Surgery – Page 9 – Trigger Warning Database

Stitches by David Small

Stitches by David Small

One day David Small awoke from a supposedly harmless operation to discover that he had been transformed into a virtual mute. A vocal cord removed, his throat slashed and stitched together like a bloody boot, the fourteen-year-old boy had not been told that he had throat cancer and was expected to die.

Readers will be riveted by his journey from speechless victim, subjected to X-rays by his radiologist father and scolded by his withholding and tormented mother, to his decision to flee his home at sixteen with nothing more than dreams of becoming an artist.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Emotional & verbal child abuse
Alcohol consumption
Smoking
Cancer
Surgery
Fire

Something Like Gravity by Amber Smith

Something Like Gravity by Amber Smith

Chris and Maia aren’t off to a great start. A near-fatal car accident first brings them together, and their next encounters don’t fare much better. Chris’s good intentions backfire. Maia’s temper gets the best of her. But they’re neighbors, at least for the summer, and despite their best efforts, they just can’t seem to stay away from each other.

The path forward isn’t easy. Chris has come out as transgender, but he’s still processing a frightening assault he survived the year before. Maia is grieving the loss of her older sister and trying to find her place in the world without her. Falling in love was the last thing on either of their minds. But would it be so bad if it happened anyway?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Queermisia & queermisic slurs
Outing
Sexual assault
Alcohol consumption
Recreational drug use
Graphic physical assault recounted
Serious physical injuries requiring surgery
Car accident
Death of a pet

The Raven’s Tale by Cat Winters

The Raven’s Tale by Cat Winters

Seventeen-year-old Edgar Poe counts down the days until he can escape his foster family—the wealthy Allans of Richmond, Virginia. He hungers for his upcoming life as a student at the prestigious new university, almost as much as he longs to marry his beloved Elmira Royster. However, on the brink of his departure, all his plans go awry when a macabre Muse named Lenore appears to him. Muses are frightful creatures that lead Artists down a path of ruin and disgrace, and no respectable person could possibly understand or accept them. But Lenore steps out of the shadows with one request: “Let them see me!”

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Sexual harassment
Cheating recounted
Self harm
Alcohol consumption
Blood & gore depiction
Physical injuries
Surgery
Gun violence
Physical assault
Strangulation
Drowning

Stars Above by Marissa Meyer

Stars Above by Marissa Meyer

The enchantment continues . . . The universe of the Lunar Chronicles holds stories—and secrets—that are wondrous, vicious, and romantic. How did Cinder first arrive in New Beijing? How did the brooding soldier Wolf transform from young man to killer? When did Princess Winter and the palace guard Jacin realize their destinies?

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Hallucinations (protagonist)
Forced adoption mentioned
Parent with alcohol abuse issues mentioned
Blood & injury depiction including a global pandemic, needles, surgery, non-consensual medical treatment, and non-consensual body modifications
Death of a father from gun violence mentioned
Murder including death from a snapped neck
Physical assault (fistfights, beating, military training)
Mentions of a character having a near-drowning incident in a oil vat after being hit by a crane
Loss of autonomy (mind control) including forced self-harm and mentions of a pregnant character dying from suicide after forced sex work
Fire recounted

Lock Every Door by Riley Sager

Lock Every Door by Riley Sager

No visitors. No nights spent away from the apartment. No disturbing the other residents, all of whom are rich or famous or both. These are the only rules for Jules Larsen’s new job as an apartment sitter at the Bartholomew, one of Manhattan’s most high-profile and mysterious buildings. Recently heartbroken and just plain broke, Jules is taken in by the splendor of her surroundings and accepts the terms, ready to leave her past life behind.

As she gets to know the residents and staff of the Bartholomew, Jules finds herself drawn to fellow apartment sitter Ingrid, who comfortingly, disturbingly reminds her of the sister she lost eight years ago. When Ingrid confides that the Bartholomew is not what it seems and the dark history hidden beneath its gleaming facade is starting to frighten her, Jules brushes it off as a harmless ghost story—until the next day, when Ingrid disappears… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Classism
Cheating recounted
Nightmares
Suicide (on-page & recounted)
Self harm by burning (on-page)
Alcohol consumption
Recreational drug use
Nonconsensual drugging
Blood & physical injuries depiction
Nonconsensual medical procedures & experimentation
Emesis
Hospital
Surgery
Needles & syringes
Cancer & terminal illness mentioned
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a mother & father mentioned
Death of a friend
Murder & attempted murder
Knife violence
Gun violence
Graphic fire (on-page)
Kidnapping & captivity
Car accident
Disappearance of a friend (theme)
Death from a fall (on-page)
Poverty theme
Homelessness

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

When Gyre Price lied her way into this expedition, she thought she’d be mapping mineral deposits, and that her biggest problems would be cave collapses and gear malfunctions. She also thought that the fat paycheck—enough to get her off-planet and on the trail of her mother—meant she’d get a skilled surface team, monitoring her suit and environment, keeping her safe. Keeping her sane.

Instead, she got Em.

Em sees nothing wrong with controlling Gyre’s body with drugs or withholding critical information to “ensure the smooth operation” of her expedition. Em knows all about Gyre’s falsified credentials, and has no qualms using them as a leash—and a lash. And Em has secrets, too… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Child neglect & abandonment
Claustrophobia
Hallucinations & delusions
Nonconsensual administrations of drugs & medical treatment
Blood & gore depiction
Physical injury & illness
Dead bodies
Emesis
Needles
Surgery
Hospital mentioned
Death from starvation
Amputation & loss of limb
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a mother & father recounted
Death from a fall
Drowning
Cave disasters
Loss of bodily autonomy

Runtime by SB Divya

Runtime by S.B. Divya

The Minerva Sierra Challenge is a grueling spectacle, the cyborg’s Tour de France. Rich thrill-seekers with corporate sponsorships, extensive support teams, and top-of-the-line exoskeletal and internal augmentations pit themselves against the elements in a day-long race across the Sierra Nevada.

Marmeg Guinto doesn’t have funding, and she doesn’t have support. She cobbled her gear together from parts she found in rich people’s garbage and spent the money her mother wanted her to use for nursing school to enter the race. But the Minerva Challenge is the only chance she has at a better life for herself and her younger brothers, and she’s ready to risk it all.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Transmisia
Misgendering
Physical & verbal parental abuse
Blood & gore depiction
Physical injuries
Graphic surgery & field surgery
Poverty themes
Homelessness

Deny All Charges by Eoin Colfer

Deny All Charges by Eoin Colfer

Artemis’s little brothers Myles and Beckett borrow the Fowl jet without permission, and it ends up as a fireball over Florida. The twins plus their fairy minder, the pixie-elf hybrid Lazuli Heitz, are lucky to escape with their lives.

The Fowl parents and fairy police force decide that enough is enough and the twins are placed under house arrest. But Myles has questions, like: who was tracking the Fowl jet? Why would someone want to blow them out of the sky? These questions must infuriate someone, because Myles is abducted and spirited away from his twin.

Now Beckett and Lazuli must collaborate to find Myles and rescue him – not easy when it was Myles who was the brains of the operation.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Surgery & organ transplants
Gun violence
Explosion
Building collapse
Plane crash
Kidnapping

Wonder by RJ Palacio

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

August Pullman was born with a facial difference that, up until now, has prevented him from going to a mainstream school. Starting 5th grade at Beecher Prep, he wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary kid—but his new classmates can’t get past Auggie’s extraordinary face. Wonder, begins from Auggie’s point of view, but soon switches to include his classmates, his sister, her boyfriend, and others.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableism
Disfigurmisia
Suicide joke
Surgery mentioned
Bullying (theme)

My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult

My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult

Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate—a life and a role that she has never challenged… until now.

Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister—and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable, a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableism & ableist language (r slur)
Alcohol abuse mentioned
Medical treatment & procedures, including surgery & organ transplants
Blood depiction
Cancer (theme)
Death of a child
Death of a sister
Fire
Car accident