Category Archives: Genres

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

For those who still dream and remember, for those yet to experience the hypnotic power of its dark poetry, step inside. The show is about to begin. Cooger & Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show has come to Green Town, Illinois, to destroy every life touched by its strange and sinister mystery. The carnival rolls in sometime after midnight, ushering in Halloween a week early. A calliope’s shrill siren song beckons to all with a seductive promise of dreams and youth regained. Two boys will discover the secret of its smoke, mazes, and mirrors; two friends who will soon know all too well the heavy cost of wishes…and the stuff of nightmares.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Kidnapping
  • Stalking

I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes

I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes

A young woman murdered in a run-down Manhattan hotel. A father publicly beheaded in the blistering sun of Saudi Arabia. A man’s eyes stolen from his living body as he leaves a secret Syrian research laboratory. Smouldering human remains on a mountainside in the Hindu Kush.

A plot to commit an appalling crime against humanity. One thread that binds them all. One man to take the journey.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Torture
  • Terrorism

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

Beautiful, flaxen-haired Buttercup has fallen for Westley, the farm boy, and when he departs to make his fortune, she vows never to love another. So when she hears that his ship has been captured by the Dread Pirate Roberts (no survivors) her heart is broken. But her charms draw the attention of the relentless Prince Humperdinck who wants a wife and will go to any lengths to have Buttercup. So starts a fairy tale like no other, of fencing, poison, true love, hate, revenge, giants, bad men, good men, snakes, spiders, chases, escapes, lies, truths, passion and miracles, and … a damn fine story.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Forced marriage
  • Physical, verbal & emotional abuse
  • Nightmares
  • Alcoholism
  • Suicide (accidental)
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Blood depiction
  • Scars
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Torture
  • Knife violence
  • Physical assault
  • Kidnapping
  • Fire
  • Loss of autonomy
  • Hunting

The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell

The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell

In the middle years of the ninth-century, the fierce Danes stormed onto British soil, hungry for spoils and conquest. Kingdom after kingdom fell to the ruthless invaders until but one realm remained. And suddenly the fate of all England—and the course of history—depended upon one man, one king.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Rape
  • Attempted sexual assault
  • Child abuse
  • Miscarriage
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Arson

Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow

Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators by Ronan Farrow

In 2017, a routine network television investigation led Ronan Farrow to a story only whispered about: one of Hollywood’s most powerful producers was a predator, protected by fear, wealth, and a conspiracy of silence. As Farrow drew closer to the truth, shadowy operatives, from high-priced lawyers to elite war-hardened spies, mounted a secret campaign of intimidation, threatening his career, following his every move, and weaponizing an account of abuse in his own family.

All the while, Farrow and his producer faced a degree of resistance they could not explain — until now. And a trail of clues revealed corruption and cover-ups from Hollywood to Washington and beyond… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Rape & attempted rape
  • Sexual harassment
  • Paedophilia & child sexual abuse
  • Attempted suicide mentioned

The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule

The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule

Utterly unique in its astonishing intimacy, as jarringly frightening as when it first appeared, Ann Rule’s The Stranger Beside Me defies our expectation that we would surely know if a monster lived among us, worked alongside of us, appeared as one of us. With a slow chill that intensifies with each heart-pounding page, Rule describes her dawning awareness that Ted Bundy, her sensitive coworker on a crisis hotline, was one of the most prolific serial killers in America. He would confess to killing at least thirty-six young women from coast to coast, and was eventually executed for three of those cases

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Rape
  • Necrophilia
  • Suicide
  • Domestic violence mentioned
  • Graphic murder
  • Physical assault
  • Kidnapping
  • Home invasion

A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami

A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami

His life was like a recurring nightmare: a train to nowhere. But an ordinary life has a way of taking an extraordinary turn. Add a girl whose ears are so exquisite that, when uncovered, they improve sex a thousand-fold, a runaway friend, a right-wing politico, an ovine-obsessed professor and a manic-depressive in a sheep outfit, implicate them in a hunt for a sheep, that may or may not be running the world, and the upshot is another singular masterpiece from Japan’s finest novelist.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Suicide

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

Kafka on the Shore, a tour de force of metaphysical reality, is powered by two remarkable characters: a teenage boy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home either to escape a gruesome oedipal prophecy or to search for his long-missing mother and sister; and an aging simpleton called Nakata, who never recovered from a wartime affliction and now is drawn toward Kafka for reasons that, like the most basic activities of daily life, he cannot fathom. Their odyssey, as mysterious to them as it is to us, is enriched throughout by vivid accomplices and mesmerizing events. Cats and people carry on conversations, a ghostlike pimp employs a Hegel-quoting sex worker… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Rape
  • Incest
  • Adult-minor relationship
  • Murder
  • Animal death
  • Animal cruelty

A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green

The Carls disappeared the same way they appeared, in an instant. While they were on Earth, they caused confusion and destruction without ever lifting a finger. Well, that’s not exactly true. Part of their maelstrom was the sudden viral fame and untimely death of April May: a young woman who stumbled into Carl’s path, giving them their name, becoming their advocate, and putting herself in the middle of an avalanche of conspiracy theories. Months later, the world is as confused as ever. Andy has picked up April’s mantle of fame, speaking at conferences and online about the world… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Internalised ableism
  • Blood and graphic physical injury depiction including body horror and body dysmorphia due to prosthetics
  • Hospitalisation
  • Kidnapping & captivity
  • Gun violence
  • Strangulation
  • Loss of autonomy (mind control)
  • Terrorist attacks discussed

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green

The Carls just appeared. Coming home from work at three a.m., twenty-three-year-old April May stumbles across a giant sculpture. Delighted by its appearance and craftsmanship–like a ten-foot-tall Transformer wearing a suit of samurai armour–April and her friend Andy make a video with it, which Andy uploads to YouTube. The next day April wakes up to a viral video and a new life. News quickly spreads that there are Carls in dozens of cities around the world–everywhere from Beijing to Buenos Aires–and April, as their first documentarian, finds herself at the centre… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Bimisia
  • Graphic physical injury
  • Hospitalisation
  • Attempted murder by gun violence and stabbing
  • Terrorist attack (explosion)
  • Building collapse from a fire, on-page
  • Loss of autonomy (mind control)