Tag Archives: Death of a Child

Man Tiger by Eka Kurniawan

Man Tiger by Eka Kurniawan

A wry, affecting tale set in a small town on the Indonesian coast, Man Tiger tells the story of two interlinked and tormented families and of Margio, a young man ordinary in all particulars except that he conceals within himself a supernatural female white tiger. The inequities and betrayals of family life coalesce around and torment this magical being. An explosive act of violence follows, and its mysterious cause is unraveled as events progress toward a heartbreaking revelation.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Marital rape
  • Parental abuse
  • Domestic violence
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Death of a child
  • Murder

The Lost Book of the White by Cassandra Clare and Wesley Chu

The Lost Book of the White by Cassandra Clare and Wesley Chu

Life is good for Magnus Bane and Alec Lightwood. They’re living together in a fabulous loft, their warlock son, Max, has started learning to walk, and the streets of New York are peaceful and quiet—as peaceful and quiet as they ever are, anyway. Until the night that two old acquaintances break into Magnus’s apartment and steal the powerful Book of the White. Now Magnus and Alec will have to drop everything to get it back. They need to follow the thieves to Shanghai, they need to call some backup to accompany them, and they need a babysitter. Also, someone has stabbed… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Death of a child mentioned
  • Torture
  • Physical assault
  • Kidnapping

Blood Song by Anthony Ryan

Blood Song by Anthony Ryan

Vaelin Al Sorna is the Sixth Order’s newest recruit. Under their brutal training regime, he learns how to forge a blade, survive the wilds and kill a man quickly and quietly – all in the name of protecting the Realm and the Faith. Now his skills will be put to the test. War is coming. Vaelin must draw upon the very essence of his strength and cunning if he is to survive the coming conflict. Yet as the world teeters on the edge of chaos, Vaelin will learn that the truth can cut deeper than any sword.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Child abuse & abandonment
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Death of a child
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • War themes

My Little Brother by Diane Saxon

My Little Brother by Diane Saxon

Two siblings, both missing for 20 years turn up within one day of each other. One dead. One alive. It was an ordinary school day, the day I lost my little brother.
One moment he was on the roundabout and then was gone. Gone. Missing. They all blamed me. I was in charge. Even though I was only ten years old. They sent me away. The hurt, the shame, the questions. The not knowing. I tried to move on. It’s been nineteen years in exile and now somebody wants me back. Someone with a dark secret. They hold the keys, they know the truth. So, I need to return to my childhood village to find out who, because I have a secret, too… I did something bad.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Familial estrangement
  • Parental infidelity recounted
  • Filicide of an autistic son
  • Murder of a partner
  • Death of a brother
  • Disappearance of a sibling recounted

One Little Lie by Sam Carrington

One Little Lie by Sam Carrington

Deborah’s son was killed four years ago. Alice’s son is in prison for committing that crime. Deborah would give anything to have her boy back, and Alice would do anything to right her son’s wrongs. Driven by guilt and the need for redemption, Alice has started a support group for parents with troubled children. But as the network begins to grow, she soon finds out just how easy it is for one little lie to spiral out of control. They call it mother’s intuition, but can you ever really know your own child?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Death of a son by murder recounted
  • Filicide by suffocation
  • Imprisonment

The Spite House by Johnny Compton

The Spite House by Johnny Compton

Eric Ross is on the run from a mysterious past with his two daughters in tow. Having left his wife, his house, his whole life behind in Maryland, he’s desperate for money–it’s not easy to find safe work when you can’t provide references, you can’t stay in one place for long, and you’re paranoid that your past is creeping back up on you. When he comes across the strange ad for the Masson House in Degener, Texas, Eric thinks they may have finally caught a lucky break. The Masson property, notorious for being one of the most haunted places in Texas, needs a caretaker of sorts. The… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Child neglect
  • Suicide
  • Cancer mentioned
  • Death of a child
  • Lynching mentioned
  • Drowning
  • Arson

We Can Never Leave This Place by Eric LaRocca

We Can Never Leave This Place by Eric LaRocca

A precocious young girl with an unusual imagination is sent on an odyssey into the depths of depravity. After her father dies violently, young Mara is surprised to find her mother welcoming a new guest into their home, claiming that he will protect them from the world of devastation and destruction outside their door.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Rape mentioned (brief)
  • Incest
  • Emotional & verbal child abuse
  • Miscarriage & stillbirth
  • Body horror
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent
  • Death of a child mentioned
  • Murder
  • Animal death

Kingdom of Needle and Bone by Mira Grant

Kingdom of Needle and Bone by Mira Grant

We live in an age of wonders. Modern medicine has conquered or contained many of the diseases that used to carry children away before their time, reducing mortality and improving health. Vaccination and treatment are widely available, not held in reserve for the chosen few. There are still monsters left to fight, but the old ones, the simple ones, trouble us no more. Or so we thought. For with the reduction in danger comes the erosion of memory, as pandemics fade from memory into story into fairy tale. Those old diseases can’t have been so bad, people say, or we wouldn’t be… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Epidemics
  • Death of a child
  • Murder

In Pain and Blood by Aldrea Alien

In Pain and Blood by Aldrea Alien

Dylan’s life in the spellster tower has everything he should want: magical knowledge, safety from the King’s Hounds and frequent clandestine affairs with women. All at the cost of his freedom. So when the chance to leave the tower—even as a leashed weapon for the King’s Army—arises, he seizes it. When his first scouting mission goes awry, Dylan is left alone in a hostile world with the tower a distant beacon of safety. Only the flirtatious Tracker, an elven man whose very presence awakens Dylan’s long-repressed desire… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Bimisia
  • Threats & mentions of rape
  • Sex-trafficking
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Suicide
  • Death of children
  • Graphic mass murder including infanticide
  • Kidnapping
  • War

Tracking Trouble by Aldrea Alien

Tracking Trouble by Aldrea Alien

Before a routine job brought him to the love of his life, Tracker’s world had two facets: Hunting spellsters and entertaining strangers in his bed. There’s no doubt he’s good at both, even if only one is considered acceptable amongst the King’s Hounds. But there’s something off about his current tasks. The spellsters he typically finds aren’t usually this powerful or anywhere near as dangerous to a man untouchable by magic. It’s as if someone is releasing them with an eye to weaken an already harried kingdom. Can he find out who before they run out of hounds? Join this mess of… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Sex-trafficking
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Death of children
  • Graphic mass murder including infanticide
  • Kidnapping