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.

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This started out a bit slow. In fairness, it may have just been me: as someone who is not a parent of a two-legged person, I didn't connect to the narrator emotionally. It did pick up though, and the last third of the book had some interesting twists that I didn't see coming.

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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 herâliterally. Except for the occasional catnap or small blackout where she loses track of time, she hasn't slept in a year.
This book is told in two timelines: Present (now) Isabelle and Ben, Past (then) Isabelle and Margaret. It is a slow start but then moves into fast-paced. It is told in Isabelle's POV who is an unreliable narrator suffering from insomnia. It touches on motherhood emotions and is every mother's worst nightmare. The book has a major twist in the end that really surprised me. It has complex characters who make Isabelle feel overwhelming grief and guilt. She meets Waylon Spencer and does a podcast with him going over the past with her sister, Margaret, who had drowned in the marshes. If you love psychological suspense then you would love this book. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's press for a copy for an honest review.

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