Mystery & Thriller – Page 56 – Trigger Warning Database

The Creak on the Stairs by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir

The Creak on the Stairs by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir

Chief Investigating Officer Elma, who has returned to Akranes following a failed relationship, and her colleagues Sævar and Hörður, commence an uneasy investigation, which uncovers a shocking secret in the dead woman’s past that continues to reverberate in the present day. But as Elma and her team make a series of discoveries, they bring to light a host of long-hidden crimes that shake the entire community. Sifting through the rubble of the townspeople’s shattered memories, they have to dodge increasingly serious threats, and find justice … before it’s too late.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Child sexual abuse
Abortion
Suicide mentioned
Death of a child recounted
Murder

The Blessed by Tonya Hurley

The Blessed by Tonya Hurley

What if martyrs and saints lived among us? And what if you were told you were one of them?

Meet Agnes, Cecilia, and Lucy. Three lost girls, each searching for something. But what they find is Beyond Belief.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Attempted rape
Attempted suicide recounted
Nonconsensual branding
Blood & injury depiction
Murder
Torture, including the use of an Iron Maiden
Beheading
Strangulation
Drowning

The Last House on the Street by Diane Chamberlain

The Last House on the Street by Diane Chamberlain

When Kayla Carter’s husband dies in an accident while building their dream house, she knows she has to stay strong for their four-year-old daughter. But the trophy home in Shadow Ridge Estates, a new development in sleepy Round Hill, North Carolina, will always hold tragic memories. But when she is confronted by an odd, older woman telling her not to move in, she almost agrees. It’s clear this woman has some kind of connection to the area…and a connection to Kayla herself. Kayla’s elderly new neighbour, Ellie Hockley, is more welcoming, but it’s clear she, too… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism

The Dream Daughter by Diane Chamberlain

The Dream Daughter by Diane Chamberlain

When Caroline Sears receives the news that her unborn baby girl has a heart defect, she is devastated. It is 1970 and there seems to be little that can be done. But her brother-in-law, a physicist, tells her that perhaps there is. Hunter appeared in their lives just a few years before—and his appearance was as mysterious as his past. With no family, no friends, and a background shrouded in secrets, Hunter embraced the Sears family and never looked back… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Pregnancy
Terminal heart condition*
Death of a husband during deployment in the Vietnam War

*Context : The unborn child is known to have a life-threatening heart condition.

The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain

The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain

In 1977, pregnant Genevieve Russell disappeared. Twenty years later, her remains are discovered and Timothy Gleason is charged with murder. But there is no sign of the unborn child. CeeCee Wilkes knows how Genevieve Russell died, because she was there. And she also knows what happened to the missing infant, because two decades ago she made the devastating choice to raise the baby as her own. Now Timothy Gleason is facing the death penalty, and she has another choice to make. Tell the truth, and destroy her family. Or let an innocent man die in order to protect a lifetime of lies… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Cancer
Death of a parent
Murder

The Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain

The Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain

Riley MacPherson has spent her entire life believing that her older sister Lisa committed suicide as a teenager. Now, over twenty years later, her father has passed away and she’s in New Bern, North Carolina cleaning out his house when she finds evidence to the contrary. Lisa is alive. Alive and living under a new identity. But why exactly was she on the run all those years ago, and what secrets are being kept now? As Riley works to uncover the truth, her discoveries will put into question everything she thought… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Child sexual abuse resulting in pregnancy recounted
Suicide
Sibling with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Death of a parent
Murder

Big Lies in a Small Town by Diane Chamberlain

Big Lies in a Small Town by Diane Chamberlain

Kacey Cleary’s whole life imploded four years ago in a drunk-driving accident. Now she’s working hard to bury the pieces left behind—all but one. Her little sister, Livie. Kacey can swallow the constant disapproval from her born-again aunt Darla over her self-destructive lifestyle; she can stop herself from going kick-boxer crazy on Uncle Raymond when he loses the girls’ college funds at a blackjack table. She just needs to keep it together until Livie is no longer a minor, and then they can get the hell out of Grand Rapids, Michigan… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Sexism
Rape
Alcoholism
Manic-depressive episode
Murder

Stolen by Lucy Christopher

Stolen by Lucy Christopher

Sixteen-year-old Gemma is kidnapped from Bangkok airport and taken to the Australian Outback. This wild and desolate landscape becomes almost a character in the book, so vividly is it described. Ty, her captor, is no stereotype. He is young, fit and completely gorgeous. This new life in the wilderness has been years in the planning. He loves only her, wants only her. Under the hot glare of the Australian sun, cut off from the world outside, can the force of his love make Gemma love him back?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Stockholm Syndrome (theme)
Suicidal ideation
Self-harm
Drugging
Kidnapping & captivity

The Chalk Man by CJ Tudor

The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor

In 1986, Eddie and his friends are just kids on the verge of adolescence. They spend their days biking around their sleepy English village and looking for any taste of excitement they can get. The chalk men are their secret code: little chalk stick figures they leave for one another as messages only they can understand. But then a mysterious chalk man leads them right to a dismembered body, and nothing is ever… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Fatmisia
Ableism
Racism
Antiziganism
Homomisia
Graphic rape & statutory rape
Graphic sexual assault of a child
Adult-minor relationship
Trauma
Nightmares & night terrors
Graphic suicide
Self-harm
Alcohol consumption & abuse
Smoking
Pregnancy from rape
Abortion (theme)
Blood & gore depiction
Physical injuries, including mutilation and eye trauma
Cancer
Emesis
Hospital
Dismemberment
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a mother & father
Death of a friend
Death of a brother
Death of a fiancé
Murder
Physical assault
Drowning
Rollercoaster accident
Car accident recounted
Graphic death of a pet dog
Bullying

The Other Woman by Sandie Jones

The Other Woman by Sandie Jones

Emily thinks Adam’s perfect; the man she thought she’d never meet. But lurking in the shadows is a rival; a woman who shares a deep bond with the man she loves. Emily chose Adam, but she didn’t choose his mother Pammie. There’s nothing a mother wouldn’t do for her son, and now Emily is about to find out just how far Pammie will go to get what she wants: Emily gone forever.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Domestic abuse
Cheating