Cults – Page 2 – Trigger Warning Database

The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan

Gabry lives a quiet life. As safe a life as is possible in a town trapped between a forest and the ocean, in a world teeming with the dead, who constantly hunger for those still living. She’s content on her side of the Barrier, happy to let her friends dream of the Dark City up the coast while she watches from the top of her lighthouse. But there are threats the Barrier cannot hold back. Threats like the secrets Gabry’s mother thought she left behind when she escaped from the Sisterhood and the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Like the cult of religious zealots who worship the dead. Like the stranger from the forest who seems to know Gabry. And… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Graphic blood & gore depiction
Murder & attempted murder
Ritualistic human sacrifice of children
Cults

The Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman

One June day when Mia Jacob can no longer see a way to survive, the power of words saves her. The Scarlet Letter was written almost two hundred years earlier, but it seems to tell the story of Mia’s mother, Ivy, and their life inside the Community—an oppressive cult in western Massachusetts where contact with the outside world is forbidden. But how could this be? How could Nathaniel Hawthorne have so perfectly captured the pain and loss that Mia carries inside her? Through a journey of heartbreak, love, and time, Mia must abandon the rules she was raised with at the Community. As she does, she realizes that… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Domestic violence
Suicidal ideation
Abortion including death from an attempted abortion
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a mother
Death of a guardian from cancer
Stalking
Cult

Teen Killers Club by Lily Sparks

Seventeen-year-old Signal Deere has raised eyebrows for years as an unhappy Goth misfit from the trailer park. When she’s convicted of her best friend Rose’s brutal murder, she’s designated a Class A–the most dangerous and manipulative criminal profile. To avoid prison, Signal signs on for a secret program for 18-and-under Class As and is whisked off to an abandoned sleep-away camp, where she and seven bunkmates will train as assassins. Yet even in the Teen Killers Club, Signal doesn’t fit in. She’s squeamish around blood. She’s kind and empathetic… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Paedophilia & grooming
Dead body
Decapitation
Blood & gore depiction
Needles
Grief & loss depiction
Murder
Death of a friend
Cult
Incarceration

Together We Rot by Skyla Arndt

Wil Greene’s mom has been missing for over a year, and the police are ready to call the case closed–they claim she skipped town and you can’t find a woman who wants to disappear. But she knows her mom wouldn’t just leave…and she knows the family of her former best friend, Elwood Clarke, has something to do with it. Elwood has been counting down the days until his 18th birthday–in dread. It marks leaving school and joining his pastor father in dedicating his life to their congregation, the Garden of Adam. But when he comes home after one night of after a final good… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Physical child abuse
Parent with alcoholism
Alcohol consumption & abuse
Emesis
Cult
Animal death

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).