Another great read by Stacy Willingham! I love her style and the fact that I cannot figure her books out. Always surprised by the turn of events and always keeps me guessing. This book had me on an emotional roller coaster. Imagine thinking you’re crazy, everyone else thinking you’re crazy, and your missing son’s case going cold when you know there’s more to it. This book was both triggering in some ways, but also reminding you to forever trust your mom-tuition.

All the Dangerous things by Stacy Willingham was the thriller I was looking for. I had no idea whodunnit and it kept me engaged the whole time. This audiobook is amazing and Karissa Vacker is quickly becoming my new favorite narrator. This was definitely a "page turner" I could not stop listening.

A heartbreaking domestic thriller with so many twists and turns. This is one that I will be recommending. It was just sooo good.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

This one was hard for me because I don’t enjoy reading books with child/baby victims but I pushed through hoping like Izzy did that she wasn’t the one who harmed her child. It was well written and had a good amount of suspense and characters. I listened to the audiobook and the narration was excellent. Thanks to NetGalley for the privilege to read and review this book.

This was such a great read with a plot that was put together. I was hooked from.the beginning and enjoyed listening to the plot unfold.

Thanks to NetGallet and the publisher for a copy to honestly review.

Your baby is missing…and you’re a sleepwalker. This book kept throwing curves at me I was not expecting. I would highly recommend this book to people who are interested in true crime.

I couldn't wait to finish this book I kept thinking about it when I had to put it down. I loved it. Already told my friends all about it

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the early release!

At first, I was unsure of how much I was going to like the book, but gosh it was amazing. Such good twists that forced me to stay up late to finish. Definitely worth the read!!

All the Dangerous Things is a tension-fueled, psychological thriller about a missing child and his sleep-deprived mother obsessed with finding out the truth behind his disappearance. Isabelle Drake put her toddler son to bed one evening and upon awakening she found that Mason was gone!! It’s a mothers worst nightmare. It’s been 365 days and the police can't find any evidence of what happened to him, and Isabelle's husband. Ben, has ended their marriage. Determined to find Mason, Isabelle must face her past, even if it means accepting that she might
have put her son in danger.
Lots of twist and turns which makes you want to stay up all night to finish! You will need to be a detective to figure this one out! I highly recommend this one!
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Press Audio for this ARC.

This novel had a lot going on, almost too much at one time. Stories about children is hard enough, but this one was a tough one. Over all I gave this story 3⭐, because it fell middle of the road for me. I will still pick up Willingham's first novel. I think this novel would have gotten a higher rating if less would have happened. Sometimes it is overwhelming as a reader. In the end it is still a good story, and I do highly recommend this story if you love mysteries/thrillers. Also the audiobook is very well done.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for a copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review

The words “in the dark” was used way too many times 😩. I started counting them but got annoyed by how many there were. Anyway, I didn't like this one as much as A Flicker in the Dark, but the storyline was still good.

This book is fantastic. Stacy Willingham is becoming a must read author for me. The narrator was great, I connected to the characters and the story was so well written. I gasped out loud in the car when the twist started unraveling. Definitely a must read and will be recommending!

Thank you so much @minotaur_books @netgalley @librofm for my digital and audio arcs/ ALCs of ALL THE DANGEROUS THINGS by @stacyvwillingham ! This one publishes next Tuesday, Jan 10! 4.5 stars!

It was also a BOTM December pick, so I snagged a copy for my shelves! 🙏

Stacy’s debut book, A FLICKER IN THE DARK was very well received on the book community- for good reason! It was such a great read and I loved it. BUT, this book- ALL THE DANGEROUS THINGS cemented her as an auto buy thriller author for me. I will read anything she writes!

If you have the chance, the audiobook for this book is phenomenal! I loved listening to it! It all felt so real and I was fully engrossed the whole time. I did follow along in my physical copy, when I had the chance, and I loved that experience.

It’s best not to try and guess the ending with this one, because you will most likely be wrong. I know I was 😆 there are so many twists and turns this book takes, which makes it fast, compulsive read. I’ve seen many people say they binged this book, and it’s true! You won’t want to stop reading this one!

While this book is definitely thrilling and will keep you up wha past your bedtime, I also loved how it touched on his hard being a mother is- especially a new first time mom. If you want an in depth look into this, or want to feel seen, pick this book up for this reason!

What a great way to start off 2023 with than this great thriller! Make sure you check trigger warnings tho, because this does involve a child being kidnapped- so it may not be for everyone.

ALL THE DANGEROUS THINGS | Stacy Willingham
01.10.2023 | Minotaur Books
Rating: 5/5 stars

One year ago, Isabelle Drake's life changed forever: her toddler son, Mason, was taken out of his crib in the middle of the night while she and her husband were asleep in the next room. With little evidence and few leads for the police to chase, the case quickly went cold. Except for the occasional catnap or small blackout where she loses track of time, she hasn’t slept in a year. Isabelle's entire existence now revolves around finding him, but she knows she can’t go on this way forever.

Stacy Willingham has done it again! All the Dangerous Things was my first read of 2023 and from the first few chapters I knew it was going to be a 5 star book for me!

There is something about Willingham’s writing that just instantly draws me into her books. In this case, it was Isabelle “Izzy” Drake’s character that I couldn’t help but want to know more about. I wanted all the details of her current situation, what happened with her son, and what strange secrets she held from her past. Willingham wisely weaves these storylines together by sprinkling in timeline shifts that take the reader from present day to Izzy’s childhood to reflections from Izzy regarding events that led her to today.

In addition to Izzy having a captivating life story, her personality, emotions, and reactions felt incredibly authentic. While I’m not a mother, I could feel exactly what Izzy was going through and the raw emotional reaction associated with that. It’s not just Izzy who brings this story to life, but a cast of secondary characters that fully flush out the book to make it one that I won’t forget any time soon.

I loved this book so much that I refused to put it down and alternated from my physical copy to the audio version just to keep going. Please be sure to read the author’s note once you finish the book. Even my cold heart was moved to tears by Willingham’s words.

First up, a big thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for early access to this book!

*4.5 stars, rounded down*

I have been in a reading slump for a while, but I enjoyed this author's first book so much that when I heard about it, I immediately went to look for it on Net Galley because I thoroughly enjoyed it and while it took me a moment to get to listen to it, I am very glad that I did. It's one of the better books that I've read/listened to lately.

Stacy Willingham does a fantastic job at building characters and setting up a heartbreaking scene. There were bits that were predictable, but they didn't detract from the enjoyment of the book at all. The feelings the main character expressed regarding her early months of parenthood are something that I can relate to greatly because I had a really hard time with my 3rd child, suffering from many of the dark thoughts that she expressed feeling, as well as the intense guilt for feeling them. I was surprised by the author's note at the end that she isn't a parent herself and was able to so articulately delve into the isolation and loss of self that can really impact mothers, who are expected to shoulder those burdens without complaint and anything less than feeling like it is the biggest blessing you can have bestowed upon you is blasphemous and judged harshly by society, let alone the fact that men aren't held to the same standards women are when it comes to parenthood. So much of the setup of the Isabelle and Ben was believable, including choices made by Isabelle that only tend to cause more people to get hurt.

The story itself was impactful and kept me interested, even though it wasn't a typical hardcore thriller...there was actually very little action in the book at all, in fact. I'm also a reader who absolutely HATES the first person POV where they withhold details to build suspense for the reader. I find it lacking in creativity. The author tackled unfolding the hidden details in such a way that Isabelle was putting pieces together and learning things at the same time we were, which I much prefer.

My only real critique of the story was that the past timeline and the present interaction with the parents were not as in depth or impactful as I thought they should have been. The past timeline has some justification for it because kids don't always understand the bigger picture, but the present interaction could have been more powerful than it was. It still hit hard, but it could have been more.

This one is definitely worth a read/listen and I'll be actively keeping my eyes open for Willingham's future releases.

One year ago, Isabelle's toddler son, Mason, was taken out of his crib in the middle of the night while his parents were sleeping. Isabelle is beside herself with grief, especially when the case goes cold. For the last year, she hasn't slept. She's done nothing but try to figure out what happened to Mason. When she finally agrees to go on a true crime podcast, she starts to wonder why the podcaster is so personally interested with her. Can she figure out what's going on with him? Why can she not trust her ex-husband's new girlfriend? Will she find Mason?

I read this immediately after reading Stacy Willingham's earlier novel A Flicker in the Dark. If you enjoyed that book, you'll enjoy this book as well. It's got a lot of the same vibes, but Stacy Willingham is so good at it. Like before, there's a couple different twists where you think you know what's going on, but if you make it to the end and can honestly say "Yeah, I called that," I would be extremely shocked.

Definitely recommend for thriller readers!

The overabundance of flowery descriptions and nonsensical metaphors and similes made this painful to read.

Terribly overwritten with so many words used to describe everything, regardless of how trivial. . Sometimes, entire pages were filled with descriptions of mundane events like nuking a bowl of pasta..

The mystery may have been a good one, but I couldn't get past the writing to find out.

Sorry, this is not for me.

A really, really solid thriller that surprised me when I thought I had the ending all figured out. At first, I thought this book was going to feature two of my least favorite thriller tropes (amnesia, esp. insomnia-induced, and characters constantly referring to some mysterious past event that doesn’t get revealed until the end).

But happy surprise: it did not! This actually featured very few predictable tropes, despite being a a story that may sound like one you’ve heard before - we’ve seen a lot of stories about mothers, childhoods with dark secrets, missing children. But you won’t regret picking up this book; you know a thriller is good when you finish it in just one day, and that’s what happened to me here.

I get so nervous when I realize a book has a missing child element to it. As a Mother of 3, I pretty much listen/read the entire time on the edge of my seat and “All the Dangerous Things” was no exception. The point of view flips back and forth from Isabelle’s perspective “then” and “now” with the “now” edging her more and more unhinged as the story goes on due to her lack of sleep with the element of sometimes sleep walking. Who can be sure what’s real or not when there’s sleep deprivation and the grief being carried from childhood coupled with grief and added guilt into adulthood? Isabelle’s son is missing and the case seems cold as ice but this Mama is NOT giving up!

I was into the book from start to finish - a solid 4 stars from me! The narration was perfect! Karissa Vacker did a wonderful job switching from “Now” Isabelle to young Isabelle, and all the characters in between, male and female! Bravo!

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Minotaur books for the Advanced Audible version of this book through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review!

I loved Stacy Willingham’s first book, A Flicker in the Dark, so I was so excited to read her new book and see what kind of ride she took me on this time!! I wasn’t disappointed!

Any parent’s worst nightmare – your toddler disappears from his room in the middle of the night! This captivating mystery is a story about a desperate mother that will stop at nothing to find her son and bring him home.

Willingham’s writing style sucks you in from the first chapter until the last page is turned. The story is full of twists and turns and kept me guessing who kidnapped Mason the whole time.….The jaw-dropping ending blindsided me. Who doesn’t love a shocking ending?!?

I had the pleasure of reading and listening to this one. I highly recommend listening to the audiobook if you can because Karissa Vacker (@karissavacker) did an outstanding job as narrator. The pacing of the book was perfect and she kept my attention throughout. She has instantly become my favorite mystery/thriller narrator.

Don’t miss reading the author’s notes!! It really added a better understanding of the various characters in the story for me.

WOW - did I ever dislike this one; it didnt feel original or fresh, infact, it felt like A LOT of books i had read before, only not quite as good.

1) an unreliable narrator is one thing, but someone who randomly can only remember KEY things when they are important for a plot twist, is BRUTAL
2) this was a slog to read...
3) re authors note at the end - sorry but no, i dont think you can authentically write a book about the "Weight of motherhood" without experience it yourself, and unfortunately as a mother myself, i IMMEDIATELY felt like her portrayal was... odd. I actually googled whether or not she had kids 15% in because i didnt feel authentic to me.