Torture – Trigger Warning Database

Bound by Firelight by Dana Swift

After a magical eruption devastates the kingdom of Belwar, royal heir Adraa is falsely accused of masterminding the destruction and forced to stand trial in front of her people, who see her as a monster. Adraa’s punishment? Imprisonment in the Dome, an impenetrable, magic-infused fortress filled with Belwar’s nastiest criminals—many of whom Adraa put there herself. And they want her to pay. Jatin, the royal heir to Naupure, has been Adraa’s betrothed, nemesis, and fellow masked vigilante… but now he’s just a boy waiting to ask her the biggest question… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Grief & loss depiction
Death of a parent
Torture
False imprisonment (on-page, protagonist)
War themes & mass death

A Restless Truth by Freya Marske

Maud Blyth has always longed for adventure. She expected plenty of it when she volunteered to serve as an old lady’s companion on an ocean liner, in order to help her beloved older brother unravel a magical conspiracy that began generations ago. What she didn’t expect was for the old lady in question to turn up dead on the first day of the voyage. Now she has to deal with a dead body, a disrespectful parrot, and the lovely, dangerously outrageous Violet Debenham, who’s also returning home to England. Violet is everything that Maud has been trained to distrust yet… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Infidelity & spousal abandonment*
Attempted sexual assault
Emotional parental abuse recounted
Suicide mentioned (secondary character)
Alcohol consumption & drugging
Blood & gore depiction, including minor self-injury for blood, dead bodies & emesis
Death of parents in a car accident recounted
Murder & attempted murder
Kidnapping
Knife violence
Loss of autonomy (ghost possession)

Context : Violet is technically married to a man who abandoned her & stole her possessions; due to his disappearance, she is unable to dissolve their marriage and never reveals this to her love interest.

Catfishing on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer

Because her mom is always on the move, Steph hasn’t lived anyplace longer than six months. Her only constant is an online community called CatNet—a social media site where users upload cat pictures—a place she knows she is welcome. What Steph doesn’t know is that the admin of the site, CheshireCat, is a sentient A.I. When a threat from Steph’s past catches up to her and ChesireCat’s existence is discovered by outsiders, it’s up to Steph and her friends, both online and IRL, to save her.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Domestic abuse & parental neglect
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Torture
Kidnapping
House fire

Death Note, Vol. 4: Love by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata

With two Kiras on the loose, L asks Light to join the task force and pose as the real Kira in order to catch the copycat. L still suspects Light and figures that this is the perfect excuse to get closer to his quarry. Light agrees to the plan in order to have free access to the task force resources. But when Light manages to contact the new Kira, he discovers that his rival is anything but as expected. Will Light escape from love unscathed?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Sexual harassment
Heart attack
Murder & torture, including non-consensual sensory deprivation
Illegal & unethical surveillance and invasions of privacy by law enforcement

How to Kill Men and Get Away With It by Katy Brent

Meet Kitty Collins. FRIEND. LOVER. KILLER. He was following me. That guy from the nightclub who wouldn’t leave me alone. I hadn’t intended to kill him of course. But I wasn’t displeased when I did and, despite the mess I made, I appeared to get away with it. That’s where my addiction started… I’ve got a taste for revenge and quite frankly, I’m killing it.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Date rape, gang rape, paedophilia, incest, sexual assault & rape culture discussed
Alcohol & drug abuse
Miscarriage mentioned
Dismemberment
Graphic murder & torture
Animal cruelty

The Bayou Never Tells by Chelley St. Clair

The only thing darker than the waters of the Louisiana bayou are the secrets it holds. I’d know—I’ve buried more than a few myself. She was supposed to be one of them. I was the boy who never had a chance, an orphan recruited by the devil himself, until the family I never knew gave me something to live for. Then my brother brought her home—the rich politician’s daughter, a real-life fairytale princess who had no place in our world. We were oil and water, and making her leave became my mission, ’til the little tag-along ended up in my passenger’s seat driving cross-country… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Kidnapping, rape & torture (protagonist)

Heartbreak Warfare by Heather M. Orgeron and Kate Stewart

Remember when we parted ways in Germany? It was the day I broke your heart. What you didn’t know was that I was breaking mine too. I thought they’d be enough–my husband and my son. That I’d get home and everything would go back to the way it was… Before the war. Before the ambush. Before you. But, no matter how hard I try, I can’t erase the trauma we shared. I can’t seem to forget the way my heart beat in time with yours. The truth is I’m lost without you. I thought the nightmare was over when they pulled us from that hole in the ground, but nothing could have… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Rape (on-page)
Infidelity (protagonists, on-page)
Torture
War themes & military service

A Fate of Wrath and Flame by K.A. Tucker

Gifted thief Romeria has flourished from her days as a street kid pilfering wallets to survive. Now she thrives, stealing jewels from the rich under the involuntary employ of New York City’s most notorious crime boss. But when an enigmatic woman secures her services at swordpoint, Romeria is plunged into a startling realm of opposing thrones, warring elven, and elemental magic she cannot begin to fathom. Her quest is Steal a stone from Islor’s sacred garden without anyone discovering her true identity, which would earn her certain death. But the identity she has inexplicably… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Slavery
Torture mentioned
Sword violence
Poisoning
Fire

Famine by Laura Thalassa

They came to earth―Pestilence, War, Famine, Death―four horsemen riding their screaming steeds, racing to the corners of the world. Four horsemen with the power to destroy all of humanity. They came to earth, and they came to end us all. Ana da Silva always assumed she’d die young, but she never expected it to be at the hands of the haunting immortal who spared her life years ago. Famine. But if the horseman remembers her, he must not care, for when she comes face to face with him for the second time in her life, she’s stabbed and left for dead. Only, she… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Attempted rape
Sex work recounted
Murder
Torture

False Value by Ben Aaronovitch

Peter Grant is facing fatherhood, and an uncertain future, with equal amounts of panic and enthusiasm. Rather than sit around, he takes a job with émigré Silicon Valley tech genius Terrence Skinner’s brand new London start up – the Serious Cybernetics Company. Drawn into the orbit of Old Street’s famous ‘silicon roundabout’, Peter must learn how to blend in with people who are both civilians and geekier than he is. Compared to his last job, Peter thinks it should be a doddle. But magic is not finished with Mama Grant’s favourite son. Because Terrence Skinner… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Slavery mentioned
Miscarriage mentioned
Torture mentioned
Gun violence