Cults – Page 2 – Trigger Warning Database

The Lost Village by Camilla Sten

Documentary filmmaker Alice Lindstedt has been obsessed with the vanishing residents of the old mining town, dubbed “The Lost Village,” since she was a little girl. In 1959, her grandmother’s entire family disappeared in this mysterious tragedy, and ever since, the unanswered questions surrounding the only two people who were left—a woman stoned to death in the town center and an abandoned newborn—have plagued her. She’s gathered a small crew of friends in the remote village to make a film about what really happened. But there will be no turning… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Rape of a disabled woman resulting in pregnancy, off-page
Depression
Suicide recounted & suicidal ideation
Psychosis
Emesis
Death of a friend
Murder of a disabled woman by stoning
Cults & religious abuse

The Ritual by Shantel Tessier

I vow. You vow. We vow. Barrington University is home of the Lords, a secret society that requires their blood in payment. They are above all—the most powerful men in the world. They devote their lives to violence in exchange for power. And during their senior year, they are offered a chosen one. Barrington University is home of the Lords, a secret society that requires their blood in payment. They are above all—the most powerful men in the world. They devote their lives to violence in exchange for power. And during their senior year, they are offered a chosen one. People think… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Arranged relationship
Sex slavery
Attempted sexual assault
Dubious consent scenarios including consensual somnophilia and rape-play
Improper BDSM practices
Drugging including nonconsensual manipulation of birth control prescription
Depiction of a dead body
Branding (consensual)
Genital mutilation
Murder
Torture
Gun & knife violence
Physical assault
Drowning
Cult
Stalking & nonconsensual surveillance

The Shadow Cabinet by Maureen Johnson

The Shadow Cabinet by Maureen Johnson

Rory and her friends are reeling from a series of sudden and tragic events. While racked with grief, Rory tries to determine if she acted in time to save a member of the squad. If she did, how do you find a ghost? Also, Rory’s classmate Charlotte has been kidnapped by Jane and her nefarious organization. Evidence is uncovered of a forty-year-old cult, ten missing teenagers, and a likely mass murder. Everything indicates that Charlotte’s in danger, and it seems that something much bigger and much more terrible is coming. Time is run… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Attempted suicide & suicidal ideation recounted
Nonconsensual drugging, on- & off-page
Hospital
Coma
Blood depiction & blood-drinking
Minor physical injuries
Emesis
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a friend
Kidnapping
Cults
Mass murder by poison
Explosion
Car accident recounted

Beach Read by Emily Henry

Beach Read by Emily Henry

Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast. They’re polar opposites. In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they’re living in neighbouring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer’s block. Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She’ll take him on field trips worth… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Child abuse & domestic violence recounted (love interest)
Parental infidelity recounted & discussed
Suicide cults discussed
Miscarriage mentioned (protagonist’s parent)
Alcohol consumption (on-page)
Parent with heart condition mentioned
Parent in remission for breast cancer (protagonist)
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a father from a stroke recounted

My Life with the Liars by Caela Carter

My Life with the Liars by Caela Carter

Behind the white-washed walls of the Arizona compound, life was simple. Follow the rules, “live in the light,” and all would be well. Zylynn was excited to turn thirteen and begin the work of bringing others into the light, to save them from the liars and the darkness of the outside world. But when she is taken away by a man who claims to be her father, she is confused and desperate to return home. Zylynn resists her new life—until she finds small comforts, like shampoo, the color pink, and strawberries. But as her thirteenth birthday approaches, Zylynn must make a difficult… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Child abuse & neglect
Starvation
Cults

That Time I Got Drunk and Yeeted a Love Potion at a Werewolf by Kimberly Lemming

That Time I Got Drunk and Yeeted a Love Potion at a Werewolf by Kimberly Lemming

Anyone else ever thrown a drink at someone’s head, only to miss entirely and hit a stranger behind them? Then have that stranger fall madly in love with you because it turned out that drink you threw was a love potion? No, just me? Well damn. Dealing with a pirate ship full of demons that just moved into town was hard enough. Now on top of it, I have to convince a werewolf that I’m not his fated mate, he’s just drugged. Easier said than done. Though I have to say, having a gorgeous man show up and do all of your chores while telling you you’re beautiful isn’t the worst thing to happen to a girl…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Parental abandonment recounted
Misogyny
Sexual harassment
Dubious consent discussed
Alcohol consumption
Self-injury for magic
Drugging & attempted drugging
Minor blood and injury depiction
Murder
Kidnapping & captivity
Disappearance of a friend
Cult

*Context : The protagonist and some secondary characters are kidnapped and held captive by a fantastical ‘incel’ cult. A minor battle scene during the rescue includes murder and sword violence. The heroine’s neighbour sexually harasses her, and attempts to drug her with a love potion; instead, the love interest becomes the love potions’ victim. He realises the heroine is his fated mate while under the love potion’s influence so there are multiple discussions of dubious consent (but arguably none on page).

Run Away by Harlan Coben

Run Away by Harlan Coben

Your daughter is missing. You’ll risk anything to find her. And then you see her, frightened and clearly in trouble. You approach her, beg her to come home. She runs. You follow her into a dark, dangerous world where no one is safe and murder is commonplace. Now it’s your life on the line…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Sexual assault
Daughter with a substance addiction
Murder
Cults

Agnes at the End of the World by Kelly McWilliams

Agnes at the End of the World by Kelly McWilliams

Agnes loves her home of Red Creek–its quiet, sunny mornings, its dusty roads, and its God. There, she cares tirelessly for her younger siblings and follows the town’s strict laws. What she doesn’t know is that Red Creek is a cult, controlled by a madman who calls himself a prophet. Then Agnes meets Danny, an Outsider boy, and begins to question what is and isn’t a sin. Her younger brother, Ezekiel, will die without the insulin she barters for once a month, even though medicine is considered outlawed. Is she a sinner for saving him? Is her sister, Beth, a sinner for dreaming of the world beyond Red Creek? As the Prophet grows more… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Misogyny
Ableism
Statutory rape
Adult-minor relationship
Forced child marriage & polygyny
Paedophilia and child sexual abuse
Child abuse, on-page
Domestic violence mentioned
Depression
Pandemic
Serious physical injury
Diabetic shock & crisis
Hanging mentioned
Kidnapping recounted
Cults (theme)

Seed by Lisa Heathfield

Seed by Lisa Heathfield

Seed loves you. Seed will never let you go. Fifteen-year-old Pearl has lived her whole life protected within the small community at Seed, where they worship Nature and idolise their leader, Papa S. When some outsiders arrive everything changes. Pearl experiences feelings that she never knew existed and begins to realise that there is darkness at the heart of Seed. A darkness from which she must escape before it’s too late.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Paedophilia
Suicide
Cult (theme)

The Liar’s Daughter by Megan Cooley Peterson

The Liar’s Daughter by Megan Cooley Peterson

Seventeen-year-old Piper knows that Father is a Prophet. Infallible. The chosen one. She would do anything for Father. That’s why she takes care of all her little sisters. That’s why she runs end-of-the-world drills. That’s why she never asks questions. Because Father knows best. Until the day he doesn’t. Until the day the government raids the compound and separates Piper from her siblings, from Mother, from the Aunts, from all of Father’s followers–even from Caspian, the boy she loves. Now Piper is living Outside… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Child abuse
Kidnapping
Cults (theme)