Tag Archives: Drug Use & Abuse

This page lists books that contain trigger warnings for the depiction of both recreational drug use and drug abuse.

See also Overdose and Alcohol consumption. For drug addiction, see Substance addiction and Alcoholism. For involuntary drug use, see Drugging

Hell Bay by Kate Rhodes

Hell Bay by Kate Rhodes

DI Ben Kitto needs a second chance. After ten years working for the murder squad in London, a traumatic event has left him grief-stricken. He’s tried to resign from his job, but his boss has persuaded him to take three months to reconsider. Ben plans to work in his uncle Ray’s boatyard, on the tiny Scilly island of Bryher where he was born, hoping to mend his shattered nerves. His plans go awry when the body of sixteen year old Laura Trescothick is found on the beach at Hell Bay. Her attacker must still be on the island because no ferries have sailed during a two-day storm.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Child abuse
  • Drug use & abuse
  • Overdose
  • Death of a child
  • Murder
  • Knife violence
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The Castaways by Lucy Clarke

You wake on a beautiful, remote island. Sparkling blue seas, golden sunsets, barely a footprint in the sand. Yet this is no ordinary escape. Next to the wreck of a plane, a stranger paces. Another sharpens a knife, scoring a list of the dead onto a palm tree. Others watch from the shadows of a campfire – all with untold stories, and closely-guarded secrets. This is no ordinary holiday. This is no ordinary island. This is no ordinary beach read….

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Spousal & parental abandonment
  • Attempted rape (on-page)
  • Sexual assault (unwanted non-consensual kiss, on-page)
  • Spousal infidelity discussed
  • Suicidal ideation, including an on-page scene where the protagonist begins an attempt by jumping
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Drug use and abuse mentioned
  • Parent with alcoholism mentioned
  • Starvation and food scarcity
  • Infertility discussed
  • Blood & gore depiction including physical injuries and dead bodies
  • Death of a lover by shark attack (off-page)
  • Disappearance of a sibling (theme)
  • Murder by drowning in self-defence from attempted rape
  • Attempted murder by strangulation
  • Near-death of an infant from choking
  • Plane crash (theme)
  • Animal hunting & butchering (mostly fish)

Rainbow Milk by Paul Mendez

Rainbow Milk by Paul Mendez

In the 1950s, ex-boxer Norman Alonso is a determined and humble Jamaican who has immigrated to Britain with his wife and children to secure a brighter future. Blighted with unexpected illness and racism, Norman and his family are resilient, but are all too aware that their family will need more than just hope to survive in their new country. At the turn of the millennium, Jesse seeks a fresh start in London, escaping a broken immediate family, a repressive religious community and his depressed hometown in the industrial Black Country. But once he arrives he finds… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Rape
  • Sex work
  • Drug use

The Universe Versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extence

The Universe Versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extence

A rare meteorite struck Alex Woods when he was ten years old, leaving scars and marking him for an extraordinary future. The son of a fortune teller, bookish, and an easy target for bullies, Alex hasn’t had the easiest childhood. But when he meets curmudgeonly widower Mr. Peterson, he finds an unlikely friend. Someone who teaches him that you only get one shot at life. That you have to make it count. So when, aged seventeen, Alex is stopped at customs with 113 grams of marijuana, an urn full of ashes on the front seat, and an entire nation in uproar, he’s… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Drug use
  • Human euthanasia

May Day by Josie Jaffrey

May Day by Josie Jaffrey

If the murderer you’re tracking is a vampire, then you want a vampire detective. Just maybe not this one. It’s not that Jack Valentine is bad at her job. The youngest member of Oxford’s Seekers has an impressive track record, but she also has an impressive grudge against the local baron, Killian Drake. When a human turns up dead on May Morning, she’s determined to pin the murder on Drake. The problem is that none of the evidence points to him. Instead, it leads Jack into a web of conspiracy involving the most powerful people in the country, people to whom Jack has no access. But she knows someone who does… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Sexual assault
  • Suicide
  • Drug use mentioned
  • Miscarriage mentioned
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Murder

A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray

A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray

Marguerite Caine’s physicist parents are known for their groundbreaking achievements. Their most astonishing invention, called the Firebird, allows users to jump into multiple universes—and promises to revolutionize science forever. But then Marguerite’s father is murdered, and the killer—her parent’s handsome, enigmatic assistant Paul— escapes into another dimension before the law can touch him. Marguerite refuses to let the man who destroyed her family go free. So she races after Paul through different universes, always leaping into another version of her… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Rape by coercion*
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drug use & abuse
  • Substance addiction
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Drugging
  • Loss of autonomy*
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a father
  • War themes

*Context : The use of futuristic technology to ‘take over’ people’s bodies without consent. Sexual conduct in this situation is not consented by the host.

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Game of Stars by Sayantani DasGupta

Game of Stars by Sayantani DasGupta

When the Demon Queen shows up in her bedroom, smelling of acid and surrounded by evil-looking bees, twelve-year-old Kiranmala is uninterested. After all, it’s been four months since she last heard from her friends in the Kingdom Beyond, the alternate dimension where she was born as an Indian princess. But after a call to action over an interdimensional television station and a visit with some all-seeing birds, Kiran decides that she has to once again return to her homeland, where society is fraying, a reality show is taking over, and her friends are in danger. However, things are not a lot less clear than the last time she was in the… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Cigar smoking mentioned
  • Sword & arrow violence

Jade War by Fonda Lee

Jade War by Fonda Lee

On the island of Kekon, the Kaul family is locked in a violent feud for control of the capital city and the supply of magical jade that endows trained Green Bone warriors with supernatural powers they alone have possessed for hundreds of years. Beyond Kekon’s borders, war is brewing. Powerful foreign governments and mercenary criminal kingpins alike turn their eyes on the island nation. Jade, Kekon’s most prized resource, could make them rich – or give them the edge they’d need to topple their rivals… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Racial hate crimes
  • Rape mentioned
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Drug use
  • Abortion
  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Body horror
  • Murder
  • Graphic torture
  • Gun violence
  • Strangulation
  • Explosion

Jade City by Fonda Lee

Jade City by Fonda Lee

The Kaul family is one of two crime syndicates that control the island of Kekon. It’s the only place in the world that produces rare magical jade, which grants those with the right training and heritage superhuman abilities. The Green Bone clans of honorable jade-wearing warriors once protected the island from foreign invasion–but nowadays, in a bustling post-war metropolis full of fast cars and foreign money, Green Bone families like the Kauls are primarily involved in commerce, construction, and the everyday upkeep of the districts under their protection… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault of a minor
  • Cheating
  • Domestic abuse
  • Addiction
  • Dementia
  • Suicide, off-page
  • Self harm, off-page
  • Drug use & abuse
  • Overdose
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Gun violence
  • Animal cruelty

The Jade Setter of Janloon by Fonda Lee

The Jade Setter of Janloon by Fonda Lee

The rapidly changing city of Janloon is ruled by jade, the rare and ancient substance that enhances the abilities and status of the trained Green Bone warriors who run the island’s powerful clans. Pulo Oritono is not one of those warriors. He’s simply an apprentice jade setter with dreams of securing clan patronage and establishing a successful business. His hopes are dashed, however, when a priceless jade weapon is stolen from the shop where he works… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Drug use
  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Emesis
  • Murder
  • Torture