping many times!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

Isabelle Drake has come close to sleeping through the night since her 18-month-old son disappeared in the middle of the night. A lack of sleep can lead to delusions and hallucinations, so she’s having a tough time telling what is real. Izzy has been a thorn in the side of the police since it happened, but since they don’t seem to be getting anywhere, she takes it upon herself to go around the country speaking at true crime events, telling her story and seeing if anyone suspicious is in the audience.

The pacing of this is slow, and I had to push myself to get through this.

NetGalley provided and advance reader copy of this novel, which RELEASES JANUARY 10, 2023.

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 🙌🏽