Tag Archives: Murder & Attempted Murder

You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott

You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott

Katie and Eric Knox have dedicated their lives to their fifteen-year-old daughter Devon, a gymnastics prodigy and Olympic hopeful. But when a violent death rocks their close-knit gymnastics community just weeks before an all-important competition, everything the Knoxes have worked so hard for feels suddenly at risk. As rumors swirl among the other parents, revealing hidden plots and allegiances, Katie tries frantically to hold her family together while also finding herself drawn, irresistibly, to the crime itself, and the dark corners it threatens to illuminate.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Adult-minor relationship*
  • Car accident (hit-and-run)
  • Lawnmower accident
  • Murder

*Context: Sexual relationship between a 15-year-old girl and a 25-year-old man.

King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender

King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender

Twelve-year-old Kingston James is sure his brother Khalid has turned into a dragonfly. When Khalid unexpectedly passed away, he shed what was his first skin for another to live down by the bayou in their small Louisiana town. Khalid still visits in dreams, and King must keep these secrets to himself as he watches grief transform his family. It would be easier if King could talk with his best friend, Sandy Sanders. But just days before he died, Khalid told King to end their friendship, after overhearing a secret about Sandy—that he thinks he might be gay. “You don’t want anyone to think you’re gay too, do you?” But when Sandy goes… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homomisia, internalised homomisia & homomisic slurs (theme)
  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Hate crimes mentioned
  • Coming out themes
  • Child abuse
  • Domestic abuse mentioned
  • Parental abandonment
  • Recreational drug use mentioned
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a brother from a heart attack (theme)
  • Police brutality mentioned
  • Animal death, on-page

Half a King by Joe Abercrombie

Half a King by Joe Abercrombie

To regain a throne he never wanted, Prince Yarvi first must survive cruelty, chains and the bitter waters of the Shattered Sea itself. And he must do it all with only one good hand. Born a weakling in the eyes of his father, Yarvi is alone in a world where a strong arm and a cold heart rule. He cannot grip a shield or swing an axe, so he must sharpen his mind to a deadly edge. Gathering a strange fellowship of the outcast and the lost, he finds they can do more to help him become the man he needs to be than any court of nobles could. Will the usurped become the usurper?

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism, internalised ableism & slurs (theme)
  • Arranged marriage
  • Child abuse recounted
  • Death of a brother, father & husband
  • Murder
  • War themes
  • Bullying

Whispers Underground by Ben Aaronovitch

Whispers Underground by Ben Aaronovitch

It begins with a dead body at the far end of Baker Street tube station, all that remains of American exchange student James Gallagher—and the victim’s wealthy, politically powerful family is understandably eager to get to the bottom of the gruesome murder. The trouble is, the bottom—if it exists at all—is deeper and more unnatural than anyone suspects . . . except, that is, for London constable and sorcerer’s apprentice Peter Grant. With Inspector Nightingale, the last registered wizard in England, tied up in the hunt for… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Sexism
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Physical injuries
  • Hospitalisation & mentions of surgery
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Gun violence
  • Death by train

Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch

Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch

Amina has never been comfortable in the spotlight. She is happy just hanging out with her best friend, Soojin. Except now that she’s in middle school everything feel. A mutilated body in Crawley. Another killer on the loose. The prime suspect is one Robert Weil; an associate of the twisted magician known as the Faceless Man? Or just a common or garden serial killer? Before PC Peter Grant can get his head round the… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & antiziganism (g slur)
  • Sexism
  • Disfigurmisia
  • Suicide and coerced suicide by train discussed
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood & gore depiction including dead bodies
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Bombing
  • Gun violence
  • Building collapse
  • Loss of autonomy (mind control)
  • Animal fight rings mentioned

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and once girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender…. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Classism & ableism
  • Alcoholism (secondary character)
  • Hallucinations
  • Drugging
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Involuntary medical treatment & procedures, including amputation & needles
  • Graphic blood & gore depiction
  • Graphic physical injuries & serious illness of a loved one, including burns, loss of hearing, and discussions of scars
  • Graphic emesis, multiple on-page
  • Cannibalism recounted & discussed
  • Graphic food and water scarcity, including mentions of death from starvation & dehydration
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a friend & child (on-page, multiple)
  • Death of a father & husband recounted
  • Murder & attempted murder by stabbing and strangulation
  • Fire & explosions, on-page & recounted
  • Whipping mentioned
  • Poisoning
  • Avalanche mentioned
  • Police brutality mentioned
  • Poverty
  • Rebellion & war themes
  • Graphic animal death & hunting including graphic description of skinning & butchering
  • Animal attack & death from animal attack, including death from a wasp attack and graphic scene of a child being eaten alive by a wolf
  • Attempted murder of a pet cat recounted

Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey

Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey

“That girl’s got more wrong notions than a barn owl’s got mean looks.” Esther is a stowaway. She’s hidden herself away in the Librarian’s book wagon in an attempt to escape the marriage her father has arranged for her–a marriage to the man who was previously engaged to her best friend. Her best friend who she was in love with. Her best friend who was just executed for possession of resistance propaganda. The future American Southwest is full of bandits, fascists, and queer librarian spies on horseback trying to do the right thing.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical misogyny & sexism
  • Period-typical queerphobia & internalised queerphobia
  • Attempted nonconsensual arranged marriage
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a friend recounted
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Hanging recounted (off-page)