STACY WILLINGHAM is the New York Times, USA Today and internationally bestselling author of A Flicker in the Dark, All the Dangerous Things and Only If You're Lucky. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. It's a tangled web of mystery and intrigue in All the Dangerous Things - a psychological thriller that will make you question everything. The narrative is shared completely from Isabelle’s PoV and moves back and forth between the present day with flashbacks from her relationship with Ben and chapters devoted to her childhood. I wouldn't describe this as being fast-paced, it was more of a steady pace with great tension throughout.

It was interesting to be inside her head as she grappled with the loss of Mason and tried to make sense of it. I had so many jaw-dropping moments and times where I couldn't do anything but stare at the ceiling in disbelief after a big reveal. Through Izzy you get a pervading sense of unreality, a dreamlike somnambulant state,, it’s almost hallucinatory so you have no idea what’s real and what’s not. Now Isabelle is giving talks to the public about her missing baby, who was taken from her home a year before.After all, there are still some who think SHE’S behind Mason’s disappearance, and a tragic event from her past isn’t helping. Desperate to keep public attention on her son’s case, Isabelle now travels to true crime conventions, where she stands in front of crowds of hundreds of eager true crime aficionados, recounting the night that changed her life forever. I thought the timeline was a bit all over the place sometimes, but I really enjoyed certain aspects of the writing, the plot, and the overall feel of the book. His questions of her childhood and background bring up memories of the trauma that she lived through when she was young.

She earned her BA in magazine journalism from the University of Georgia and MFA in writing from the Savannah College of Art and Design. When she meets Waylon , who has a true crime pod show , with a huge following, she agrees to talk about the night her son Mason went missing. But as they proceed with this, Isabelle starts questioning her own memories of what happened that night.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! All the Dangerous Things is a psychological thriller about a missing child and his sleep-deprived mother obsessed with finding out the truth behind his disappearance. Much is to be discovered, not just about herself, but others too, and a it’s gripping read just wanting to know where it will all end. As the narrative progresses we are taken back to Isabelle’s childhood and the traumatic events that have haunted her throughout her life – events for which Isabelle holds herself responsible. I wasn't the biggest fan of Stacy Willingham’s previous novel, A Flicker in the Dark , but I thoroughly enjoyed All the Dangerous Things.

Many readers found the twists to be mind blowing but I didn't think anything all that surprising was revealed.Except for the occasional catnap or small blackout where she loses track of time, she hasn’t slept in a year. Stacy Willingham masterfully captures the best of the “unreliable narrator” trope through her story’s convincing protagonist. Within the first 25% of the book I considered DNF’ing as many descriptions and similes felt forced and awkward. Twelve months ago, Mason the 18-month-old son of Isabelle and Ben goes missing from his cot while the family slept in another room.

I dig my hand into my purse and pull out a bottle of eye drops—redness relief—and squirt three beads of liquid into each eye with expert precision. Everyone else has moved on - the detectives, the press, her husband - but she can't rest until she knows the truth.ALL THE DANGEROUS THINGS is an excellent second novel from Willingham, well worth adding to your 2023 to-read list. There are many twists and surprises along the way which I much prefer over the reveals unloaded in the last few chapters. Though the primary mystery is that of Mason’s disappearance, a lot is going on in Isabelle’s life and the author seamlessly weaves past events into the primary narrative and expertly brings it all together in the end.