Gun Violence – Page 4 – Trigger Warning Database

AfterMath by Emily Barth Isler

After her brother’s death from a congenital heart defect, twelve-year-old Lucy is not prepared to be the new kid at school–especially in a grade full of survivors of a shooting that happened four years ago. Without the shared past that both unites and divides her classmates, Lucy feels isolated and unable to share her family’s own loss, which is profoundly different from the trauma of her peers. Lucy clings to her love of math, which provides the absolute answers she craves. But through budding friendships and an after… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Hospitalisation mentioned
Death of a brother from a congenital heart defect
School shooting massacre (aftermath, theme)

99 Red Balloons by Elisabeth Carpenter

When eight-year-old Grace goes missing from a sweetshop on the way home from school, her mother Emma is plunged into a nightmare. Her family rallies around, but as the police hunt begins, cracks begin to emerge. What are the secret emails sent between Emma’s husband and her sister? Why does her mother take so long to join the search? And is Emma really as innocent as she seems? Meanwhile, ageing widow Maggie Taylor sees Grace’s picture in the newspaper. It’s a photograph that jolts her from the pain of her existence into a spiralling obsession with… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Emotional child neglect
Self-harm & suicidal ideation
Drugging
Cannibalism mentioned
Hospitalisation mentioned
Death of a child (off-page)
Gun violence
Explosion (bomb)
Animal death (pet)

Five Found Dead by Sulari Gentill

Crime fiction author Joe Penvale has won the most brutal battle of his life. Now that he has finished his intense medical treatment, he and his twin sister, Meredith, are boarding the glorious Orient Express in Paris, hoping for some much-needed rest and rejuvenation. Meredith also hopes that the literary ghosts on the train will nudge Joe’s muse awake, and he’ll be inspired to write again. And he is; after their first evening spent getting to know some of their fellow travelers, Joe pulls out his laptop and opens a new document. Seems like this trip is just… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Cancer
COVID-19 pandemic (theme)
Murder
Gun violence
Confinement & stalking

Wonderland by Zoje Stage

The Bennett family – artist parents and two precocious children – are leaving their familiar urban surroundings for a new home in far upstate New York. They’re an hour from the nearest city, a mile from the nearest house, and everyone has their own room for the very first time. Shaw, the father, even gets his own painting studio, now that he and his wife Orla, a retired dancer, have agreed that it’s his turn to pursue his passion. But none of the Bennetts expect what lies waiting in the lovely woods, where secrets run dark and deep. Orla must finally find a way to communicate with – not just… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Domestic violence
Starvation
Gun violence

Words on Bathroom Walls by Julia Walton

Labor and delivery nurse Penelope is an expert at her job but a complete mess when it comes to her personal life. After her boyfriend dumps her in favor of saving his marriage, Penelope discovers she’s pregnant. Now Penelope must face motherhood, her greatest fear, or consider the alternatives. Jesenia, a first-generation American, made her mark as a model then quit the business in favor of a nine-to-five and wedded bliss. After three years of fertility treatments and pressure from her family, trying to become a mother is her full-time job. But when her past mistakes… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Child abandonment
Schizophrenia
Self-harm & suicidal ideation
Drug use & overdose
School shooting mentioned

Young World by Soman Chainani

This year, best friends Sophie and Agatha are about to discover where all the lost children go: the fabled School for Good & Evil, where ordinary boys and girls are trained to be fairy tale heroes and villains. As the most beautiful girl in Gavaldon, Sophie has dreamed of being kidnapped into an enchanted world her whole life. With her pink dresses, glass slippers, and devotion to good deeds, she knows she’ll earn top marks at the School for Good and graduate a storybook princess. Meanwhile Agatha, with her shapeless black frocks, wicked pet cat, and dislike of nearly everyone, seems a natural fit for the School for Evil… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Adult-minor relationship and sexual assault of a minor by a teacher (17-year-old protagonist kissed by their 27-year-old teacher)
Alcohol consumption
Smoking & drug dealing mentioned
Murder & attempted murder by explosion and gun violence
Kidnapping
Animal attack (polar bear)

A Worthy Opponent by Katee Robert

Once upon a time I was a girl who believed in love and happily ever afters. Now the only thing I believe in is revenge. Unfortunately for me, there’s only one man willing to help me. Hook. I should have known it wouldn’t be out of the goodness of his heart. He doesn’t have one. No, Hook wants his ring on my finger and me on my knees before him—and he won’t take no for an answer. I’m willing to pay any price in order to bring Pan down…even if it means I lose my soul in the bargain.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Intimate partner abuse & violence recounted
Emotional & physical child abuse recounted
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) & panic attack
Scars
Parent with alcoholism
Alcohol consumption & mentions of recreational drug use
Gun violence
Attempted kidnapping

We Are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter

Welcome to North Falls-a small town where everyone knows everyone. Or so they think. Until the night of the fireworks. When two teenage girls vanish, and the town ignites. For Officer Emmy Clifton, it’s personal. She turned away when her best friend’s daughter needed help-and now she must bring her home. But as Emmy combs through the puzzle the girls left behind, she realizes she never really knew them. Nobody did. Every teenage girl has secrets. But who would kill for them? And what else is the town hiding?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Paedophilia, grooming & rape of a minor
Alcohol abuse
Cancer
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a parent
Murder
Torture
Gun violence
Kidnapping

War Girls by Tochi Onyebuchi

The year is 2172. Climate change and nuclear disasters have rendered much of earth unlivable. Only the lucky ones have escaped to space colonies in the sky. In a war-torn Nigeria, battles are fought using flying, deadly mechs and soldiers are outfitted with bionic limbs and artificial organs meant to protect them from the harsh, radiation-heavy climate. Across the nation, as the years-long civil war wages on, survival becomes the only way of life. Two sisters, Onyii and Ify, dream of more. Their lives have been marked by violence and political unrest. Still, they dream of peace… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Suicide
Drug use
Blood & injury depiction, including mentions of amputation, loss of vision & eye trauma
Death of a child
Murder
Gun violence
Explosion (landmines)
Kidnapping
War themes & nuclear disaster recounted

Goliath by Tochi Onyebuchi

In the 2050s, Earth has begun to empty. Those with the means and the privilege have departed the great cities of the United States for the more comfortable confines of space colonies. Those left behind salvage what they can from the collapsing infrastructure. As they eke out an existence, their neighbourhoods are being cannibalized. Brick by brick, their houses are sent to the colonies, what was once a home now a quaint reminder for the colonists of the world that they wrecked. A primal biblical epic flung into the future, Goliath weaves together disparate narratives—a space… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Racism & racial slurs
Rape mentioned
Substance addiction
Suicide mentioned
Drug use & abuse
Blood & gore depiction, including dead bodies & emesis
Murder
Gun violence
Police brutality
Lynching mentioned
Kidnapping
Incarceration & prison riot