Tag Archives: Police Brutality & Violence

This page lists books that contain trigger warnings for the depiction of police brutality, and police violence; as well as police discrimination, abuse of power, and racial profiling.

The Wishing Pool and Other Stories by Tananarive Due

Due’s second collection of stories includes offerings of horror, science fiction, and suspense—all genres she wields masterfully. From the mysterious, magical town of Gracetown to the aftermath of a pandemic to the reaches of the far future, Due’s stories all share a sense of dread and fear balanced with heart and hope. In some of these stories, the monster is racism itself; others address the monster within, each set against the supernatural or surreal. All are written with Due’s trademark attention to detail and deeply drawn characters.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Police brutality
  • Pandemic
  • Animal death

Goliath by Tochi Onyebuchi

In the 2050s, Earth has begun to empty. Those with the means and the privilege have departed the great cities of the United States for the more comfortable confines of space colonies. Those left behind salvage what they can from the collapsing infrastructure. As they eke out an existence, their neighbourhoods are being cannibalized. Brick by brick, their houses are sent to the colonies, what was once a home now a quaint reminder for the colonists of the world that they wrecked. A primal biblical epic flung into the future, Goliath weaves together disparate narratives—a space… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Rape mentioned
  • Substance addiction
  • Suicide mentioned
  • Drug use & abuse
  • Blood & gore depiction, including dead bodies & emesis
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Police brutality
  • Lynching mentioned
  • Kidnapping
  • Incarceration & prison riot

Caul Baby by Morgan Jerkins

Laila desperately wants to become a mother, but each of her previous pregnancies has ended in heartbreak. This time has to be different, so she turns to the Melancons, an old and powerful Harlem family known for their caul, a precious layer of skin that is the secret source of their healing power. When a deal for Laila to acquire a piece of caul falls through, she is heartbroken, but when the child is stillborn, she is overcome with grief and rage. What she doesn’t know is that a baby will soon be delivered in her family–by her niece, Amara, an ambitious college student–and delivered.. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & police brutality
  • Graphic miscarriage & teen pregnancy
  • Suicide & suicidal ideation
  • Animal attack

The Bad Muslim Discount by Syed M. Masood

It is 1995, and Anvar Faris is a restless, rebellious, and sharp-tongued boy doing his best to grow up in Karachi, Pakistan. As fundamentalists in the government become increasingly strident and the zealots next door start roaming the streets in gangs to help make Islam great again, his family decides, not quite unanimously, to start life over in California. The irony is not lost on Anvar that in America, his deeply devout mother and his model-Muslim brother are the ones who fit right in with the tightly knit and gossipy Desi community. Anvar wants more. At the same time, thousands… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Islamophobia
  • Rape
  • Domestic abuse
  • Animal death
  • Police violence (fatal shooting)

Two Perfect Lies by Natalie D. Richards

If it weren’t for Lily, Clara would still be a total outcast, shunned for her role in an incident that gave her a criminal record and ruined another girl’s life. She’s spent the past two years trying to escape that night, and ever since Lily Dalton befriended her, she’s almost succeeded. After all, Lily’s the golden girl of the high school—smart, popular, beloved by all—and as her best friend, Clara’s now the bright, hard-working chemistry whiz. But is Lily really just the good-hearted friend who saved Clara from the past? Because lately Lily has been talking about certain classmates and… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Child abuse
  • Rape
  • Bullying
  • Stalking
  • Police brutality

All the Noise at Once by DeAndra Davis

All Aiden ever wanted to do was play football just like his star quarterback brother, Brandon. Unfortunately, due to Aiden’s autism, summer football tryouts did not go well when Aiden finds himself at the bottom of a pile-up resulting in an over-stimulation meltdown. But when the school year starts, a spot on the team opens urgently needing to be filled. Aiden finally gets his chance to play the game he loves most. However, not every team member is happy about Aiden’s position on the team, wary of how his autism will present itself on game day. Tensions rise. A fight breaks out. Cops are called. When Brandon tries to interfere… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & ableism
  • Police brutality
  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Incarceration for physical assault
  • Emesis

The Incredibly Human Henson Blayze by Derrick Barnes

In the small town of Great Mountain, Mississippi, all eyes are on Henson Blayze, a thirteen-year-old football phenom who many have wondered if he was super-human. The predominately white townsfolk have been waiting for Henson to play high-school ball, and now they’re overjoyed to finally possess an elite Black athlete of their own. Until a horrifying incident forces Henson to speak out about injustice. Until he says that he might not play football anymore. Until he quickly learns he isn’t as loved by the people as he thought. In that moment, Henson’s town is divided in… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Hospitalisation & medical content
  • Police brutality & lynching

All the Blues in the Sky by Renée Watson

Sage’s thirteenth birthday was supposed to be about movies and treats, staying up late with her best friend and watching the sunrise together. Instead, it was the day her best friend died. Without the person she had to hold her secrets and dream with, Sage is lost. In a counseling group with other girls who have lost someone close to them, she learns that not all losses are the same, and healing isn’t predictable. There is sadness, loneliness, anxiety, guilt, pain, love. And even as Sage grieves, new, good things enter her life — and she just may find a way to know that she can feel it all.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Death from a heart attack mentioned
  • Hospitalisation for cancer & terminal illness discussed
  • Grief & loss depiction (theme)
  • Death of a child & best friend in a hit-and-run drunk-driving car accident
  • Police brutality

Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley

Kiara and her brother, Marcus, are scraping by in an East Oakland apartment complex optimistically called the Regal-Hi. Both have dropped out of high school, their family fractured by death and prison. But while Marcus clings to his dream of rap stardom, Kiara hunts for work to pay their rent–which has more than doubled–and to keep the nine-year-old boy next door, abandoned by his mother, safe and fed. One night, what begins as a drunken misunderstanding with a stranger turns into the job Kiara never imagined wanting but now desperately needs: nightcrawling… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Child abuse & neglect and mentions of the foster care system
  • Statutory rape & sexual assault
  • Suicide & self-harm
  • Death of a child from drowning recounted
  • Police brutality
  • Incarceration of a parent

More Than This by Krystal Marquis

Newly engaged Ruby Tremaine is eagerly planning her wedding to the love of her life when a nasty rumor threatens her reputation and her marriage. Olivia Davenport has committed to the social justice cause and secretly hopes she’ll be reunited with dashing lawyer Washington DeWight—until her parents decide she’s to marry someone else. Amy-Rose Shepherd is making her lifelong wish of owning a salon come true, but when an incident forces her to return to Freeport Manor, she’s back in the path of John Davenport, who still holds her heart. Helen Davenport… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical racism, misogyny & classism
  • Slavery mentioned
  • Sexual harassment
  • Police brutality