Tag Archives: Gun Violence

This page lists books that contain trigger warnings for the depiction of gun violence‎.

See also Police brutality, School shootings, Murder, and War themes & military violence.

Be Still My Heart by Emily McIntire & Sav Miller

Be Still My Heart by Emily McIntire & Sav R. Miller

Skelm Island, Maine has always been known for two things: lobsters and its broken lighthouse. But when corpses start showing up in the water, the isolated town becomes the face of a cryptic investigation. At the heart of which stands Lincoln Porter, a grumpy ex-SEAL whose lobstering business seems to attract more dead bodies than fish. When homicide expert Detective Sloane is called in to assist with the case, she begins digging up skeletons; ones that Lincoln would rather stay buried. Forced to work together, Sloane’s suspicious attitude and optimistic… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Child sexual abuse mentioned
  • Blood & gore depiction including dead bodies
  • Gun violence
  • Kidnapping
  • Naval service recounted (Navy SEAL)

Velocity Weapon by Megan E. O’Keefe

Velocity Weapon by Megan E. O’Keefe

Sanda and Biran Greeve were siblings destined for greatness. A high-flying sergeant, Sanda has the skills to take down any enemy combatant. Biran is a savvy politician who aims to use his new political position to prevent conflict from escalating to total destruction. However, on a routine maneuver, Sanda loses consciousness when her gunship is blown out of the sky. Instead of finding herself in friendly hands, she awakens 230 years later on a deserted enemy warship controlled by an AI who calls himself Bero. The war is lost. The star system is dead. Ada Prime and its rival Icarion have wiped each other from the universe… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drug use
  • Medical content, including confinement in a statis pool
  • Blood depiction
  • Emesis
  • Gun violence

The Swifts by Beth Lincoln

The Swifts: A Dictionary of Scoundrels by Beth Lincoln

On the day they are born, every Swift child is brought before the sacred family dictionary. They are given a name and a definition, one it’s assumed they will grow up to match. Unfortunately, Shenanigan Swift doesn’t much like being told what to do. Troublemaker and mischief enthusiast Shenanigan rattles around the grand old Swift house rehearsing Arch-Aunt Schadenfreude’s funeral with her older sisters Phenomena and Felicity, plotting future crimes, and wondering whether she is herself by choice or design. When the Family Reunion floods the… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Alcohol consumption
  • Murder recounted
  • Gun, crossbow & knife violence

Tiger’s Quest by Colleen Houck

Tiger’s Quest by Colleen Houck

Back in Oregon, Kelsey tries to pick up the pieces of her life and push aside her feelings for Ren. Kelsey Hayes’s eighteenth summer was crazy. The kind of crazy nobody would ever believe. Aside From battling immortal sea monkeys and trekking the jungles of India, she fell in love with Ren, a 300-year-old prince. When danger suddenly forces Kelsey on another Indian quest, with Ren’s bad-boy brother, Kishan, the unlikely duo begins to question their true destiny. Ren’s life hangs in the balance–so does the truth within Kelsey’s heart.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Blood & injury depiction including bloodletting and broken bones
  • Gun, knife & arrow violence
  • Torture
  • Physical assault
  • Kidnapping
  • Animal attack

Stars and Smoke by Marie Lu

Stars and Smoke by Marie Lu

Meet Winter Young – International pop sensation, with a voice like velvet and looks that could kill. His star power has smashed records, selling out stadiums from LA to London. His rabid fans would move heaven and earth for even a glimpse of him – just imagine what they’d do to become his latest fling. Meet Sydney Cossette – Part of an elite covert ops group, Sydney joined their ranks as their youngest spy with plans to become the best agent they’ve ever had. An ice queen with moves as dangerous as her comebacks, Sydney picks up languages just as quickly as she breaks… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Physical child abuse
  • Parent with alcoholism
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Dismemberment
  • Murder
  • Death of a mother recounted
  • Graphic death from poisoning
  • Gun & knife violence
  • Kidnapping

The Headmaster’s List by Melissa de la Cruz

The Headmaster’s List by Melissa de la Cruz

One of them was driving. One of them was high. One of them screamed. And one of them died. When fifteen-year-old Chris Moore is tragically killed in a car crash, Argyle Prep is full of questions. Who was at the wheel? And more importantly, who was at fault? Eighteen-year-old Spencer Sandoval wishes she knew. As rumours swirl that her ex, Ethan, was the driver that fateful night, she can’t bring herself to defend him. And their messy breakup has nothing to do with it – she can’t remember anything from that night, not even what put her in that car with Ethan, Chris, and Tabby Hill, the… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Cheating*
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Drugging (‘roofie’)
  • Medicinal and recreational drug use & abuse discussed
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Gun violence
  • Kidnapping
  • Car accident (theme)

*Context : A narrrator catchers her boyfriend cheating on her.

I Know What You Did Last Summer by Lois Duncan

I Know What You Did Last Summer by Lois Duncan

After a party, four teens are in a hit-and-run accident that results in a young boy’s death. Unable to deal with the consequences, they leave the body behind and make an anonymous phone call to the police, tipping them off. The group makes a secret pact to bury the memory of that night and never speak of it again, but when one of the girls receives a note that reads “I know what you did last summer,” their dark lie is unearthed. With twists and turns at every corner, they’ll have to fight to stay steps ahead of a killer determined to make them pay.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Death of a child
  • Gun violence

Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

Jessamyn Teoh is closeted, broke and moving back to Malaysia, a country she left when she was a toddler. So when Jess starts hearing voices, she chalks it up to stress. But there’s only one voice in her head, and it claims to be the ghost of her estranged grandmother, Ah Ma. In life Ah Ma was a spirit medium, the avatar of a mysterious deity called the Black Water Sister. Now she’s determined to settle a score against a gang boss who has offended the god–and she’s decided Jess is going to help her do it. Drawn into a world... Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism & ableist language
  • Homomisia
  • Misogyny
  • Racism
  • Coming out themes
  • Graphic attempted rape, on-page
  • Sexual assault recounted
  • Domestic abuse
  • Physical child abuse
  • Cheating recounted
  • Cancer & remission discussed
  • Blood depiction
  • Death of a grandmother, off-page
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Gang violence
  • Gun & knife violence
  • Kidnapping
  • Loss of autonomy (possession, theme)
  • Poverty themes

Wranglestone by Darren Charlton

Wranglestone by Darren Charlton

The islands of Lake Wranglestone are a safe haven in a world filled with the Restless Dead. But as the lake freezes over, there’s nothing to stop them from crossing the ice. Peter’s has never really felt at home in a place where practicality and grit are valued above all else. He’s nothing like rancher, Cooper, the boy he’s always watched from afar. But when he’s is ordered to join him out on the mainland to help herd the Dead from their shores, they find more than just each other. There they unearth a dark secret about Wranglestone’s past. One that forces the pair to question everything they’ve ever known.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Coming out themes
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Dead bodies
  • Decapitation
  • Physical injuries, including eyeball trauma
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Knife violence & stabbing
  • Gun violence
  • Animal death recounted

Dear Martin by Nic Stone

Dear Martin by Nic Stone

Justyce McAllister is top of his class and set for the Ivy League—but none of that matters to the police officer who just put him in handcuffs. And despite leaving his rough neighbourhood behind, he can’t escape the scorn of his former peers or the ridicule of his new classmates. Justyce looks to the teachings of Dr Martin Luther King Jr. for answers. But do they hold up anymore? He starts a journal to Dr King to find out. Then comes the day Justuce goes driving with his best friend, Manny, windows rolled down, music turned up-way up, sparking the fury of a white off… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism (theme)
  • Domestic violence
  • Police brutality & racial profiling
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a friend
  • Incarceration mentioned