The Chrysalids/YMMV

Nightmare Fuel: The novel contains generous helpings of this. For example, there's Uncle Axel's description of a certain man named Grouth, then there's the wildcat-like creature that attacks Petra, then there's the revelation of Sophie's female castration...
- The fact that David dreams of his father slaughtering Sophie and Petra for being mutants speaks volumes of how frightening Joseph Strorm is.
Complete Monster: Joseph Strorm is NOT a nice man.
Ensemble Darkhorse: Ask anybody who's read this book and most of them would tell you that Michael is their favorite character.
Iron Woobie: David is a "Well Done, Son" Guy of a Complete Monster of a father and an overly stoic mother. He has a secret that would probably ensure instant death if he ever told it to his father, his mother thinks he is a nuisance, he gets savagely beaten up while trying to protect the very few people that he loves and then he has to deal with the consequences of his secret actually being exposed later into the novel. He still keeps fighting.
Moral Event Horizon: We already know from early in the story that Joseph Strorm is a complete and utter douche, but he crosses the line into being a loathsome monster when he brutally whips David hard enough to require him getting his back dressed, all to force information on Sophie's family out of him.
- The inspector, of all people, arguably crosses this in the implication that he oversees, or takes part in, the Cold-Blooded Torture of Sally and Katherine to get information on the other Chrysalids, resulting in their deaths.
- Gordon crosses it when he tries to rape Rosalind.
Never Live It Down: Joseph Strorm once slew a neighbor's tailless cat as a deviant, because the cat had never naturally possessed a tail as opposed to having lost it in some way. Later investigations would substantiate that prior to "Tribulation," there was in fact a recognized species of tailless cat (probably the Manx) with a well-documented history. The local inspector is fond of citing this embarrassing blot on Mr. Strorm's Knight Templar reputation for the sole purpose of calling him out on his irrational bigotry.
The Woobie: David's Aunt Harriet, who has already given birth to two deformed children and is in danger of being divorced by her husband, and herself being sent out of society, if she gives birth to a third deformed child.
- Then there's Rachel, one of the Nakama, who gives the others play-by-play information on what's happening back on the home front. They feel her mind breaking under torture...
- Katherine and Sally, who undergo torture to the point of death in order to keep the other chrysalids safe. Makes it all the more heartbreaking that they eventually crack.