All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham Book Review

Do you enjoy psychological fiction that keeps you enthralled and guessing until the very end? Then you won’t want to miss this review of a thrilling new novel about an abducted young boy. In this emotionally charged book, readers join in on the search for a missing child by following every twist and turn of his mother’s journey to discover what happened. From heart-stopping suspense to spine-tingling surprise endings, this story will have you breathless from start to finish! Discover what makes this psychologically complex tale such an engrossing read.

Click me to go to my Review

Release Day!

Synopsis

Today is day 364.
364 days since my last night of sleep.
364 days since my son, Mason, was taken from his bed.
The police have stopped looking. My husband wants me to move on.
But I need to keep his story alive.
Someone knows what happened to my son.
And I’m going to find them.

It’s been a year since Isabelle Drake’s son, Mason, disappeared from his bedroom. Since then, she hasn’t had a full night of sleep. Everyone else has moved on – the detectives, the press, her husband – but she can’t rest until she knows the truth.

Teaming up with true crime podcaster Waylon Spencer, Isabelle investigates her son’s case. But Waylon has motives of his own and as long-forgotten memories of Isabelle’s past resurface, doubt begins to cloud her sleepless nights.

What happened to Mason Drake?
What if the past is better left buried?

About The Author

Stacy Willingham is the New York Times, USA Today and internationally-bestselling author of A Flicker in the Dark, as well as the upcoming All The Dangerous Things.

Before turning to fiction, she was a copywriter and brand strategist for various marketing agencies. She earned her BA in magazine journalism from the University of Georgia and MFA in writing from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Her work is currently being translated in over 30 languages.

She lives in Charleston, South Carolina, with her husband, Britt, and Labradoodle, Mako, where she is always working on her next book.

My Review

It’s a tangled web of mystery and intrigue in All the Dangerous Things – a psychological thriller that will make you question everything. A year has passed since Isabelle lost her son Mason, who was taken from his crib under mysterious circumstances; something happened between Isabelle and her family before this event occurred, but it’s been kept hidden like an unsolved puzzle waiting to be put together. Isabelle is determined for justice by enlisting True Crime hobbyists, podcasters, and anyone else willing to help find Mason so she can get some closure on these events full of dark secrets!

I really enjoyed Stacy Willingham’s previous book, A Flicker in the Dark so this was an easy pick for me, and I think it just might have the edge too! Willingham has managed to take the common and simple act of sleepwalking to a whole new level, who knew it could be so dangerous and so creepy, not just for the sleepwalker themselves but for those around them too? Isabelle honestly tells the police she was asleep all night, she just doesn’t mention the sleepwalking that she thought stopped when she was a child.

I felt the characters grow on me from the first page and I was completely engrossed in their story, wondering what had happened and considering many options but none prepared me for what had actually happened in the dramatic ending. The pain and suffering Willingham describes are palpable, I couldn’t even begin to imagine how Isabelle must have felt through that year her son was missing or what the other characters had gone through, some with much more sympathy than others.

This is a true-to-life yet completely unbelievable account of how Isabelle finds out what happened to Mason. It’s a harrowing and dark story you would never want to imagine could possibly be real and you would hope never would be but it’s so well written that it could be factual. All The Dangerous Things has some chilling and harrowing scenes both from Isabelle’s childhood and her current life, she doesn’t know what’s real or not after the sleep deprivation of being a new mother and then having no sleep at all since he disappeared. She can’t trust herself or her decisions and her husband has just left her to it and carried on with his new life.

I loved the ending, with a couple of twists I didn’t see coming, it was a little too neatly wrapped up but very satisfying at the same time. I stayed up far too late reading (no wonder I always need a nap!) but it was worth it.

A highly recommended read!

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.

Rated