Review – All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham

Posted January 10, 2023 by Carole in Reviews / 22 Comments

I received this book for free from the publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Review – All the Dangerous Things by Stacy WillinghamAll the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham
Narrator: Karissa Vacker
Published by Macmillan Audio on January 10, 2023
Genres: Fiction / Thrillers / Crime
Length: 9 hours 59 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher
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four-stars

Following up her instant New York Times bestseller, A Flicker in the Dark, Stacy Willingham delivers a totally gripping thriller about a desperate mother with a troubled past in All the Dangerous Things.

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. However, Isabelle cannot rest until Mason is returned to her—literally.

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. In hopes of jarring loose a new witness or buried clue, she agrees to be interviewed by a true-crime podcaster—but his interest in Isabelle's past makes her nervous. His incessant questioning paired with her severe insomnia has brought up uncomfortable memories from her own childhood, making Isabelle start to doubt her recollection of the night of Mason’s disappearance, as well as second-guess who she can trust... including herself. But she is determined to figure out the truth no matter where it leads.

I liked this one! I am a huge fan of twisty thrillers so I was more than eager to dive into this book. I was hooked by this book right away and found it incredibly hard to set aside. I wanted to know what really happened to Mason, not to mention the events from Isabelle’s childhood. The narrator really took the story to the next level with her excellent narration. I am so glad that I decided to give this book a try.

Isabelle hasn’t slept since her toddler son, Mason, was taken from his bedroom a year earlier. She may have had a few catnaps but she hasn’t had any real rest. She doesn’t plan to stop until she finds out what happened to her son. The book takes us through the events leading up to that including her relationship with Mason’s father. We also see what she is doing now to try to find out who took her son. There is a second timeline set in the past that explores events from Isabelle’s childhood that I found to be equally captivating.

I really felt for Isabelle because of everything that she has been through but I wasn’t sure if I should trust her. The more we learned about the events leading to Mason’s disappearance, the more questions I had. There were a lot of things that I needed answers to and I couldn’t put the book down until I knew all of the answers. I did need some time to process the story when I finished it because I wasn’t entirely sold by the twists at the end, and I am still not. That said, I did really enjoy the story as a whole.

Karissa Vacker did a remarkable job with the narration of this book. I am completely convinced that my enjoyment of this book was greatly increased by her narration. I thought that the various voices that she used in the story worked really to bring the characters to life. I found her voice to be quite pleasant and easy to listen to for hours at a time. I really felt like she helped to provide an excellent listening experience.

I would recommend this book to others. This is a story that draws the reader in quickly and keeps them hooked until the final page. I think that a lot of readers are going to enjoy this thrilling book packed with twists and turns.

I received a review copy of this audiobook from Macmillan Audio.

22 responses to “Review – All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham

  1. verushka

    I like that you didn’t know if you could trust Isabelle — reading the blurb I was immediately on her side but now after your review, you have me wondering!

  2. I love a good twisty thriller, too, and I really liked Willingham’s previous book. So I’m looking forward to reading this one at some point this year. 😀

  3. This sounds really good! I am not always quick to read books featuring missing children, but the way this one is written has me interested. I like a good unreliable narrator. Thank you for your great review, Carole. I will have to check this one out.