Tag Archives: Death of a Child

This page lists books that contain trigger warnings for the depiction of death of a child.

See also Grief & loss depiction.

Where They Wait by Scott Carson

Recently laid-off from his newspaper and desperate for work, war correspondent Nick Bishop takes a humbling job: writing a profile of a new mindfulness app called Clarity. It’s easy money, and a chance to return to his hometown for the first time in years. The app itself seems like a retread of old ideas—relaxing white noise and guided meditations. But then there are the “Sleep Songs.” A woman’s hauntingly beautiful voice sings a ballad that is anything but soothing—it’s disturbing, and more of a warning than a relaxation—but it works. Deep, refreshing sleep follows. So do the night… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child abuse
  • Suicide
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Death of a child
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Gun violence
  • Car accident
  • Stalking
  • Fire & arson

Revenant Gun by Yoon Ha Lee

When Shuos Jedao wakes up for the first time, several things go wrong. His few memories tell him that he’s a seventeen-year-old cadet–but his body belongs to a man decades older.  Hexarch Nirai Kujen orders Jedao to reconquer the fractured hexarchate on his behalf even though Jedao has no memory of ever being a soldier, let alone a general.  Surely a knack for video games doesn’t qualify you to take charge of an army? Soon Jedao learns the situation is even worse.  The Kel soldiers under his command may be compelled to obey him, but they hate him thanks to a mass… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape
  • Dubious consent scenarios
  • Memory loss
  • Suicide
  • Body horror
  • Death of a child
  • Torture
  • Loss of autonomy (mind control)
  • War themes

The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent

The adopted human daughter of the Nightborn vampire king, Oraya carved her place in a world designed to kill her. Her only chance to become something more than prey is entering the Kejari: a legendary tournament held by the goddess of death herself. But winning won’t be easy amongst the most vicious warriors from all three vampire houses. To survive, Oraya is forced to make an alliance with a mysterious rival. Everything about Raihn is dangerous. He is a ruthless vampire, an efficient killer, an enemy to her father’s… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault recounted
  • Anxiety attacks
  • Self-harm mentioned
  • Blood, gore and injury depiction including dead bodies
  • Death of a wife and child recounted
  • Building collapse
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Whipping
  • Explosions & fire
  • War themes & battle scenes
  • Animal attack
  • Animal hunting & death

Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb

Fitz has survived his first hazardous mission as king’s assassin, but is left little more than a cripple. Battered and bitter, he vows to abandon his oath to King Shrewd, remaining in the distant mountains. But love and events of terrible urgency draw him back to the court at Buckkeep, and into the deadly intrigues of the royal family. Renewing their vicious attacks on the coast, the Red-Ship Raiders leave burned-out villages and demented victims in their wake. The kingdom is also under assault from within, as treachery threatens the throne of the ailing king. In this time of great danger, the fate of the kingdom may rest in Fitz’s hands—and his role in its salvation may require the ultimate sacrifice.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexism & classism
  • Elder abuse
  • Child abuse recounted
  • Infidelity mentioned
  • Forced political marriage
  • Depressive episode recounted
  • Suicidal ideation mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption & drug use
  • Pregnancy & miscarriage discussed
  • Graphic blood & injury depiction, including dead bodies, emesis, seizures, and chronic illness
  • Death of a father from medical complications due to chronic alcoholism recounted
  • Murder & attempted murder and infanticide
  • Poisoning
  • Physical assault
  • Knife, arrow and axe violence
  • Imprisonment
  • Loss of autonomy (mind control & invasion)
  • War themes & battle scenes and naval warfare
  • Regicide
  • Animal abuse (wolf)
  • Animal death mentioned, including the death of a pet dog

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. For the starving peasants of the Central Plains, greatness is something found only in stories. When the Zhu family’s eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness, everyone is mystified as to how it will come to pass. The fate of nothingness received by the family’s clever and capable second daughter, on the other hand, is only as expected. When a bandit attack orphans the two children, though, it is Zhu Chongba who succumbs to despair and dies. Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother’s identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. There… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Misgendering
  • Slavery mentioned
  • Depression
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Plague
  • Nonconsensual castration recounted
  • Emesis mentioned
  • Starvation
  • Cannibalism mentioned
  • Death of children
  • Murder & mass murder
  • Torture, off-page
  • Bombings
  • War themes
  • Animal injury
  • Animal death

Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko

Tarisai has always longed for the warmth of a family. She was raised in isolation by a mysterious, often absent mother known only as The Lady. The Lady sends her to the capital of the global empire of Aritsar to compete with other children to be chosen as one of the Crown Prince’s Council of 11. If she’s picked, she’ll be joined with the other Council members through the Ray, a bond deeper than blood. That closeness is irresistible to Tarisai, who has always wanted to belong somewhere. But The Lady has other ideas, including a magical wish that Tarisai is compelled to obey: Kill the Crown Prince once she gains his trust… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Enslavement
  • Rape
  • Parental abandonment
  • Emotional and physical child abuse & neglect
  • Domestic abuse
  • Suicide
  • Death of a child
  • Attempted murder
  • Regicide
  • Fire

No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood

As this urgent, genre-defying book opens, a woman who has recently been elevated to prominence for her social media posts travels around the world to meet her adoring fans. She is overwhelmed by navigating the new language and etiquette of what she terms “the portal,” where she grapples with an unshakable conviction that a vast chorus of voices is now dictating her thoughts. When existential threats—from climate change and economic precariousness to the rise of an unnamed dictator and an epidemic of loneliness—begin to loom, she posts her way deeper into the portal’s void… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape mentioned
  • Pregnancy complications
  • Death of an infant

Prom Mom by Laura Lippman

Amber Glass has spent her entire adult life putting as much distance as possible between her and her hometown of Baltimore, where she fears she will forever be known as “Prom Mom”–the girl who allegedly killed her baby on the night of the prom after her date, Joe Simpson, abandoned her to pursue the girl he really liked. But when circumstances bring Amber back to the city, she realizes she can have a second chance–as long as she stays away from Joe, now a successful commercial real estate developer, married to a plastic surgeon, Meredith, to whom he is devoted… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Infidelity
  • COVID-19 pandemic
  • Murder of a newborn
  • Stalking
  • Blackmail

Death on Ocean Boulevard by Caitlin Rother

The call came on the morning of July 13, 2011, from the historic Spreckels Mansion, a lavish beachfront property in Coronado, California, owned by pharmaceutical tycoon and multimillionaire Jonah Shacknai. When authorities arrived, they found the naked body of Jonah’s girlfriend, Rebecca Zahau, gagged, her ankles tied and her wrists bound behind her. Jonah’s brother, Adam, claimed to have found Rebecca hanging by a rope from the second-floor balcony. On a bedroom door in black paint were the cryptic words: She saved hum can you save her. Was this scrawled… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Paedophilia & child molestation
  • Domestic abuse
  • Suicide mentioned
  • Miscarriage
  • Death of a child
  • Kidnapping

Behind Every Lie by Christina McDonald

Eva Hansen wakes in the hospital after being struck by lightning and discovers her mother, Kat, has been murdered. Eva was found unconscious down the street. She can’t remember what happened but the police are highly suspicious of her. Determined to clear her name, Eva heads from Seattle to London—Kat’s former home—for answers. But as she unravels her mother’s carefully held secrets, Eva soon realizes that someone doesn’t want her to know the truth. And with violent memories beginning to emerge, Eva doesn’t know who to trust. Least of all herself.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape
  • Domestic abuse
  • Death of a child
  • Murder of a mother
  • Lightning strike recounted