Mystery & Thriller – Page 103 – Trigger Warning Database

Bad Blood by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

When Cassie Hobbes joined the FBI’s Naturals program, she had one goal: uncover the truth about her mother’s murder. But now, everything Cassie thought she knew about what happened that night has been called into question. Her mother is alive, and the people holding her captive are more powerful—and dangerous—than anything the Naturals have faced so far. As Cassie and the team work to uncover the secrets of a group that has been killing in secret for generations, they find themselves racing a ticking clock. The… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Physical child abuse (on-page)
Divorce mentioned (secondary characters)
Murder (theme)
Knife violence & stabbing
Torture (protagonist’s parent)
Animal cruelty & death mentioned

Killer Instinct by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Seventeen-year-old Cassie Hobbes has a gift for profiling people. Her talent has landed her a spot in an elite FBI program for teens with innate crime-solving abilities, and into some harrowing situations. After barely escaping a confrontation with an unbalanced killer obsessed with her mother’s murder, Cassie hopes she and the rest of the team can stick to solving cold cases from a distance. But when victims of a brutal new serial killer start turning up, the Naturals are pulled into an active case that strikes too close to home: the killer is a perfect copycat of Dean’s incarcerat… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Parental abandonment & child physical and verbal abuse recounted
Student-teacher relationship mentioned (secondary character)
Physical injury (concussion)
Graphic murder & kidnapping
Gun violence

The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Seventeen-year-old Cassie is a natural at reading people. Piecing together the tiniest details, she can tell you who you are and what you want. But it’s not a skill that she’s ever taken seriously. That is, until the FBI come knocking: they’ve begun a classified program that uses exceptional teenagers to crack infamous cold cases, and they need Cassie. What Cassie doesn’t realize is that there’s more at risk than a few unsolved homicides—especially when she’s sent to live with a group of teens whose gifts are as unusual as her own. Sarcastic, privileged Michael has a knack for reading emotions, which he uses to get inside… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Death of a mother recounted
Murder (theme), including strangulation, stabbing and gun violence
Stalking

Missing Molly by Natalie Barelli

Everyone has secrets, and Rachel Holloway is no exception. She’s worked hard to keep the past where it belongs: dead and buried. And so far, she’s been very successful. But now the small newspaper where she works wants to produce a podcast on a cold case: the disappearance twelve years ago of little Molly Forster. Some secrets should never see the light of day, and as far as Rachel is concerned, whatever happened to little Molly is one of them. Rachel has a life now, a boyfriend she loves and a three-year-old daughter she adores, and she will do anything to protect them. But to do that, no one can ever know that she is Molly Forster.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Sexual assault
Domestic violence
Murder
Disappearance of a loved one

Detention by Tristan Bancks

Sima and her family are pressed to the rough, cold ground among fifty others. They lie next to the tall fence designed to keep them in. The wires are cut one by one. When they make their escape, a guard raises the alarm. Shouting, smoke bombs, people tackled to the ground. In the chaos Sima loses her parents. Dad told her to run, so she does, hiding in a school and triggering a lockdown. A boy, Dan, finds her hiding in the toilet block. What should he do? Help her? Dob her in? She’s breaking the law, but is it right to lock kids up? And if he helps, should Sima trust him? Or run?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Blood depiction
Refugee experiences in detention centres (theme)
Animal cruelty

The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter

The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter

Twenty-eight years ago, Charlotte and Samantha Quinn’s happy small-town family life was torn apart by a terrifying attack on their family home. It left their mother dead. It left their father—Pikeville’s notorious defense attorney—devastated. And it left the family fractured beyond repair, consumed by secrets from that terrible night. Twenty-eight years later, Charlotte has followed in her father’s footsteps to become a lawyer herself—the ideal good daughter. But when violence comes to Pikeville again, and a shocking tragedy leaves the whole town traumatized, Charlotte is… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Ableism & racism
Misgendering
Graphic rape & paedophilia
Infidelity
Suicide mentioned
Miscarriage & late-term pregnancy loss
Police brutality
School shooting
Fire & arson
Bullying

Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

1970s, Mexico City. Maite is a secretary who lives for one thing: the latest issue of Secret Romance. While student protests and political unrest consume the city, Maite escapes into stories of passion and danger.

Her next-door neighbor, Leonora, a beautiful art student, seems to live a life of intrigue and romance that Maite envies. When Leonora disappears under suspicious circumstances, Maite finds herself searching for the missing woman—and journeying deeper into Leonora’s secret life of student radicals and dissidents… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Physical injuries
Blood & gore depiction
Torture
Gun violence
Stabbing
Missing person

Unbelievable by Sara Shepard

Four pretty little liars’ charmed lives have turned into living nightmares. Emily’s been shipped off to Iowa to live with her überconservative cousins. Aria’s boyfriend is behind bars—because of her. Spencer’s afraid she was involved in Ali’s murder. But Hanna’s fate is far worse: She’s clinging to life in the hospital because she knew too much. These liars have tried to keep their scandals secret, but the truth is about to rock their pretty little world!

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Ableism, fatphobia & and body shaming
Homophobia & outing mentioned, including parental disownment
Teacher-student relationship
Infidelity mentioned
Amnesia & blackouts mentioned
Eating disorder (bulimia)
Panic attacks
Alcohol consumption
Hospitalisation for injury & coma
Attempted murder
Physical assault mentioned
Blackmail & stalking (theme)

The Elizas by Sara Shepard

When debut novelist Eliza Fontaine is found at the bottom of a hotel pool, her family at first assumes that it’s just another failed suicide attempt. But Eliza swears she was pushed, and her rescuer is the only witness. Desperate to find out who attacked her, Eliza takes it upon herself to investigate. But as the publication date for her novel draws closer, Eliza finds more questions than answers. Like why are her editor, agent, and family mixing up events from her novel with events from her life? Her novel is completely fictional, isn’t… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Child abuse
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Attempted suicide & suicidal ideation
Alcohol abuse & drugging
Brain tumour

Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard

Everyone has something to hide, especially high school juniors Spencer, Aria, Emily, and Hanna. Spencer covets her sister’s boyfriend. Aria’s fantasizing about her English teacher. Emily’s crushing on the new girl at school. Hanna uses some ugly tricks to stay beautiful. But they’ve all kept an even bigger secret since their friend Alison vanished. How do I know? Because I know everything about the bad girls they were, the naughty girls they are, and the dirty secrets they’ve kept. And guess what? I’m telling.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Fatphobia &body shaming
Misogyny, slut-shaming, ableism & racism
Homophobia & lesbophobia
Child emotional abuse & neglect
Teacher-student relationship
Sexual harassment
Infidelity
Eating disorders (bulimia), including disordered food thoughts, binging, and purging (on-page) and discussions of weight loss
Self-harm mentioned
Alcohol consumption & recreational drug use
Murder
Stalking & blackmail (theme)
Car accident
Bullying