Characters All the Dangerous Things Stacy Willingham

Valerie: Jealousy, Deception, and Tragedy in All the Dangerous Things

Overview

Valerie Sherman appears first as a compassionate grief counselor who invites Isabelle to a church support group, but this surface hides a darker role. She becomes Ben’s girlfriend during Isabelle’s separation and later admits to taking Mason out of jealousy. Valerie impersonates Isabelle to neighbors and conspires with Ben to stage the kidnapping, making her a central antagonist in the novel’s plot.

Plot Role

Valerie enters the story midway, introduced at the church on the night of Mason’s vigil. She gives Isabelle a polite invitation to stay, but their first interaction is interrupted. Later, after Ben moves out, Isabelle discovers Valerie in his apartment wearing his shirt, confirming the affair. Using a key Ben gave her, Valerie enters the Drake house, quiets the dog, and carries Mason out the front door while wearing Isabelle’s clothes to impersonate her to a neighbor. She hands Mason to Abigail Fisher, a desperate woman from the grief group, and then stages the kidnapping. When Isabelle confronts her, Valerie admits the truth—that her jealousy drove her—and repeats the phrase “He’s in a better place,” which triggers Isabelle’s violent lunge. The struggle ends with Valerie’s death, later revealed in the epilogue as a murder committed by Ben, who then staged the scene as a burglary. Her body and the planted evidence frame Ben for her death.

Motivations and Traits

Jealousy is Valerie’s primary motive. She envies Isabelle’s life with Ben and resents that Isabelle “was always leaving” him alone. She believes neither parent truly wanted Mason and that she would be a better mother. Her actions reveal a calculating, predatory nature: she takes the key from under the mat, rehearses impersonating Isabelle, and carefully times her entry. She also shows a need for control, manipulating Isabelle’s guilt by typing the anonymous comment “He’s in a better place” then quickly deleting it. In the confrontation, she remains calm and condescending, calling Isabelle “deeply troubled” and “practically unhinged,” echoing Ben’s gaslighting language. Her traits align with deception and manipulation, as she builds a false persona of empathy while executing a cruel scheme.

Chronological Arc

Valerie’s arc begins when she meets Ben at the church grief group. Ben starts an affair with her while still married, and Valerie becomes his confidante. Over two years—longer than Ben admitted—she visits the Drake home, wearing Isabelle’s clothes and brushing her hair with Isabelle’s brush. She takes Mason during one of Isabelle’s overnight speaking trips, then hands him off to Abigail. Months later, after Ben ends the kidnapping scheme, Valerie becomes his live-in girlfriend. Isabelle tracks her down, they fight, Valerie admits the truth, and she dies on the broken coffee table. In the epilogue, Waylon and Isabelle confirm that Ben killed Valerie to keep his secret safe.

Relationships

  • With Ben: Their relationship is based on mutual exploitation. Ben uses Valerie as a tool to regain a childless life, while Valerie believes she is “saving” Ben from an unfit mother. Ben ultimately murders her and frames the death as a burglary.
  • With Isabelle: Valerie initially acts sympathetic, then shifts to defensive and accusatory. She mirrors Isabelle’s appearance and voice to become a doppelganger, which feeds her jealousy. The confrontation reveals her contempt and her belief that Isabelle is a danger to Mason.
  • With Mason: She sees him as an obstacle to her desired life with Ben. She convinces herself he is better off elsewhere and hands him to a stranger, showing a chilling disregard for the child’s well-being.

Key Decisions and Consequences

Decision to take the key. Valerie steals the spare key from under the mat and enters the house regularly. This enables the kidnapping and deepens her connection to Ben’s secret life.

Decision to impersonate Isabelle. She wears Isabelle’s clothes and tells the neighbor she is Isabelle. This misdirection leads the police to suspect Isabelle and allows Valerie to evade suspicion temporarily.

Decision to take Mason. On the night of the kidnapping, she enters the house, takes Mason from his crib, and hands him to Abigail. This act directly causes the central crisis and her subsequent demise.

Decision to confess. When cornered, she admits her jealousy and repeats the cruel phrase. This provokes Isabelle’s attack, which leads to Valerie’s death. However, the epilogue clarifies that Ben struck the fatal blow, making her decision to stay with him her ultimate undoing.

Theme/Symbol Connections

Valerie embodies several novel themes. Her impersonation of Isabelle illustrates family secrets and cover-ups, as she hides behind a stolen identity. The theme of motherhood and societal pressure is central: Valerie believes she would be a better mother than Isabelle, yet she acts out of jealousy, not genuine care. Her actions also connect to guilt and unreliable memory, as she weaponizes Isabelle’s guilt by echoing the same doubts Ben planted. The key and the impersonation symbolise how easily identity can be stolen and how deception can flourish in the cracks of a broken marriage. Valerie’s arc reinforces the novel’s warning that people who appear helpful may be hiding dangerous motives.

5 Book-Specific Questions and Answers

1. How did Valerie first meet Isabelle?
Valerie met Isabelle at the church grief support group after Mason’s vigil. She invited Isabelle to stay for a session, but Isabelle declined. The meeting was brief, and Valerie later appeared at Ben’s apartment as his new girlfriend.

2. What motivated Valerie to take Mason?
Valerie was jealous of Isabelle’s life with Ben. She believed neither parent truly wanted Mason and that she could give him a better home. Her obsession with Ben and resentment of Isabelle’s frequent travel drove her to remove the child.

3. How did Valerie impersonate Isabelle?
She used a key Ben gave her to enter the house, wore Isabelle’s clothes, and told the neighbor she was Isabelle Drake. She also left her own hair in Isabelle’s brush, subtly marking the house as her territory.

4. What was Valerie’s fate?
Valerie died in her living room during a struggle with Isabelle. The epilogue reveals that Ben actually killed her and staged the scene as a burglary to cover his involvement in the kidnapping.

5. How did Valerie and Ben’s plan unravel?
Isabelle discovered the affair’s duration, realized Valerie had impersonated her, and deduced that Ben must have told Valerie about the dead baby monitor. Waylon’s investigation exposed Ben’s motive and his murder of Allison. The police found Ben’s ring at Valerie’s scene, leading to his arrest. For a full breakdown, see the ending explained. More discussion is available in the questions and answers.