Gun Violence – Trigger Warning Database

You’ll Never Know by Caleb Stephens

Grant Wilson has never been happier. He has a wife he loves, a home in the country, and a brand-new baby on the way. But all of that shatters when two masked men abduct his wife, Avery, in broad daylight. The instructions Grant receives are bizarre: If he wants Avery back, he must solve a series of riddles that arrive one after another—and the clock is ticking. With every piece of the puzzle more outrageous and complex than the last, Grant knows he’s playing a dangerous game. But he’s determined to do whatever it takes to save Avery’s life … even if it kills him.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Domestic violence
Suicide
Abortion mentioned
Heart attack mentioned
Death of a child & partner
Gun violence
Fatal car accident
Kidnapping of a pregnant wife (theme)

Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Alexander C. Eberhart

My name’s Ernest Cunningham. I used to be a fan of reading Golden Age murder mysteries, until I found myself with a haphazard career getting stuck in the middle of real-life ones. I’d hoped, this Christmas, that any self-respecting murderer would kick their feet up and take it easy over the holidays. I was wrong. So here I am, backstage at the show of world-famous magician Rylan Blaze, whose benefactor has just been murdered. My suspects are all professional tricksters: masters of the art of misdirection. My clues are even… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Substance addiction mentioned
Gun violence

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker

Cora Zeng is a crime scene cleaner, washing away the remains of brutal murders and suicides in Chinatown. The bloody messes don’t bother her, not when she’s already witnessed the most horrific thing possible: her sister being pushed in front of a train. Before fleeing the scene, the murderer whispered two words: bat eater. Months pass, the killer is never caught, and Cora can barely keep herself together. She pushes away all feelings, disregards the bite marks that appear on her coffee table, and won’t take her aunt’s advice to prepare for the Hungry Ghost Festival… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Graphic racist & anti-Asian hate crimes
Parental abandonment & nglect
Health anxiety & intrusive thoughts
Alcohol consumption
Blood & gore dpeiction and body horror
COVID-19 pandemic
Murder
Police brutality mentioned
Gun violence
Car accient
Fire
Animal cruelty & dead bodies

Queen of Faces by Petra Lord

Anabelle Gage is trapped in a male body, and it’s rotting from the inside out. In Caimor, where the magical elite buy and swap designer bodies like clothes, Ana can’t afford to escape her tattered form. When she fails the entrance exam to the prestigious Paragon Academy, her last hope of earning a new body implodes. As the clock ticks down to her last breath, she’s forced to use her illusion magic to steal a healthy chassis—before her own kills her. But Ana is caught by none other than the headmaster of Paragon Academy, who poses a brutal ultimatum: face execution for her crime… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Suicide by overdose
Alcohol consumption
Blood & illness depiction
Murder
Gun & knife violence
Explosion
Imprisonment

Make Me a Monster by Kalynn Bayron

Meka is used to death. After all, it’s the family business. As a newly certified mortician’s assistant at her parents’ funeral home, her days are not for the faint of heart. Luckily her boyfriend Noah isn’t squeamish, and Meka is finally feeling ready to say the three little words that will change everything. But then tragedy strikes, and Meka’s world is torn apart. Nothing makes sense, especially the strange things start happening. Ravens are circling her home. Strangers are following her. Someone is leaving mysterious items at her door. And worst of all. The dead don’t seem to be… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Night terrors
Graphic blood, gore & injury depiction, including emesis & dead bodies
Kidnapping & hostage situation
Gun violence
Fire
Animal death

How to Fake It in Society by K.J. Charles

It is 1821 and Nicolas-Marc, Comte de Valois de La Motte is making a splash in London Society. The son of Jeanne de Valois de La Motte, infamous for stealing a priceless diamond necklace meant for Marie Antoinette, Nico hopes to restore his wronged mother’s reputation, if only he can raise the funds. But he must operate with great secrecy, because the Bourbon dynasty murdered his mother, and he fears for his life. At least, that’s what he tells Titus Pilcrow. Titus was a simple shopkeeper, making and selling artists’ paints, when he found himself suddenly married to an immense… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Period-typical homophobia & classism
Gun violence
Bullying

His Tesoro by Emilia Rossi

Sofiya: I’ve spent years hidden away to protect my father from the shame of having a defective daughter. The head of the Bratva can’t be associated with weakness—and to him, that’s all I am. That is, until a marriage alliance gives him the opportunity to finally be rid of me. As I head down the aisle towards my mysterious husband, I hope I’m moving towards love and freedom. But Matteo makes it clear he wants nothing to do with me. I wish I could return his coldness, but the dangerous Don sets my body ablaze whenever he’s near. Matteo: My life has been defined… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Ableism & misogyny
Threats of sexual assault
Arranged marriage
Child abuse
Infertility mentioned (secondary character) & unplanned pregnancy
Medical marijuana use
Chronic illness (protagonist with hypermobile ehlers-danlos syndrome)
Grief & loss depiction
Murder & torture
Gun violence
Kidnapping
Animal cruelty mentioned (secondary character)

Fourteen by J.T. Ellison

Ten victims, each with pale skin and long dark hair. All have been slashed across the throat, the same red lipstick smeared across their lips.In the mid-1980s the Snow White Killer terrorized the streets of Nashville, Tennessee. Then suddenly the murders stopped. A letter from the killer to the police stated that his work was done. Now four more bodies are found, marked with his fatal signature. The residents of Nashville fear a madman has returned, decades later, to finish his sick fairy tale. Homicide Lieutenant Taylor Jackson believes the killings are the work of a copycat killer… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Rape mentioned
Infidelity
Suicide
Murder
Gun violence
Kidnapping
Car accident
Animal death mentioned

All The Pretty Girls by J.T. Ellison

Some secrets should stay buried. When a local girl falls prey to a sadistic serial killer, Nashville Homicide Lieutenant Taylor Jackson and her lover, FBI profiler Dr. John Baldwin, find themselves in a joint investigation pursuing a vicious murderer. The Southern Strangler is slaughtering his way through the Southeast, leaving a gruesome memento at each crime scene — the prior victim’s severed hand. Ambitious TV reporter Whitney Connolly is certain the Southern Strangler is her ticket out of Nashville; she’s got a scoop that could break the case. She has no idea how close this story… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Rape mentioned
Infidelity
Suicide
Murder
Gun violence
Kidnapping
Car accident
Animal death mentioned

Last Seen by J.T. Ellison

Halley James knows her marriage is over. But she’s not prepared for the rest of her life to fall apart too. She just lost her job at the forensics lab. Her dad needs emergency surgery. But the biggest blow comes back home in Marchburg, Virginia, where she discovers her mother didn’t actually die in a car crash. Her mom was murdered—and her father lied about it all these years. Since she was six years old, it’s been Halley and her dad. Now, she doesn’t know what to believe. Desperate for the truth, Halley chases down a lead in Brockville, Tennessee. But all there is not as it seems… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Murder
Gun violence
Kidnapping & captivity