rachel @ typed truths

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

For cynical twenty-three-year-old August, moving to New York City is supposed to prove her right: that things like magic and cinematic love stories don’t exist, and the only smart way to go through life is alone. She can’t imagine how waiting tables at a 24-hour pancake diner and moving in with too many weird roommates could possibly change that. And there’s certainly no chance of her subway commute being anything more than a daily trudge through boredom and electrical failures.

But then, there’s this gorgeous girl on the train.

Jane. Dazzling, charming, mysterious, impossible Jane. Jane with her rough edges and swoopy hair and soft smile, showing up in a leather jacket to save August’s day when she needed it most. August’s subway crush becomes the best part of her day, but pretty soon, she discovers there’s one big problem: Jane doesn’t just look like an old school punk rocker. She’s literally displaced in time from the 1970s, and August is going to have to use everything she tried to leave in her own past to help her. Maybe it’s time to start believing in some things, after all.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Queermisia discussed
Racism & gentrification mentioned
Hate crimes, including the UpStairs Lounge fire, recounted (chp. 11)
Anxiety
Hurricane Katrina discussed
Alcohol consumption & recreational drug use
Minor mention of blood
Death of a grandparent mentioned (chps. 11 & 16)
Car accident mentioned (chp. 16)

The Kept Woman by Karin Slaughter

The Kept Woman by Karin Slaughter

With the discovery of a murder at an abandoned construction site, Will Trent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is brought in on a case that becomes much more dangerous when the dead man is identified as an ex-cop.

Studying the body, Sara Linton—the GBI’s newest medical examiner and Will’s lover—realizes that the extensive blood loss didn’t belong to the corpse. Sure enough, bloody footprints leading away from the scene indicate there is another victim—a woman—who has vanished . . . and who will die soon if she isn’t found… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Slut shaming
Rape
Paedophilia & child sexual abuse
Child abuse
Domestic violence
Suicide
Murder
Gun violence

Fallen by Karin Slaughter

Fallen by Karin Slaughter

Special Agent Faith Mitchell returns home to a nightmare. Her baby daughter Emma has been locked outside, and there’s a trail of blood to the front door. Without waiting for back-up, Faith enters the house. Inside a man lies dead in a pool of blood. Most worrying of all, her own mother is missing.

When the Atlanta police arrive, Faith has some difficult questions to answer. But she has some desperate questions of her own. What were the killers searching for? And where is her mother?… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Child abuse
Abusive relationship
Domestic violence
Self harm recounted
Drug abuse
Blood & gore depiction
Murder
Torture
Gun violence
Physical assault

Genesis by Karin Slaughter

Genesis by Karin Slaughter

Also known as Undone.

Three and a half years ago former Grant County medical examiner Sara Linton moved to Atlanta hoping to leave her tragic past behind her. Now working as a doctor in Atlanta’s Grady Hospital she is starting to piece her life together. But when a severely wounded young woman is brought in to the emergency room, she finds herself drawn back into a world of violence and terror.

The woman has been hit by a car but, naked and brutalized, it’s clear that she has been the prey of a twisted mind. When Special Agent Will Trent of the Criminal Investigation Team returns to the scene of the accident… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Rape
Child abuse & neglect
Physical abuse
Eating disorders
Self harm recounted
Suicide
Physical injuries
Eyeball trauma
Murder
Kidnapping

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

When two Niveus Private Academy students, Devon Richards and Chiamaka Adebayo, are selected to be part of the elite school’s senior class prefects, it looks like their year is off to an amazing start. After all, not only does it look great on college applications, but it officially puts each of them in the running for valedictorian, too.

Shortly after the announcement is made, though, someone who goes by Aces begins using anonymous text messages to reveal secrets about the two of them that turn their lives upside down and threaten every aspect of their carefully planned futures.

As Aces shows no sign of stopping, what seemed like a sick prank quickly turns into a dangerous game, with all the cards stacked against them. Can Devon and Chiamaka stop Aces before things become incredibly deadly?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Racism
Homomisia & public outing
Death of a parent
Murder
Car accident
Stalking

Broken by Karin Slaughter

Broken by Karin Slaughter

When Special Agent Will Trent arrives in Grant County, he finds a police department determined to protect its own and far too many unanswered questions about a prisoner’s death. He doesn’t understand why Officer Lena Adams is hiding secrets from him. He doesn’t understand her role in the death of Grant County’s popular police chief. He doesn’t understand why that man’s widow, Dr. Sara Linton, needs him now more than ever to help her crack this case.

While the police force investigates the murder of a young woman pulled from a frigid lake, Trent investigates the police force, putting pressure on Adams just when she’s already about to crack… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableism & ableist slurs
Rape recounted
Child abuse mentioned
Suicide
Blood & gore depiction
Death of a spouse
Death of a child
Murder
Torture

Pieces of Her by Karin Slaughter

Pieces of Her by Karin Slaughter

Andrea Oliver’s mother, Laura, is the perfect small-town mum. Laura lives a quiet but happy life in sleepy beachside Belle Isle. She’s a pillar of the community: a speech therapist, business owner and everybody’s friend. And she’s never kept a secret from anyone. Or so Andrea thinks.

When Andrea is caught in a random violent attack at a shopping mall, Laura intervenes and acts in a way that is unrecognisable to her daughter. It’s like Laura is a completely different person – and that’s because she was. Thirty years ago. Before Andrea. Before Belle Isle… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Homomisia
Domestic abuse
Suicide
Drug abuse
Loss of a pregnancy
Blood & gore depiction
AIDS
Emesis
Death of a sibling
Murder
Gun violence
Knife violence & stabbing
Explosions

Fractured by Karin Slaughter

Fractured by Karin Slaughter

When Atlanta housewife Abigail Campano comes home unexpectedly one afternoon, she walks into a nightmare. A broken window, a bloody footprint on the stairs and, most devastating of all, the horrifying sight of her teenage daughter lying dead on the landing, a man standing over her with a bloody knife. The struggle which follows changes Abigail’s life for ever.

When the local police make a misjudgement which not only threatens the investigation but places a young girl’s life in danger, the case is handed over to Special Agent Will Trent.. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Slut shaming
Rape
Teacher-student relationship
Child abuse
Suicide
Alcohol consumption
Murder
Torture
Strangulation
Kidnapping
Home invasion

Triptych by Karin Slaughter

Triptych by Karin Slaughter

When Atlanta police detective Michael Ormewood is called out to a murder scene at the notorious Grady Homes, he finds himself faced with one of the the most brutal killings of his career: Aleesha Monroe is found in the stairwell in a pool of her own blood, her body horribly mutilated.

As a one-off killing it’s shocking, but when it becomes clear that it’s just the latest in a series of similar attacks, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation are called in, and Michael is forced into working with Special Agent Will Trent of the Criminal Apprehension Team – a man he instinctively dislikes… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Misogyny
Slut shaming
Rape
Adult-minor relationship
Child abuse mentioned
Drug abuse
Murder
Kidnapping

Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter

Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter

The sleepy town of Heartsdale, Georgia, is jolted into panic when Sara Linton, paediatrician and medical examiner, finds Sibyl Adams dead in the local diner. As well as being viciously raped, Sibyl has been cut: two deep knife wounds form a lethal cross over her stomach. But it’s only once Sara starts to perform the post-mortem that the full extent of the killer’s brutality becomes clear.

Police chief Jeffrey Tolliver – Sara’s ex-husband – is in charge of the investigation, and when a second victim is found, crucified, only a few days later, both Jeffrey and Sara have to face the fact that Sibyl’s murder wasn’t a one-off attack. What they’re dealing with is a seasoned sexual predator. A violent serial killer…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Racism
Victim blaming
Graphic rape
Suicide
Graphic blood & gore depiction
Graphic medical procedures
Murder