Book Trigger Warning Database
The purpose of this page is to collect all the major trigger/content warnings of the horror or horror-adjacent books I read. Please note that I might not be able to list all possible triggers in existence, but I'll try my best to provide a reliable source for you to have an idea of the book you're about to read. I'm adding new books as I finish reading them. If you think I still need to include any important points from the list, please leave a comment or message me, and I'll add them.
Click on any of the titles to reveal the list of triggers. Type into the search bar below to filter the list:
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Marcus Kliewer: "We Used to Live Here"
Major trigger warnings: Psychosis, Anxiety, House fire, Violence, Murder, Blood, Gore, Trauma, Dog attack, Institutionalization, Self-harm
Sylvain Neuvel: "The Test"
Major trigger warnings: Blood, Violence, Murder, Abuse, Manipulation, Captivity
Steven L. Peck: "A Short Stay in Hell"
Major trigger warnings: Death, Blood, Violence, Cancer, Suicide, Domestic abuse recounted, Rape mentioned
Dave Shelton: "Thirteen Chairs"
Major trigger warnings: Death, Violence (it's more like a children horror book, nothing too dark)
Carlos Ruiz Zafón: "Marina"
Major trigger warnings: Death, Grief, Animal death, Cheating recounted, Violence, Blood, Gore, Murder, Physical disabilities, Self-harm, Sexual abuse implied, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse
Max Booth III: "We Need to Do Something"
Major trigger warnings: Alcoholism, Isolation, Cancer, Racism, Self-harm, Toxic family, Vomit, Verbal abuse, Dog death, Sexual themes, Murder, Gore, Blood, Child abuse, Cannibalism
Tade Thompson: "The Murders of Molly Southbourne"
Major trigger warnings: Animal death, Blood, Violence, Murder, Sickness, Death by sickness,
Kidnapping, Self-harm
A. M. Shine: "The Watchers"
Violence, Death, Manipulation, Isolation, Confinement, Alcohol
Julia Armfield: "Our Wives Under the Sea"
Major trigger warnings: Body horror, Death, Grief, Confinement, Thalassophobia
Susan Hill: "The Woman in Black"
Major trigger warnings: Grief, Death, Child death
Daniel Kehlmann: "You Should Have Left"
Major trigger warnings: Isolation, Cheating, Trauma, Mental problems
Victor LaValle: "The Ballad of Black Tom"
Major trigger warnings: Death, Gore, Racism
John Langan: "The Fisherman"
Major trigger warnings: Death, Sickness, Cancer, Trauma, Grief, Body horror, Violence
T. Kingfisher: "What Moves the Dead"
Major trigger warnings: Death, Fungi, Body horror, Animal death and dissection, Disease, War
related events and topics recounted, Alcohol
Grady Hendrix: "Horrorstör"
Major trigger warnings: Death, Violence, Gore, Torture, Rats, Drowning
Iain Reid: "We Spread"
Major trigger warnings: Dementia, Death, Gaslighting, Involuntary institutionalization
Iain Reid: "Foe"
Major trigger warnings: Manipulation, Toxic relationship, Death, Murder
Iain Reid: "I'm Thinking of Ending Things"
Major trigger warnings: Suicide, Mental health problems, Dead animals
Jennifer Marie Thorne: "Diavola"
Major trigger warnings: Toxic family relationships, Manipulation, Gaslighting, Death, Animal
death, Self-harm, Violence, Mental illness, Questionable sex scene
Catherynne M. Valente: "Comfort Me with Apples"
Major trigger warnings: Death, Gaslighting, Manipulative relationship, Mentions of violence,
Misogyny, Religious themes
Malcolm Devlin: "And Then I Woke Up"
Major trigger warnings: Mental disorder, Psychosys, Paranoia, Illness, Death, Murder
Stephen King: "The Shining"
Major trigger warnings: Death, Violence, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Self-harm, Psychosys,
Paranoia, Hallucinations, Racial slurs
Ottessa Moshfegh: "My Year of Rest and Relaxation"
Major trigger warnings: Substance abuse, Addiction, Questionable sex scene, Mental illness,
Death, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Abortion, Eating disorder, Racism
Shirley Jackson: "The Haunting of Hill House"
Major trigger warnings: Death, Murder, Mental illness, Grief
Shirley Jackson: "We Have Always Lived in the Castle"
Major trigger warnings: Manipulation, Gaslighting, Violence, Fire, Murder, Poisoning,
Agoraphobia
Tom Sweterlitsch: "The Gone World"
Major trigger warnings: Violence, Murder, Gore, Body horror, Sexual assault briefly
discussed, Mental health problems
Naomi Booth: "Sealed"
Major trigger warnings: Body horror, Pregnancy, Blood, Death, Gore, Isolation
Mona Awad: "Bunny"
Major trigger warnings: Animal abuse, Body horror, Death, Violence, Gore, Murder, Mental
illness, Self-harm, Drugging, Sex, Manipulation
Jasper DeWitt: "The Patient"
Major trigger warnings: Mental illness, Self-harm, Sexual abuse, Rape, Manipulation, Suicide,
Violence, Institutionalization, Animal abuse
Mariana Enríquez: "The Dangers of Smoking in Bed"
Major trigger warnings: Blood, Gore, Violence, Murder, Death, Grief, Illness as a fetish,
Neglect, Cannibalism, And probably a lot more I can't recall
Hanna Bervoets: "We Had to Remove This Post"
Major trigger warnings: Lots and lots, though nothing is explored in depth. Sexual assault,
Rape, Animal abuse, Racism, Mutilation, Suicide, Cruelty, Homophobia, Violence
Steven Hall: "The Raw Shark Texts"
Major trigger warnings: Sharks, Memory loss, Grief, Manipulation, Violence. Quite tame
though, the book is more like a thriller read.
Daryl Gregory: "We Are All Completely Fine"
Major trigger warnings: Blood, Violence, Death, Mutilation, Cannibalism, Gore, PTSD,
Traumatic childhood (cults)
Marisha Pessl: "Night Film"
Major trigger warnings: Depression, Suicide, Stalking, Violence, Murder, Sexual abuse, Drug
and alcohol use
David Wong, Jason Pargin: "John Dies at the End"
Major trigger warnings: Body horror, Violence, Blood, Gore, Death, Drug use, Sexual
references, Paranoia, Hallucinations
Sara Gran: "Come Closer"
Major trigger warnings: Violence, Murder, Paranoia, Mental illness, Self-harm, Troubled
relationship, Animal cruelty
Josh Malerman: "A House at the Bottom of a Lake"
Major trigger warnings: A creepy read, though I can't really think of any trigger warnings.
Isolation, maybe.
Grady Hendrix: "The Final Girl Support Group"
Major trigger warnings: Blood, Violence, Murder, Gore, PTSD, Trauma
Samantha Schweblin: "Fever Dream"
Major trigger warnings: Parental anxiety, Animal death, Poisoning
Grady Hendrix: "My Best Friend's Exorcism"
Major trigger warnings: Death, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Drug use, Eating disorders,
Bullying, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt
Rumaan Alam: "Leave the World Behind"
Major trigger warnings: Body horror, Isolation, Emesis, Blood. The book is more like a
thriller read.
Jeff VanderMeer: "Annihilation"
Major trigger warnings: Blood, Gore, Body horror, Murder, Cancer, Grief, Manipulation, Animal
attack, Alcohol use, Suicide
Alex Michaelides: "The Silent Patient"
Major trigger warnings: Murder, Stalking, Self-harm, Cheating, Mental illness, Gaslighting,
Manupulation, Kidnapping
Chris Burton: "Call Us If You Get Possessed"
Major trigger warnings: Violence, Blood, Death, Murder, Gore, Mental problems, Loneliness,
Mild alcohol consumption, References to drug use, Suicide attempt
Chris Burton: "You Are What Eats You"
Major trigger warnings: Blood, Gore, Body horror, Murder, Drug use, Psychosis, Misogyny, Body
shaming, Body dysmorphia, Sexism
Chris Burton: "Shadows Over Sanviero"
Major trigger warnings: There is nothing I can think of.
Robert Louis Stevenson: "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde"
Major trigger warnings: Violence, Murder, Death, Assault on a child (stomping), Substance
abuse (kind of).
Hailey Piper: "Your Mind Is a Terrible Thing"
Major trigger warnings: Violence, Gore, Body horror, Death, Corpses, Mental health problems,
Body modification, Surgery, Sex (not in detail)
Scott Mariani: "House of Malice"
Major trigger warnings: Violence, Blood, Murder, Gore, Corpses, Animal death
Cassandra Khaw: "Nothing But Blackened Teeth"
Major trigger warnings: Murder, Blood, Gore, Violence, Suicide attempt discussed, Bones, Vivisepulture (being buried alive)
Kealan Patrick Burke: "Sour Candy"
Major trigger warnings: Suicide, Child murder, Violence, Blood, Death, Gore, Traffic accident
James Herbert: "The Rats"
Major trigger warnings: Let me tell you, there's a lot... Rats (who would have thought), Violence, Murder, Death, Child death, Gore, Blood, Questionable relationship between a boy and a man, Alcoholism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Sex, Cheating, Sexually transferred diseases, Self-harm
Gillian Flynn: "The Grownup"
Major trigger warnings: Sex (the main character is a sex worker), Cheating, Manipulation, Blood, Violence, Murder mentioned, Child murder mentioned, Suicide, Drowning, Vomit, Animal cruelty
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