Tag Archives: Animal Cruelty, Abuse & Torture

This page lists books that contain trigger warnings for the depiction of animal abuse, cruelty, and torture.

See also Animal death, Animal illness & injury, and Animal attack.

The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima

The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima

Times are hard in the mountain city of Fellsmarch. Reformed thief Han Alister will do almost anything to eke out a living for his family. The only thing of value he has is something he can’t sell—the thick silver cuffs he’s worn since birth. They’re clearly magicked—as he grows, they grow, and he’s never been able to get them off. One day, Han and his clan friend, Dancer, confront three young wizards setting fire to the sacred mountain of Hanalea. Han takes an amulet from Micah Bayar, son of the High Wizard, to keep him from using it against them. Soon Han learns that the amulet has an… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Knife violence
  • Animal cruelty

The Sullivan Sisters by Kathryn Ormsbee

The Sullivan Sisters by Kathryn Ormsbee

That painful fact of life couldn’t be truer for the Sullivan sisters. Once, they used to be close, sharing secrets inside homemade blanket castles. Now, life in the Sullivan house means closed doors and secrets left untold. Fourteen-year-old Murphy, an aspiring magician, is shocked by the death of Siegfried, her pet turtle. Seventeen-year-old Claire is bound for better things than her Oregonian hometown—until she receives a crushing rejection from her dream college. And eighteen-year-old Eileen is nursing a growing addiction in the wake of life-altering news… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child abuse recounted
  • Alcoholism
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Terminal cancer (leukemia)
  • Emesis
  • Death of a parent
  • Murder
  • Animal death & neglect

Bad Witch Burning by Jessica Lewis

Bad Witch Burning by Jessica Lewis

Katrell can talk to the dead. And she wishes it made more money. She’s been able to support her unemployed mother–and Mom’s deadbeat-boyfriend-of-the-week–so far, but it isn’t enough. Money’s still tight, and to complicate things, Katrell has started to draw attention. Not from this world–from beyond. And it comes with a warning: STOP or there will be consequences. Katrell is willing to call the ghosts on their bluff; she has no choice. What do ghosts know of having sleep for dinner? But when her… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Domestic abuse
  • Child abuse & neglect
  • Emotional abuse & gaslighting
  • Suicidal ideation (passive)
  • Cancer mentioned
  • Gun violence
  • Fire
  • Graphic animal cruelty
  • Animal death (dog)
  • Poverty

To Be Devoured by Sara Tantlinger

To Be Devoured by Sara Tantlinger

What does carrion taste like? Andi has to know. The vultures circling outside her home taunt and invite her to come understand the secrets hiding in their banquet of decay. Fascination morphs into an obsessive need to know what the vultures know. Andi turns to Dr. Fawning, but even the therapist cannot help her comprehend the secrets she’s buried beneath anger-induced blackouts. Her girlfriend, Luna, tries to help Andi battle her inner darkness and infatuation with the vultures. However, the desire to taste dead flesh, to stitch… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Suicide & suicidal ideation mentioned
  • Self-harm
  • Death of a child mentioned
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Body horror
  • Graphic cannibalism
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Animal abuse & cruelty
  • Animal death

Runebinder by Alex Kahler

Runebinder by Alex R. Kahler

When magic returned to the world, it could have saved humanity, but greed and thirst for power caused mankind’s downfall instead. Now once-human monsters called Howls prowl abandoned streets, their hunger guided by corrupt necromancers and the all-powerful Kin. Only Hunters have the power to fight back in the unending war, using the same magic that ended civilization in the first place. But they are losing. Tenn is a Hunter, resigned to fight even though hope is nearly lost. When he is singled out by a seductive Kin named Tomás and the enigmatic Hunter Jarrett…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Homomisia
  • Dubious consent scenarios
  • Suicide & suicidal ideation
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Death of a parent
  • Death of a friend
  • Graphic murder
  • Torture
  • Animal death & hunting

Gyo by Junji Ito

Gyo by Junji Ito

Something is rotten in Okinawa… The floating smell of death hangs over the island. What is it? A strange, legged fish appears on the scene and so begins Tadashi and Kaori’s spiral into the horror and stench of the sea. Here is the creepiest masterpiece of horror manga ever from the creator of Uzumaki, Junji Ito. Hold your breath until all is revealed.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Attempted suicide
  • Body horror
  • Animal death
  • Animal cruelty

Virals by Kathy Reichs and Brendan Reichs

Virals by Kathy Reichs and Brendan Reichs

Tory Brennan, niece of acclaimed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan (of the Bones novels and hit TV show), is the leader of a ragtag band of teenage “sci-philes” who live on a secluded island off the coast of South Carolina. When the group rescues a dog caged for medical testing on a nearby island, they are exposed to an experimental strain of canine parvovirus that changes their lives forever. As the friends discover their heightened senses and animal-quick reflexes, they must combine their… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Murder
  • Kidnapping
  • Bullying
  • Animal cruelty
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The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass

The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass

Jake Livingston is one of the only Black kids at St. Clair Prep, one of the others being his infinitely more popular older brother. It’s hard enough fitting in but to make matters worse and definitely more complicated, Jake can see the dead. In fact he sees the dead around him all the time. Most are harmless. Stuck in their death loops as they relive their deaths over and over again, they don’t interact often with people. But then Jake meets Sawyer. A troubled teen who shot and killed six kids at a local high school last year before taking his own life. Now a powerful, vengeful ghost, he has plans for his afterlife–plans that include Jake… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia & homomisic slurs
  • Coming out themes
  • Ableism & ableist language
  • Racism
  • Attempted sexual assault of a child by an uncle, on-page
  • Parental abandonment & neglect
  • Physical, verbal & emotional child abuse
  • Domestic violence recounted, off-page
  • Cheating mentioned
  • Nightmares
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Recreational drug use
  • Hospitalisation for attempted suicide recounted
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Graphic blood & gore depiction
  • Graphic body horror
  • Emesis
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • School shooting
  • Gun & knife violence
  • Car accident
  • Loss of autonomy (ghost possession)
  • Animal death (insects)
  • Animal abuse & torture (insects)
  • Bullying
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Married by Morning by Lisa Kleypas

Married by Morning by Lisa Kleypas

For two years, Catherine Marks has been a paid companion to the Hathaway sisters—a pleasant position, with one caveat. Her charges’ older brother, Leo Hathaway, is thoroughly exasperating. Cat can hardly believe that their constant arguing could mask a mutual attraction. But when one quarrel ends in a sudden kiss, Cat is shocked at her powerful response—and even more so when Leo proposes a dangerous liaison. Leo must marry and produce an heir within a year to save his family home. Catherine’s respectable demeanour hides a secret that would utterly destroy… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Child neglect
  • Underage sex work
  • Drugging
  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Kidnapping
  • Animal cruelty
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I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh

I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh

A tragic accident. It all happened so quickly. She couldn’t have prevented it. Could she? In a split second, Jenna Gray’s world descends into a nightmare. Her only hope of moving on is to walk away from everything she knows to start afresh. Desperate to escape, Jenna moves to a remote cottage on the Welsh coast, but she is haunted by her fears, her grief and her memories of a cruel November night that changed her life forever. Slowly, Jenna begins to glimpse the potential for happiness in her future. But her past is about to catch up with her, and the consequences will be devastating…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Rape
  • Death of a child in a hit-and-run accident
  • Animal abuse
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