Tag Archives: Kidnapping

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. The sky is clear, the waters calm, and the veneered, select guests jovial as the exclusive cruise ship, the Aurora, begins her voyage in the picturesque North Sea.

At first, Lo’s stay is nothing but pleasant: the cabins are plush, the dinner parties are sparkling, and the guests are elegant. But as the week wears on, frigid winds whip the deck, gray skies fall, and Lo witnesses what she can only describe as a dark and terrifying nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard. The problem? All passengers remain accounted for and so, the ship sails on as if nothing has happened, despite Lo’s desperate attempts to convey that something (or someone) has gone terribly, terribly wrong. 

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Fatmisia & body shaming
  • Ableism
  • Sexual assault
  • Sexual harassment
  • Cheating mentioned
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • PTSD
  • Alcohol abuse
  • Emesis
  • Cancer
  • Murder
  • Drowning
  • Home invasion
  • Gun violence
  • Kidnapping & captivity
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The Initial Insult by Mindy McGinnis

The Initial Insult by Mindy McGinnis book cover

Tress Montor knows that her family used to mean something—until she didn’t have a family anymore. When her parents disappeared seven years ago while driving her best friend home, Tress lost everything. She might still be a Montor, but the entire town shuns her now that she lives with her drunken, one-eyed grandfather at what locals refer to as the “White Trash Zoo,” – a wild animal attraction featuring a zebra, a chimpanzee, and a panther, among other things. Felicity Turnado has it all – looks, money, and a secret that she’s kept hidden. She knows that one misstep… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape & dubious consent scenes, implied
  • Alcohol consumption & recreational drug use
  • Graphic blood & injury depiction, including influenza epidemic, emesis, and seizures
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a friend & parents
  • Kidnapping & captivity
  • Death of a pet
  • Animal attack

The Conductors by Nicole Glover

The Conductors by Nicole Glover

The Conductors by Nicole Glover book cover

As a conductor on the Underground Railroad, Hetty Rhodes helped usher dozens of people north with her wits and magic. Now that the Civil War is over, Hetty and her husband Benjy have settled in Philadelphia, solving murders and mysteries that the white authorities won’t touch. When they find one of their friends slain in an alley, Hetty and Benjy bury the body and set off to find answers. But the secrets and intricate lies of the elites of Black Philadelphia only serve to dredge up more questions. To solve this mystery, they will have to face ugly truths all around them, including the ones about each other.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Slavery & human trafficking
  • Racism & colourism
  • Domestic abuse & violence
  • Infertility, miscarriage & mentions of pregnancy
  • Physical injury, including burns & scars
  • Blood and gore depiction
  • Death of a mother & father, friend, husband, sister & son
  • Disappearance of a sister
  • Torture
  • Knife violence
  • Fire
  • Kidnapping
  • Incarceration & captivity mentioned
  • Hanging/lynching (implied)

Network Effect by Martha Wells

Network Effect by Martha Wells

You know that feeling when you’re at work, and you’ve had enough of people, and then the boss walks in with yet another job that needs to be done right this second or the world will end, but all you want to do is go home and binge your favorite shows? And you’re a sentient murder machine programmed for destruction? Congratulations, you’re Murderbot.

When Murderbot’s human associates (not friends, never friends) are captured and another not-friend from its past requires urgent assistance, Murderbot must choose between inertia and drastic action.

Drastic action it is, then.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Indentured servitude & slavery discussed
  • Amnesia
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Physical injuries
  • Contagion
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Gun violence
  • Explosions
  • Kidnapping & hostage situation
  • Loss of autonomy discussed
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Exit Strategy by Martha Wells

Exit Strategy by Martha Wells

Murderbot wasn’t programmed to care. So, its decision to help the only human who ever showed it respect must be a system glitch, right?

Having traveled the width of the galaxy to unearth details of its own murderous transgressions, as well as those of the GrayCris Corporation, Murderbot is heading home to help Dr. Mensah—its former owner (protector? friend?)—submit evidence that could prevent GrayCris from destroying more colonists in its never-ending quest for profit.

But who’s going to believe a SecUnit gone rogue? And what will become of it when it’s caught?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Amnesia
  • Blood depiction & physical injuries
  • Attempted murder
  • Explosion
  • Strangulation
  • Kidnapping & hostage situation
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Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

It has a dark past – one in which a number of humans were killed. A past that caused it to christen itself “Murderbot”. But it has only vague memories of the massacre that spawned that title, and it wants to know more.

Teaming up with a Research Transport vessel named ART (you don’t want to know what the “A” stands for), Murderbot heads to the mining facility where it went rogue.

What it discovers will forever change the way it thinks…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Dubious consent to sex work discussed*
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Physical injuries
  • Surgery for coerced body modifications
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Mass murder recounted
  • Gun violence
  • Explosion mentioned
  • Kidnapping
  • Attempted plane crash
  • Mind control discussed

*Note: Android sex workers have a limited or no ability to override their mind control-like regulating system and therefore are unable to truly consent.

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Shatter the Sky by Rebecca Kim Wells

Shatter the Sky by Rebecca Kim Wells

Raised among the ruins of a conquered mountain nation, Maren dreams only of sharing a quiet life with her girlfriend Kaia—until the day Kaia is abducted by the Aurati, prophetic agents of the emperor, and forced to join their ranks. Desperate to save her, Maren hatches a plan to steal one of the emperor’s coveted dragons and storm the Aurati stronghold.

If Maren is to have any hope of succeeding, she must become an apprentice to the Aromatory—the emperor’s mysterious dragon trainer. But Maren is unprepared for the dangerous secrets she uncovers: rumors of a lost prince, a brewing rebellion, and a prophecy that threatens to shatter the empire itself. Not to mention the strange dreams she’s been having about a beast deep underground…

With time running out, can Maren survive long enough to rescue Kaia from impending death? Or could it be that Maren is destined for something greater than she could have ever imagined?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Nonconsensual drugging
  • Emesis
  • Physical injuries
  • Murder
  • Knife violence
  • Torture
  • Poisoning
  • Kidnapping
  • Fire
  • Colonialism themes
  • Animal cruelty & torture
  • Animal fighting
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Kingdom of Ash and Briars by Hannah West

Kingdom of Ash & Briars by Hannah West

Bristal, an orphaned kitchen maid, lands in a gritty fairy tale gone wrong when she discovers she is an elicromancer with a knack for shape-shifting. An ancient breed of immortal magic beings, elicromancers have been winnowed down to merely two – now three – after centuries of bloody conflict in the realm. Their gifts are fraught with responsibility, and sixteen-year-old Bristal is torn between two paths. Should she vow to seek the good of the world, to protect and serve mortals? Or should she follow the strength of her power, even if it leads to unknown terrors?

She draws on her ability to disguise herself as a man to infiltrate a prince’s band of soldiers, and masquerades as a fairy godmother to shield a cursed princess, but time is running out. As an army of dark creatures grows closer, Bristal faces a supernatural war. To save the kingdoms, Bristal must find the courage to show her true form.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Kidnapping
  • Animal attack
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The One by John Marrs

The One by John Marrs

How far would you go to find The One? A simple DNA test is all it takes. Just a quick mouth swab and soon you’ll be matched with your perfect partner–the one you’re genetically made for.

That’s the promise made by Match Your DNA. A decade ago, the company announced that they had found the gene that pairs each of us with our soul mate. Since then, millions of people around the world have been matched. But the discovery has its downsides: test results have led to the breakup of countless relationships and upended the traditional ideas of dating, romance and love.

Now five very different people have received the notification that they’ve been “Matched.” They’re each about to meet their one true love. But “happily ever after” isn’t guaranteed for everyone. Because even soul mates have secrets. And some are more shocking than others… 

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Cheating
  • Suicide
  • Infertility
  • Childbirth & death during childbirth
  • Miscarriages mentioned
  • Terminal illness & cancer
  • Coma
  • Aneurysm
  • Eyeball trauma
  • Death of an infant
  • Death of a spouse
  • Murder, and attempted murder of a pregnant woman
  • Strangulation
  • Kidnapping, including the abduction of an infant
  • Stalking
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