Reviews

All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham

akynoch's review against another edition

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Ran out of time on library hold

singr10's review against another edition

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5.0

I could not put this hook down! Stacy Willingham is a great writer and her characters are complex but relatable. What a great story!

snugglesandpages's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.5

"𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒏'𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒖𝒓 π’π’Šπ’—π’†π’” 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 π’”π’•π’π’“π’Šπ’†π’” π’˜π’† 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔? π‘Ίπ’•π’π’“π’Šπ’†π’” π’˜π’† π’•π’“π’Šπ’†π’… 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒇𝒕 𝒔𝒐 π’‘π’†π’“π’‡π’†π’„π’•π’π’š 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒕 π’Šπ’π’•π’ 𝒕𝒉𝒆 π’˜π’π’“π’π’…, π’”π’•π’π’“π’Šπ’†π’” 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 π’ƒπ’†π’„π’π’Žπ’† 𝒔𝒐 π’—π’Šπ’—π’Šπ’…, 𝒔𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 π’†π’—π’†π’π’•π’–π’‚π’π’π’š 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒕𝒐 π’ƒπ’†π’π’Šπ’†π’—π’† π’•π’‰π’†π’Ž 𝒕𝒐𝒐."

πŸ“– One year ago, 18 month old Mason was taken from his crib in the middle of the night and Isabell has been plagued by insomnia ever since. When true crime podcaster, Waylan offers Isabell an opportunity tell her story, she agrees with the hope it will unearth a new lead that will bring Mason home. When all the probing questions trigger fractured memories from her childhood to resurface, Isabelle starts to doubt everything she thought she knew, and soon realises that confronting her past could be the key to unlocking the truth about what happened to Mason.

πŸ’¬ Thoughts: Willingham expertly spins a web of half-truths and uncertainties, which mirrors the fractured memories of our narrator. As the story unfolded, I was reminded of two of my favourite psychological thrillers which utilise this style and trope, Insomnia and Awake. While there were similarities, ALL THE DANGEROUS THINGS stands tall on its own with its gripping slow-burn mystery and captivatingly flawed characters.

I devoured this on audiobook over two sittings, and I was taken by how well the narration enhanced Stacy's immersive writing style. She is very good at creating a strong sense of place that pulls you into this multifaceted story. The 'then' chapters lend an overwhelming sense of foreboding to the events that occurred in the more recent past. All the clues swirl just out of reach, ensuring you don't make a connection too soon, all the while pondering if Isabelle's desperate search for answers to what happened to her son is hinged by obsession or madness. 

The first major reveal blew my mind, I hadn't anticipated it at all, and from there everything else started to click into place, piece by piece with gut wrenching satisfaction before taking a turn that totally blindsided me. πŸ‘πŸΌ

Once I take a beat to recover from this one, I'll be jumping into Stacy's most recent release, ONLY IF YOU'RE LUCKY.

soccer8s's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This was a good book...a little bit unexpected.... good ending. 

hmmiller's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

Honestly it wasn’t worth it. I should have DNFed it but I wanted to prove my predictions were right (they were). 

cmorelli's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Isabelle Drake is determined to find out what happened to her son one year ago when he went missing from his room. Her now-ex husband has moved on, saying she should, too. But Isabelle’s need to solve this mystery spirals her into her past, where another dark secret lies.

Holy crap, best mystery I’ve read in a minute. Willingham does such a great job writing twists into the story that by the time it got to the end, I felt like I had whiplash with all of the turns. I thought I guessed the resolution at the beginning but HOW it came to that was the jaw-dropping reveal. 

Great suspense, character building, even the swap in past/present perspectives helped to better the story and didn’t make me feel confused as to the direction at all.

5 stars, HIGHLY recommend.

slsmith1013's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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emma_kjw's review against another edition

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dark hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

4.0

cteixeira's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

sarahserenidad's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0