Tag Archives: Murder & Attempted Murder

This page lists books that contain trigger warnings for the depiction of murder and attempted murder.

See also Genocide and mass murder, and War themes & military violence.

The Wife Upstairs by Freida McFadden

Victoria Barnett has it all. A great career. A handsome and loving husband. A beautiful home in the suburbs and a plan to fill it with children. Life is perfect—or so it seems. Then she’s in a terrible accident… and everything falls apart. Now Victoria is unable to walk. She can’t feed or dress herself. She can’t even speak. She is confined to the top floor of her house with twenty-four-hour care. Sylvia Robinson is hired by Victoria’s husband to help care for her. But it turns out Victoria isn’t as impaired as Sylvia was led to believe. There’s a story Victoria desperately wants to tell… if only she could get out the words. Then…. Read more,

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Emotional abuse & gaslighting
  • Abusive relationship
  • Infidelity
  • Murder
  • Stalking

Do Not Disturb by Freida McFadden

Quinn Alexander has committed an unthinkable crime. To avoid spending her life in prison, Quinn makes a run for it. She leaves behind her home, her job, and her family. She grabs her passport and heads for the northern border before the police can discover what she’s done. But when an unexpected snowstorm forces her off the road, Quinn must take refuge at the broken-down, isolated Baxter Motel. The handsome and kindly owner, Nick Baxter, is only too happy to offer her a cheap room for the night. Unfortunately, the Baxter Motel isn’t the quiet, safe haven it seemed to be. The motel has a dark and disturbing past…. Read more,

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Domestic abuse
  • Infidelity
  • Depression & Bipolar Disorder
  • Pregnancy loss
  • Murder

One by One by Freida McFadden

A night spent sleeping on dirt and leaves is not how Claire Matchett expected to spend her vacation. She thought this would be a break from the stresses of work and raising her young children. A chance to repair her damaged marriage. A week of hiking and hot tubs with friends. It sounded like heaven. Then Claire’s minivan breaks down on a lonely dirt road. With no cell reception, the group has no choice but to hike the rest of the way to their hotel. But it turns out the woods aren’t as easy to navigate as they thought. Hours later, they are lost. Hopelessly lost. And as they navigate deeper into the woods, the members of…Read more,

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Infidelity
  • Murder

Ward D by Freida McFadden

Medical student Amy Brenner is spending the night on a locked psychiatric ward. Amy has been dreading her evening working on Ward D, the hospital’s inpatient mental health unit. There are very specific reasons why she never wanted to do this required overnight rotation. Reasons nobody can ever find out. And as the hours tick by, Amy grows increasingly convinced something terrible is happening within these tightly secured walls. When patients and staff start to vanish without a trace, it becomes clear that everyone on the unit is in grave danger. Amy’s worst nightmare was spending the night on Ward D. And now she might never escape...

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child Abuse
  • Infidelity mentioned
  • Toxic friendship
  • Hallucinations
  • Drug use & abuse mentioned
  • Drugging
  • Murder

The Crash by Freida McFadden

Tegan is eight months pregnant, alone, and desperately wants to put her crumbling life in the rearview mirror. So she hits the road, planning to stay with her brother until she can figure out her next move. But she doesn’t realize she’s heading straight into a blizzard. She never arrives at her destination. Stranded in rural Maine with a dead car and broken ankle, Tegan worries she’s made a terrible mistake. Then a miracle she is rescued by a couple who offers her a room in their warm cabin until the snow clears. But something isn’t right. Tegan believed she was waiting out the storm, but as time ticks by, she comes to realize she is.… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault
  • Child abuse
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Drugging
  • Pregnancy (protagonist)
  • Infertility & miscarriage mentioned
  • Blood & injury depiction and hospitalisation
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping
  • Car accident

We Can Never Leave This Place by Eric LaRocca

A precocious young girl with an unusual imagination is sent on an odyssey into the depths of depravity. After her father dies violently, young Mara is surprised to find her mother welcoming a new guest into their home, claiming that he will protect them from the world of devastation and destruction outside their door.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape mentioned (brief)
  • Incest
  • Emotional & verbal child abuse
  • Miscarriage & stillbirth
  • Body horror
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent
  • Death of a child mentioned
  • Murder
  • Animal death

The Trees Grew Because I Bled There: Collected Stories by Eric LaRocca

Eight stories of literary dark fiction from a master storyteller. Exploring the shadow side of love, these are tales of grief, obsession, control. Intricate examinations of trauma and tragedy in raw, poetic prose. In these narratives, a woman imagines horrific scenarios whilst caring for her infant niece; on-line posts chronicle a cancer diagnosis; a couple in the park with their small child encounter a stranger with horrific consequences; a toxic relationship reaches a terrifying resolution…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Abusive relationship
  • Elder abuse
  • Incest
  • Cheating
  • Miscarriage
  • Cancer & terminal illness
  • Death of a parent & spouse
  • Murder & torture
  • Kidnapping

You’ve Lost a Lot of Blood by Eric LaRocca

Each precious thing I show you in this book is a holy relic from the night we both perished-the night when I combed you from my hair and watered the moon with your blood. You’ve lost a lot of blood . . .

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Abandonment
  • Paedophilia mentioned
  • Body horror (theme)
  • Desecration of a corpse
  • Cancer
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a child & parent
  • Murder & torture

Radiant Sin by Katee Robert

As a disgraced member of a fallen house, Cassandra Gataki has seen firsthand what comes from trusting the venomous Thirteen. But when the maddeningly gorgeous and kind Apollo asks her to go undercover as his plus-one at a week-long party hosted by a dangerous new power player…Cassandra reluctantly agrees to have his back. On one condition: when it’s all over, and Apollo has the ammunition he needs to protect Olympus, she and her sister will be allowed to leave. For good. Apollo may be the city’s… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexism
  • Body-shaming mentioned
  • Boss-employee relationship
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood depiction
  • Death of a parent
  • Murder
  • Gun violence

Learn My Lesson by Katee Robert

A single night with Meg and I’m willing to do anything to save her from Hades, the man holding her captive, victim to his every whim. A bargain with the devil himself seems a small price to pay in order for Meg to go free… Until I learn that she’s exactly where she wants to be. She’s Queen to Hades’s King. And I’m the fool that walked right into their trap. The same fool who desires them both as much as I hate them. I can’t resist Meg’s touch—or stop from being drawn to Hades’s dark desires. By the time I realize just how deep a game he’s playing, it may be too late… For all of us.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape mentioned
  • Death of a child
  • Murder recounted
  • Torture mentioned
  • Kidnapping recounted
  • Fire recounted
  • Car accident