Tag Archives: Death of a Child

Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick

Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick

Based on the true story of Cambodian advocate Arn Chorn-Pond, and authentically told from his point of view as a young boy, this is an achingly raw and powerful historical novel about a child of war who becomes a man of peace. It includes an author’s note and acknowledgments from Arn Chorn-Pond himself. Based on the true story of Cambodian advocate Arn Chorn-Pond, and authentically told from his point of view as a young boy, this is an achingly raw and powerful historical novel about a child of war who becomes a man of peace.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Child sexual abuse
  • Rape mentioned
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Dead bodies
  • Cannibalism
  • Starvation
  • Death of a child
  • Cambodia’s Killing Fields (theme)
  • Murder & mass murder
  • Stabbing
  • Gun violence

The Boy Who Drew Monsters by Keith Donohue

The Boy Who Drew Monsters by Keith Donohue

Ever since he nearly drowned in the ocean three years earlier, ten-year-old Jack Peter Keenan has been deathly afraid to venture outdoors. Refusing to leave his home in a small coastal town in Maine, Jack Peter spends his time drawing monsters. When those drawings take on a life of their own, no one is safe from the terror they inspire. His mother, Holly, begins to hear strange sounds in the night coming from the ocean, and she seeks answers from the local Catholic priest and his Japanese housekeeper, who fill her head with stories of shipwrecks and ghosts. His father, Tim, wanders the beach, frantically searching for a strange… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Cheating
  • Pregnancy
  • Miscarriage
  • Death of a child
  • Animal death

The Laws of the Skies by Grégoire Courtois

The Laws of the Skies by Grégoire Courtois

Twelve six-year-olds and their three adult chaperones head into the woods on a camping trip. None of them make it out alive. The Laws of the Skies follows the terrified children as they scatter into the night to escape danger, dressed only in their pyjamas. They face their darkest childhood fears and new imaginary threats, like trolls masquerading as boulders and child-eating tree trunks. A harrowing story of those days in the woods, of illness, poisoning, and accidents; of a love triangle among tots; a pint-sized hero; and a child on a murderous rampage that comes to a… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault
  • Child abuse
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Graphic death of a child
  • Murder

Ruin by John Gwynne

Ruin by John Gwynne

The Banished Lands are engulfed in war and chaos. The cunning Queen Rhin has conquered the west and High King Nathair has the cauldron, most powerful of the seven treasures. At his back stands the scheming Calidus and a warband of the Kadoshim, dread demons of the Otherworld. They plan to bring Asroth and his host of the Fallen into the world of flesh, but to do so they need the seven treasures. Nathair has been deceived but now he knows the truth. He has choices to make, choices that will determine the fate of the Banished Lands. Elsewhere the flame of… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Rape
  • Infidelity
  • Emesis
  • Death of a child
  • Animal death

The High Mountain Court by A.K. Mulford

The High Mountain Court by A.K. Mulford

Thirteen years fleeing witch hunters and the looming threat of death. Nineteen-year-old Remy knows she is possibly the last red witch alive, and she is determined to stay that way. The Northern Court King has slaughtered her home court and placed a bounty on red witch heads. When four fae warriors enter her tavern refuge, Remy tries to flee, but her magic isn’t strong enough to stop a fae prince on a mission. The handsome Prince Hale of the Eastern Kingdom wants to stop a war with the Northern Court before his kingdom befalls the same fate as Remy’s. He needs a red witch… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Death of a parent
  • Death of a child
  • Murder
  • Genocide
  • War themes

Breath by Audrey Faye

Breath by Audrey Faye

Shelley Martins thinks she needs sensible and practical and steady—but that isn’t what the big truck from HomeWild is about to deliver. Ghost Mountain is getting their school, the first building of their new den. The construction teams are ready, the big strong men are planning to be as useless as possible, and Shelley has the kitchen piled high with baked goods to fuel their work. Except what comes off that big truck isn’t just a building. And Shelley, who walked into hell six years ago to save her pack, isn’t just a baker.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Intimate partner abuse recounted
  • Pregnancy mentioned (sc)
  • Death of a child mentioned
  • Death of a spouse recounted
  • Military service mentioned
  • Homelessness mentioned

Nine Liars by Maureen Johnson

Nine Liars by Maureen Johnson

Senior year at Ellingham Academy for Stevie Bell isn’t going well. Her boyfriend, David, is studying in London. Her friends are obsessed with college applications. With the cold case of the century solved, Stevie is adrift. There is nothing to distract her from the questions pinging around her brain—questions about college, love, and life in general. Relief comes when David invites Stevie and her friends to join him for study abroad, and his new friend Izzy introduces her to a double-murder cold case. In 1995, nine friends from Cambridge University went to a country house and… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Panic Disorder
  • Alcoholism mentioned
  • Drug abuse mentioned
  • Death of a child
  • Murder

Daddy’s Angel by KA Knight

Daddy’s Angel by K.A. Knight

I never wanted to need him. But when my boyfriend cheats on me, I decide to get a little revenge…by sleeping with his father. Tyler, Mr. Phillips. The silver fox that fills my fantasies and has been off limits… until now. Our one night together turns into more than we could have ever imagined, but when real life explodes into our torrid romance can we handle what it brings? Hearts are broken, lives are ruined, but if we can survive the world pulling us apart, we just might have a chance at a happily ever after. Buckle up daddy, I’m about to be your angel. Screw you Justin, your dad does it better.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Attempted sexual assault
  • Cheating
  • Death of a son & ex-boyfriend

*Context : The protagonist’s boyfriend cheats on her.

The Chain by Adrian McKinty

The Chain by Adrian McKinty

It’s something parents do every morning: Rachel Klein drops her daughter at the bus stop and heads into her day. But a cell phone call from an unknown number changes everything: it’s a woman on the line, informing her that she has Kylie bound and gagged in her back seat, and the only way Rachel will see her again is to follow her instructions exactly: pay a ransom, and find another child to abduct. This is no ordinary kidnapping: the caller is a mother herself, whose son has been taken, and if Rachel doesn’t do as she’s told, the boy will die. “You are not the first. And you will certainly not be the last.” Rachel is now part of The Chain… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Military Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Substance addiction
  • Drug abuse & use, on-page
  • Protagonist with cancer
  • Death and resuscitation of a child for anaphylactic shock
  • Murder
  • Gun violence & threats of gun violence
  • Kidnapping & captivity of children, on-page (theme)
  • Disappearance of a daughter
  • Stalking
  • Physical assault with a wrench and physical assault of a child
  • Animal hunting

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

The Emperor needs necromancers. The Ninth Necromancer needs a swordswoman. Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead bullshit. Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She packs up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won’t set her free without a service. Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Suicide
  • Self-injury
  • Cancer
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Graphic body horror
  • Dead bodies (theme)
  • Emesis mentioned
  • Death of children
  • Death of a parent
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Genocide & mass murder
  • Infanticide
  • Child soldiers