Tag Archives: Imprisonment & Incarceration

This page lists books that contain trigger warnings for the depiction of imprisonment and incarceration (which is separated from Captivity‎ and confinement but may overlap).

See also Police brutality & violence, Racism, Organised crime, and Murder & attempted murder.

The It Girl by Ruth Ware

It was Hannah who found April’s body ten years ago.
It was Hannah who didn’t question what she saw that day.
Did her testimony put an innocent man in prison?

She needs to know the truth.

Even if it means questioning her own friends.
Even if it means putting her own life at risk.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Cheating
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Recreational drug use
  • Pregnancy
  • Death of a friend
  • Grief depiction
  • Murder
  • Stalking discussed
  • Home invasion
  • Incarceration, including discussed of wrongful conviction

To Catch a Raven by Beverly Jenkins

Lying and cheating may be sins to some people, but for Raven Moreaux, it is a way of life. She comes from a long line of grifters and couldn’t be prouder…Until she’s forced to help the government. A former Confederate official is suspected of stealing the Declaration of Independence, and Raven, posing as his housekeeper, is tasked with getting it back. Her partner is the too handsome Braxton Steel. Masquerading as a valet/driver, Brax is also supposed to be her “husband.” He has his own reasons for doing this job, but when their pretend marriage ignites into fiery… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Slavery recounted
  • Racism
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drugging
  • Pregnancy & childbirth, off-page
  • Yellow Fever epidemic, off-page
  • Murder, off-page
  • Lynching mentioned
  • Imprisonment recounted
  • Blackmail

Invisible Son by Keri Beevis

Life can change in an instant. When you’re wrongfully accused of a crime. When a virus shuts everything down. When the girl you love moves on. Andre Jackson is determined to reclaim his identity. But returning from juvie doesn’t feel like coming home. His Portland, Oregon, neighborhood is rapidly gentrifying, and COVID-19 shuts down school before he can return. And Andre’s suspicions about his arrest for a crime he didn’t commit even taint his friendships. It’s as if his whole life has been erased. The one thing Andre is counting on is his relationship  with the Whitaker kids…. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger & Content Warnings

Hate, Discrimination & Oppression
  • Racism (theme)
  • Racial slurs recounted
Sex & Sexual Violence

Abuse & Relationships

Mental Health & Suicide
  • Suicide mentioned
Alcohol & Drugs
  • Alcohol consumption mentioned
  • Smoking mentioned (cigarettes)
Pregnancy & Childbirth

Medical, Gore & Injury

Death & Loss

Violence & Crime
  • False incarceration of a minor
  • Police violence
    • The protagonist is tackled and held to the ground before his arrest.
    • The murder of George Floyd & Breonna Taylor happens off-page.
War & Genocide
  • Gentrification
Natural Disasters

Animal Death & Cruelty

Not Your Villain by CB Lee

Not Your Villain by C.B. Lee

Bells Broussard thought he had it made when his superpowers manifested early. Being a shapeshifter is awesome. He can change his hair whenever he wants, and if putting on a binder for the day is too much, he’s got it covered. But that was before he became the country’s most-wanted villain. After discovering a massive cover-up by the Heroes’ League of Heroes, Bells and his friends Jess, Emma, and Abby set off on a secret mission to find the Resistance. Meanwhile, power-hungry former hero Captain Orion is on the loose with a dangerous serum that renders… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Grap

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Gender dysphoria
  • Blood depiction
  • Needles mentioned
  • Hormone Replacement Therapy
  • Medical experimentation
  • Explosion
  • Physical assault
  • Fire
  • Kidnapping
  • Imprisonment
  • Disappearance of a loved one

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

On September 5, a little after midnight, Death-Cast calls Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio to give them some bad news: They’re going to die today. Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they’re both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news: There’s an app for that. It’s called the Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure—to live a lifetime in a single day.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobia
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Parent in a coma
  • Chronic muscle disease mentioned
  • Death of a parent from suicide
  • Death of parents in a house fire (arson)
  • Death of a father from multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • Death of a mother from childbirth
  • Death of a mother, father & sibling from drowning in a car accident
  • Death of an aunt from an ectopic pregnancy
  • Gun violence
  • Explosion
  • Physical assault
  • Incarceration of a parent
  • Animal death

Fire Becomes Her by Rosiee Thor

Fire Becomes Her by Rosiee Thor

Flare is power. With only a drop of flare, one can light the night sky with fireworks . . . or burn a building to the ground — and seventeen-year-old Ingrid Ellis wants her fair share. Ingrid doesn’t have a family fortune, monetary or magical, but at least she has a plan: Rise to the top on the arm of Linden Holt, heir to a hefty political legacy and the largest fortune of flare in all of Candesce. Her only obstacle is Linden’s father who refuses to acknowledge her. So when Senator Holt announces his run for president, Ingrid uses the situation to her advantage. She strikes a… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Classism
  • Misogyny
  • Abandonment
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood depiction
  • Police brutality
  • Fire & immolation
  • Explosion
  • Incarcerated parent
  • Terrorism

The Attack by Catherine Jinks

The Attack by Catherine Jinks

Robyn Ayres works as the camp caretaker on Finch Island, a former leper colony off the coast of Queensland. Her current clients are a group of ex-military men who run a tough-love program for troubled teens. The latest crop looks like the usual mix of bad boys and sad boys. Then Robyn takes a second look at a kid called Darren. Last time she saw him his name was Aaron, and Robyn was his primary school teacher. And she was somehow at the centre of a vicious small-town custody battle involving his terrifying grandmother. Bruising classroom dynamics, manipulative parents and carers and horrendous small-town politics… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Lesbomisia mentioned
  • Child abuse
  • Domestic violence
  • Suicide mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption mentioned
  • Drug abuse mentioned
  • Death of a parent mentioned
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Police corruption

One Little Lie by Sam Carrington

One Little Lie by Sam Carrington

Deborah’s son was killed four years ago. Alice’s son is in prison for committing that crime. Deborah would give anything to have her boy back, and Alice would do anything to right her son’s wrongs. Driven by guilt and the need for redemption, Alice has started a support group for parents with troubled children. But as the network begins to grow, she soon finds out just how easy it is for one little lie to spiral out of control. They call it mother’s intuition, but can you ever really know your own child?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Death of a son by murder recounted
  • Filicide by suffocation
  • Imprisonment

The Serial Killer’s Girl by LH Stacey

The Serial Killer’s Girl by L.H. Stacey

Lexi Jakes thought she could run from her past. But when her biological mother is found dead, strangled with a red silk scarf and holding a chess piece, Lexi knows that her worst nightmare has come true. Because the murder has all the hallmarks of her own serial killer father, renown strangler Peter Graves. Now with her own precious daughter’s life in danger, Lexi will do anything to keep her child safe…she is her father’s daughter after all.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Murder of a mother by strangulation
  • Imprisonment of a parent for serial murders
  • Animal abuse

The Duke Gets Even by Joanna Shupe

The Duke Gets Even by Joanna Shupe

To escape the shackles of marriage, Nellie Young purposely ruined her reputation a long time ago. Now she dedicates herself to hedonistic pleasures only, like kissing a handsome stranger in the ocean under the moonlight. To save his estate, the proper Duke of Lockwood must marry the perfect bride–wealthy, with an unblemished reputation. While in New York he’s the perfect gentleman, and no one knows he’s suppressing his darkest desires. The last thing he needs is another scandal. Except Nellie sees through Lockwood’s charade, straight to the real man under… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Period-typical misogyny & slut-shaming
  • Domestic violence, off-page (sc)
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Police corruption
  • Imprisonment