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.

I thought the story was great and the audio was fantastic. The narrator did an amazing job especially given the subject matter.

I loved the h reliable narrator and fight for the truth within the story. This was such a good thriller.

This is the second book by Stacy WIllingham, and the second book that I have read of hers. Sometimes it is hard to beat a first effort of an author, but I truly believe that Stacy Willingham comes close in this book.

This book shook me to the core, as a mother of young children. The author really created a horrifying situation that any parent would not want to go through. The air of terror and shock (initially) spiraling into despair and sadness, then into determination to resolve the situation is something that most parents would attempt to do, but fail at, along the way. And the gaslighting that goes on in this book is terrifying and not surprising (sadly) as I believe it would definitely happen if this situation was a true one (and not just in a novel.)

As terrifying and close to home as the situation was, I loved the novel and thought that Stacy Willingham hit the ball out of the park with this one. Definitely recommend to those to enjoy mystery/thrillers, and a "gasp at the end" finale!

Immense Gratitude for #NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the ARC of This audio book in exchange for an honest review.

All the Dangerous Things by Stacey Willingham and Narrated by Karissa Vacker is my introduction to Ms. Willingham's work, what an introduction! I was immediately drawn into the story by the protagonist, Isabelle Drake's voice. As the protagonist, Isabelle is often an unreliable narrator of this tale. The plot is exceptionally well crafted, ever changing and often surprising. This is one of those thrillers where I thought I had worked it out until a twist in the story appears. This is a tension driven thriller with a number to twist and turns keeping the reader on their toes to the end. If this is the type of book you enjoy I strongly suggest you pick it up. If you think thrillers are not for you this book is for you, give it a whirl.

This one had me hooked but I will admit throughout the story I kept thinking that it was just a basic cliche thriller and very similar to her other book (untrustworthy main character) but honestly that twist at the end GOT ME!!

This review has been added to Goodreads, Literal and Storygraph, as well as Barnes & Noble and Amazon. This will be posted to my instagram (@busywithmybooks_) within the week.

Thank you for allowing me to listen to this story!!

I can't imagine reading All The Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham as a mother of little children! It was hard enough as a grandmother of very young ones.

The premise: Isabelle Drake is living a parent's worst nightmare. Her toddler son Mason was taken from his crib in the middle of the night while she and her husband slept in the room next door. The police investigation found no answers, and a year later, Isabelle's life is falling apart. Her husband left her, she literally can't sleep, and her sole focus is desperately searching for information about Mason and his abductor. The story is told with extensive flashbacks to Isabelle's childhood with her parents and sister which add a second mystery to the plot.

Reading Willingham's newest suspense novel annually in January is a welcome change from the sweet and sentimental novels I tend to read in December. I don't read a lot of suspense/thrillers, but I liked A Flicker in the Dark last January and this title as well. This had a strong sense of place in both storylines, and the visits to Isabelle's childhood and the pacing made this unique for me. I wouldn't classify this as a fast-paced thriller, and most of the characters are hard to like.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for complimentary access to the audiobook, narrated by Karissa Vacker.

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced reading copy of All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham.

I went into this book not knowing anything (how I personally like to go into thrillers). I would recommend you doing the same.

Without giving away too much, this novel is dual timeline. The first timeline is present day and opens with Isabelle speaking at a true crime con. Almost one year ago her son Mason was taken from her home never to be seen again. With little evidence the case soon grows cold. Isabelle is doing everything she can in order to have attention and leads put back on finding her missing son. She won’t sleep, literally, until she has the answers she needs.

The second timeline follows Isabelle growing up in her family home with her mother, father, and sister. Unfortunately, Mason isn’t the first child to have something happen to them while with Isabelle.

This novel is about mental health and questioning if you can trust what you remember from your past and the actions you took.

This has readability. I was able to complete it in one sitting, which in this new season of my life is fairly uncommon.

Loved this book. It was captivating and kept me guessing until the end. Can’t wait to read more by this author.

Fans of The Push by Ashley Audrain and author Stacey Willingham's debut novel A Flicker in the Dark will enjoy this psychological thriller. What if your desperation and trauma led to physical exhaustion to the point you weren't sure what was real... or what you or the others around you were capable of doing. This read walks the line between taking the true crime genre to task for exploitation and acknowledging that its existence makes certain things (like this very book and some peoples' livelihoods) possible.
If you enjoy unreliable narrators, flashbacks, and twists, yet you can get over unlikeable protagonists (or at least their unlikeable actions), then add this to your TBR and get a copy. Look into trigger warnings regarding child abduction/harm if those are sensitive topics for you.
The audiobook narration by Karissa Vacker is top notch. Great in the audio format. I will definitely be checking out A Flicker in the Dark soon and will look at more Karissa Vacker titles. Please note I was gifted an advance reader audio version of this book.

After reading A Flicker in the Dark, I couldn’t wait to read this. It didn’t quite live up to the hype for me. It was enjoyable and wasn’t a bad book by any means, just wasn’t quite what I was looking for knowing what the author is capable of.

Thank you so much to @macmillan.audio for reaching out to me to review this one.
Let me just start by saying WOW!! All the Dangerous Things was definitely a wild ride from start to finish.

📖 Synopsis: One year ago Isabelle’s 18 month old son was taken from his nursery in the middle of the night. Isabelle has spent the last year tirelessly searching for any clues as to who could have taken him. Sleep deprived and dealing with the kidnapping’s fallout in her marriage, Isabelle is desperate and agrees to be interviewed by a true crime podcaster. Except as time goes by Isabelle realizes that this podcaster knows too much about her past and brings up some painful memories. She is confused and questioning everyone, but determined to find out what happened to her son!

📖 My Thoughts:
▪️I was immediately interested and engaged by this book! It is fast paced and was just what I needed to keep me entertained on a 16 hour drive this weekend!
▪️ I loved the flashbacks to the past and how each one gave us some more background on Isabelle! (And also at the same time really confused me about who the kidnapper could be!) 🙃
▪️ I am super critical of thrillers and often find myself underwhelmed by them but would say this one was a total win. It kept me guessing right up until the end!
▪️ As a mother, I was very worried this one would take a direction I would not like. Luckily I was okay with most of the story and I feel as though the author handled some heavy topics with a lot of grace. Well done Stacy!
▪️ The audiobook narrator, Karissa Vacker, was so fantastic!

Loved this one!

Karissa Vacker has a nice, soothing, well-trained voice but the story doesn't pick up for the first 10 chapters, and I found myself skipping most of it. You cannot possibly root for anyone in the book, not even the irritating podcaster, and certainly not the mother whose son disappeared. Her past will be obvious from a mile or lake away. Mr. Husband with 2 wives and counting, is a cardboard Exhibit A from any random Lifetime Movie. There are twists of course, and all is revealed on the last page. All in all an okay time-pass audiobook. Finished it while commuting between two cities.

Has potential as a motion picture / TV film..

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. All the best to the author.

Stacy Willingham's second novel is amazing! Fast paced, twisted, and dark throughout its entirety, this novel takes the reader on a ride. Isabelle has been through a lot of terrible things in her life, and they do not seem to be letting up. Grieving her missing son, and questioning events from her past, Isabelle is spiraling, and getting little sleep. The only draw back is the podcast aspect of the story line. This is over used, and worn out at this point.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Karissa Vacker. Karissa seamlessly transitions from the past to the present, making it easy to follow.

I can not wait for Stacy Willingham's next novel.

I want to thank St. Martin's Press for an ARC, and Macmillan Audio for an advanced audiobook.

I really enjoyed this story, though I didn’t always love the writing. I thought the dual timeline was a great way to increase the suspense while at the same time helping to develop a multitude of possibilities and suspects for the kidnapping. I listened to the audiobook and thought the narrator did a really nice job of distinguishing between the two timelines and making herself sound like a child for the timeline in the past. I also liked how all the characters’ stories came together, as that was an unexpected twist to the story. If the reader can move past some of the deficiencies in the writing, such as an overuse of figurative language and a tendency towards overly detailed descriptions, there is a well-paced, satisfying thriller underneath.

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!

After reading Flicker in the Dark I was so excited for this one but it didn't live up to the hype. I thought the general idea was interesting but it was a bit slow and predictable would have liked a more twisty twist.

“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?”

Knowing my friend Kyle (@ItsMrCormier) loved Stacy Willingham’s debut A Flicker in the Dark (which I still have to read), the second I saw this available on NetGalley, I knew I had to request it.

Willingham delivers a unique look at motherhood and racks up the tension in this story. Even though Isabelle has secrets, I had empathy for her right away, especially with her lack of sleep! She really questions her own mental health, and as she unveils layers to her past that she hid away, I desperately needed to know more. Willingham creates multifaceted characters who represent real life: not black and white but in the middle; Isabelle’s husband Ben is a great representation of that (I liked him and then hated him). Although I’m slightly tired of the true crime post cast trope, it’s used well here and doesn’t take up too much of the book but rather enhances the story. There are well plotted twists, with a couple that had me truly gasping. The audiobook is excellent too (I both listened and read this); Karissa Backer is becoming a favourite narrator (she also did an excellent job in Carola Lovering’s Can’t Look Away). Backer’s expression and different voices suck you into the story (especially in the “Then” section; her voice is slightly higher than Isabelle’s “Now” voice, a slight change that wholly represents her being younger).

All The Dangerous Things is a story of motherhood, loss, questions, silence and self-preservation. It is thought provoking, well written and will have readers examining the stories we tell ourselves to help us cope in life. Thank you to Minotaur, St. Martins, MacMillian Audio and NetGalley for the ARCs!