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 book titles to reveal the list of triggers. Type into the search bar below to filter the list, or click any letters to jump there:
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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
Chris Burton: "Club Hellhole: Stories of Horror and Weird Fiction"
Major trigger warnings: Death, Violence, Murder, Gore, Drug use, Self-harm, Suicide, Eating disorders, Vomit, Psychological distress, Trauma, Mental illness
Clive Barker: "Mister B. Gone"
Major trigger warnings: Violence, Domestic violence, Alcoholism, Burning people alive, Murder, Mutilation, Torture, Sex, Animal cruelty (briefly mentioned), Pedophilia (briefly mentioned), Self-harm, Suicide attempt
Megan Hunter: "The Harpy"
Major trigger warnings: Cheating, Violence, Domestic violence, Blood, Rape (only briefly recounted)
Elisabeth Thomas: "Catherine House"
Major trigger warnings: Isolation, Captivity, Sex, Blood, Alcohol, Manipulation, Death, Suicide implied, Experiments on animals and people
Samanta Schweblin: "Mouthful of Birds"
Major trigger warnings: Abandonment, Animal murder, Murder, Violence, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Children disappearing
Chuck Palahniuk: "Survivor"
Major trigger warnings: Suicide, Plane hijacking, Manipulation, Violence, Murder, Animal harm, Substance abuse, Mental illness, Child abuse
Richard Matheson: "I Am Legend"
Major trigger warnings: Blood, Violence, Death, Murder, Isolation, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Mental illness
Paul Tremblay: "Cabin at the End of the World"
Major trigger warnings: Violence, Murder, Blood, Gore, Isolation, Natural disasters, Home invasion
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" (Molly Southbourne trilogy #1)
Major trigger warnings: Animal death, Blood, Violence, Murder, Sickness, Death by sickness,
Kidnapping, Self-harm
Tade Thompson: "The Survival of Molly Southbourne" (Molly Southbourne trilogy #2)
Major trigger warnings: Blood, Violence, Murder, Gore, Self-harm, Suicide, Mental illness, Institutionalization, Kidnapping, Sickness (tumor)
Stephen King and Richard Chizmar: "Gwendy's Button Box"
Major trigger warnings: Sexual assault, Stalking, Suicide, Mass suicide, Murder, Gore
Joyce Carol Oates: "Jack of Spades"
Major trigger warnings: Murder, Violence, Gore, Blood, Mental illness, Institutionalization, Robbery, Animal death, Suicide
Max Porter: "Lanny"
Major trigger warnings: Violence, Animal cruelty, Blood, Gore, Child disappearing (and in connection with this, speculation about sexual assault, murder, pedophilia)
Susan Hill: "The Small Hand"
Major trigger warnings: Murder, Mental illness, Suicide, Death, Child death, Drowning
Daisy Johnson: "Fen"
Major trigger warnings: Death, Hunting, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Eating disorder, Cannibalism, Sexual weirdness, Cheating
Layla Martínez: "Woodworm"
Major trigger warnings: Kidnapping, Stalking, Harassment, Murder, Child murder, Death, Violence, Manipulation, Exploitation (forced prostitution), Domestic violence, Cheating
A. M. Shine: "The Watchers"
Major trigger warnings: Murder, 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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