Reviews tagging 'Blood'

All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham

13 reviews

ashwatever98's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Dysphoria, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Mental illness and Blood

Minor: Suicide, Self harm, Infertility, Kidnapping, and Grief

This book was a difficult read but was so well written. The troubles of motherhood and mental illness was very well explored. I felt the pain and emotion throughout.

tkaryn's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Slow in the first half with lots of exposition, but then the twists and turns keep twisting and turning until the very last page

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Murder, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

r_o_s_e's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Mental illness, and Grief

Moderate: Infidelity, Suicide attempt, Murder, Miscarriage, Child death, Death, and Suicide

Minor: Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Vomit, and Sexism

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

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

lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I stumbled across this book because it was a Book of the Month selection. 
"All the Dangerous Things" follows a woman named Isabelle. One year ago, Isabelle's life was forever changed when she woke up and realized her toddler son, Mason, was taken from his nursery in the middle of the night. Unfortunately, there was not very much evidence to go on, and the case went cold, but Isabelle will not stop searching until Mason is home safe and sound. 
I really enjoyed the complexities of Isabelle's character and not only learning the mystery of what happened to Mason, but what happened to Isabelle's sister when they were young. There was an incident when Isabelle was just a child and asleep, and she has lived with that guilt for her entire life. Because of this, she does not trust herself to sleep, and she cannot one hundred percent claim her innocence for what happened to Mason. This grief, guilt, and twist made the story with Mason all the more interesting. 
I hated Isabelle's husband. He was such a grimy lowlife who clearly was constantly chasing the next woman to give him the attention his fragile ego needed to sustain his abysmal existence. I understand and empathize that losing a child is difficult on a marriage, but he was clearly cheating on Isabelle for a while and left her so soon after Mason's disappearance. His plotline was important for the story, but I hated reading scenes with him. 
I thought the ultimate mystery was interesting, but not groundbreaking. I was invested in the story, but more from afar. I did enjoy this idea of a mystery centered around how pure and all-encompassing a mother's love can be. 
I will definitely pick up more from Stacy Willingham in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Stalking, Death, Child death, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Pregnancy

mysterymom40's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Infidelity, and Child death

Moderate: Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Grief, Murder, Blood, Kidnapping, and Fire/Fire injury

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.

karyan1's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad fast-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Miscarriage, Murder, Suicide, Child death, Self harm, Mental illness, Death, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Pregnancy and Blood

blackcatkai's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

this book was tense, engaging, and I personally didn't see the majority of the twists coming. Willingham definitely knows her way around words.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Suicide, Death, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Grief, Mental illness, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Pregnancy, Ableism, and Alcohol