Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham

15 reviews

allbookedupwithrosie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Stacy Willingham creates a riveting mystery with lots of history and twists. The story is told through the past and present. A couple times, it gets confusing and I’m not entirely sure I liked the writing style, but it all came together. 

I enjoyed the story and recommend for mystery & murder lovers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Mental illness, and Child death

Moderate: Murder, Infidelity, and Suicide

Minor: Drug use

feralbookwife's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Fast paced, solid mystery. Kept me guessing until the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Vomit, Blood, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexism, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Misogyny, Murder, Trafficking, Drug abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Miscarriage, and Toxic relationship

charrrchar's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Suicide attempt, Infidelity, and Suicide

Minor: Infertility

bookssupremacy8920's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Infertility, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Murder, Suicide, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, Blood, Death, Mental illness, Drug use, Medical content, and Stalking

readingwithjass's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug use, Grief, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Suicide

mroth's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

For most of the book I would say it was a fine and pretty forgettable thriller, but the final third elevated it a bit and made it more nuanced/memorable

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Suicide, Child death, and Pregnancy

tarynlannister's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.75

I'm not ashamed to admit I didn't guess many of the twists in All the Dangerous Things, but the clues really were there for those more astute than me. The fast-paced, short chapters are dangerous, like a package of small sweets you suddenly realize you've devoured all of. I'm also a huge sucker for an unreliable narrator, and Isabelle's insomnia is well utilized in that way. 

This reminded me of The Girl on the Train in construction and some themes, so if you enjoyed that I think you will enjoy this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting and Kidnapping

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Alcohol, Death, Grief, Infidelity, Murder, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Drug abuse, Pregnancy, Stalking, Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Drug use, Miscarriage, and Violence

Overall, fairly mild violence for a mystery novel involving or referring to a few deaths. There is some discussion of a mother attempting murder-suicide with her child during a case of postpartum mental illness, and (late book spoilers, but should read if that theme would bother you)

the mother does kill a child

. There is also at least one instance of intentional tampering with birth control to cause a pregnancy without one partner's consent.

kmsander4's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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

One year ago, Isabelle Drake's world was turned upside down. Her son, Mason, disappeared in the middle of the night. While it seems like everyone believes the worst, including her husband, Isabelle refuses to believe it. Clinging to hope and turning to the world of true crime and podcasts to help her find answers.

What unravels is a twisted story of trauma and tragedy. From devastating childhood memories that she's spent years repressing, to her own fears around her sleepwalking, Isabelle is forced to face the possibility that the person who harmed her son was actually herself.

This was a well-crafted mystery filled with tension and twists that the reader never could have seen coming. At first, you think there are simply too many mysteries to uncover but as the strings start to unveil themselves and you realize they're all linked, it becomes a fun case of "okay, but really...whodunit?!?"

Highly recommend to anyone looking for a dark thriller that'll keep you flipping pages late into the night.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Drug use, Mental illness, Suicide, Murder, Kidnapping, and Suicide attempt

soshereads_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Self harm, Pregnancy, Suicide, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Infidelity, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Miscarriage, Child death, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Child abuse, Sexism, Infertility, Grief, and Abortion

Moderate: Toxic relationship

vereadsbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious tense slow-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

3.5

 

This is the second book I read from Stacy Willingham. I'd like to read everything she writes. I love her storytelling. I feel captivated and intrigued by her stories. Her writing is evocative and thought-provoking. 

Isabelle can’t sleep since someone took her baby from its crib in the middle of the night while she and her husband were sleeping in the next room. With little evidence and few leads for the police to chase, the case quickly went cold. 

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

This book has overtones of a domestic thriller. I must say that I don't like domestic thrillers. Especially if they have an unreliable narrator. Even more so if that character is a woman obsessed with her charming ex-husband. In general, these types of characters always have memory loss or cannot remember events due to drug or alcohol use. And their charming ex-husband turns out to be a misogynistic asshole who is the one who committed the crime.

But somehow, Stacy Willingham gets away with it. All these elements I hated in other books seem to work perfectly here.

All the Dangerous Things is a smart, intriguing, and unsettling psychological thriller. The book portrays messy and complex women and their relationship with motherhood. Also, it touches on themes such as mental illness, sleepwalking, insomnia, memory loss, motherhood, and how women are perceived in our society if they don't fit into the role of a perfect mother.

The book has a slow beginning. But in the last 100 pages, the author uplifts the pace, and it's where everything happens. I saw some twists coming, but others were pleasing and surprising. 

I wish the author would incorporate the podcast aspect as mixed media. I think the book would have been enriched by it as The Night Swin or Sadie did.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Grief