Mutilation – Trigger Warning Database

The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup

The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup

If you find one, he’s already found you. A psychopath is terrorizing Copenhagen. His calling card is a “chestnut man”—a handmade doll made of matchsticks and two chestnuts—which he leaves at each bloody crime scene. Examining the dolls, forensics makes a shocking discovery—a fingerprint belonging to a young girl, a government minister’s daughter who had been kidnapped and murdered a year ago. A tragic coincidence—or something more twisted? To save innocent lives, a pair of detectives must put aside their differences to piece together the... Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Anti-immigration rhetoric
Paedophilia & rape of a child
Child pornography
Child abuse & neglect
Mutilation
Torture
Murder
Kidnapping & disappearance of a child
Stalking
Fire

The Prey of Gods by Nicky Drayden

The Prey of Gods by Nicky Drayden

In South Africa, the future looks promising. Personal robots are making life easier for the working class. The government is harnessing renewable energy to provide infrastructure for the poor. And in the bustling coastal town of Port Elizabeth, the economy is booming thanks to the genetic engineering industry which has found a welcome home there. Yes–the days to come are looking very good for South Africans. That is, if they can survive the present challenges: A new hallucinogenic drug sweeping the country. An emerging AI… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Slavery
Child abuse
Rape
Genital mutilation
Torture
Mass murder
Bombing
Animal hunting & poaching

Burden Falls by Kat Ellis

Burden Falls by Kat Ellis

Also known as Wicked Little Deeds.

The town of Burden Falls drips with superstition, from rumours of its cursed waterfall to Dead-Eyed Sadie, the disturbing spectre who haunts it. Ava Thorn grew up right beside the falls, and since a horrific accident killed her parents a year ago, she’s been plagued by nightmares in which Sadie comes calling—nightmares so chilling, Ava feels as if she’ll never wake up. But when someone close to Ava is brutally murdered and she’s the primary suspect, she begins to wonder if the stories might be more than legends—and if the ghost haunting her dreams might be terrifyingly real. Whatever secrets Burden Falls is hiding, there’s a killer on the loose . . .

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Alcoholism
Body mutilation
Death of a child
Death of a parent
Fire
Car accident

The Ritual by Shantel Tessier

The Ritual by Shantel Tessier

I vow. You vow. We vow. Barrington University is home of the Lords, a secret society that requires their blood in payment. They are above all—the most powerful men in the world. They devote their lives to violence in exchange for power. And during their senior year, they are offered a chosen one. Barrington University is home of the Lords, a secret society that requires their blood in payment. They are above all—the most powerful men in the world. They devote their lives to violence in exchange for power. And during their senior year, they are offered a chosen one. People think… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Arranged relationship
Sex slavery
Attempted sexual assault
Dubious consent scenarios including consensual somnophilia and rape-play
Improper BDSM practices
Drugging including nonconsensual manipulation of birth control prescription
Depiction of a dead body
Branding (consensual)
Genital mutilation
Murder
Torture
Gun & knife violence
Physical assault
Drowning
Cult
Stalking & nonconsensual surveillance

The Sky Weaver by Kristen Ciccarelli

The Sky Weaver by Kristen Ciccarelli

At the end of one world, there always lies another. Safire, a soldier, knows her role in this world is to serve the King of Firgaard—helping to maintain the peace in her oft-troubled nation. Eris, a deadly pirate, has no such conviction. Known as the Death Dancer for her ability to evade even the most determined of pursuers, she possesses a superhuman power to move between worlds. When one can roam from dimension to dimension, can one ever be home? Can love and loyalty truly exist? Now Safire and Eris-sworn… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Loss of limb & maiming
Murder

Perhaps the Stars by Ada Palmer

Perhaps the Stars by Ada Palmer

World Peace turns into global civil war. In the future, the leaders of Hive nations—nations without fixed location—clandestinely committed nefarious deeds in order to maintain an outward semblance of utopian stability. But the facade could only last so long. The comforts of effortless global travel and worldwide abundance may have tempered humanity’s darkest inclinations, but conflict remains deeply rooted in the human psyche. All it needed was a catalyst, in form of special little boy to ignite half a millennium of repressed… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Rape
Cheating
Suicide
Mutilation
Medical experimentation
Torture

The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard

The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard

Paris has survived the Great Houses War – just. Its streets are lined with haunted ruins, Notre-Dame is a burnt-out shell, and the Seine runs black with ashes and rubble. Yet life continues among the wreckage. The citizens continue to live, love, fight and survive in their war-torn city, and The Great Houses still vie for dominion over the once grand capital. House Silverspires, previously the leader of those power games, lies in disarray. Its magic is alluring; its founder, Morningstar, has been missing for decades; and now something from the shadows stalks its… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Suicidal ideation
Drug use & abuse
Blood and gore depiction
Mutilation
Torture
Colonialism

River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey

River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey

In the early 20th Century, the United States government concocted a plan to import hippopotamuses into the marshlands of Louisiana to be bred and slaughtered as an alternative meat source. This is true. Other true things about hippos: they are savage, they are fast, and their jaws can snap a man in two. This was a terrible plan. Contained within this volume is an 1890s America that might have been: a bayou overrun by feral hippos and mercenary hippo wranglers from around the globe. It is the story of Winslow Houndstooth and his crew. It is the story of their fortunes. It is the story of his revenge.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Ableism
Fatmisia
Blood & gore depiction
Physical injuries, including having an ear cut off
Death of a child
Murder & attempted murder
Knife violence & stabbing
Gun violence
Animal death
Animal attack

The Corpse Queen by Heather Herrman

The Corpse Queen by Heather Herrman

Soon after her best friend Kitty mysteriously dies, orphaned seventeen-year-old Molly Green is sent away to live with her “aunt.” With no relations that she knows of, Molly assumes she has been sold as free domestic labor for the price of an extra donation in the church orphanage’s coffers. Such a thing is not unheard of. There are only so many options for an unmarried girl in 1850s Philadelphia. Only, when Molly arrives, she discovers her aunt is very much real, exceedingly wealthy, and with secrets of her own. Secrets and wealth she intends to share–for a price.⁠… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Misogyny
Slut shaming
Alcohol consumption
Prescription drug addiction
Suicide mentioned
Death of a pregnant woman
‘Botched’ abortion mentioned
Blood, gore & mutilation
Dead bodies
Rabies
Surgery
Murder
Poisoning
Drowning
Animal death (dog)

Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller

Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller

Sallot Leon is a thief, and a good one at that. But gender fluid Sal wants nothing more than to escape the drudgery of life as a highway robber and get closer to the upper-class—and the nobles who destroyed their home. When Sal steals a flyer for an audition to become a member of The Left Hand—the Queen’s personal assassins, named after the rings she wears—Sal jumps at the chance to infiltrate the court and get revenge. But the audition is a fight to the death filled with clever circus acrobats, lethal apothecaries, and vicious ex-soldiers. A childhood as a common crim… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Misgendering
Self harm
Blood & injury depiction
Death of a parent mentioned
Death of a sibling mentioned
Murder & mass murder
Poisoning
Skinning