Blood Moon

True crime is a genre that explores real or realistically inspired criminal cases through books, podcasts, documentaries, and television. While it can raise awareness, promote justice, and memorialize victims, it also faces criticism for sensationalizing violence and sometimes reinforcing biases in the legal system. In fiction, true-crime media can serve as a lens through which to critique both justice systems and public consumption of crime narratives. Sandra Brown’s Blood Moon situates itself in this conversation by using the fictional show Crisis Point to interrogate the ethics, failures, and potential of the genre.

Crime media plays a pivotal role in the novel. Crisis Point is a fictional true crime show dissecting the Crissy Mellin case. In some ways, it brings attention to the case that encourages accountability, but it also sensationalizes and—in the case of the original episode—reproduces an incorrect narrative that threatens to ruin the reputation of an innocent man, Billy Oliver. This demonstrates that true crime can inadvertently support false narratives and injustice. The novel draws attention to the real-world consequences of such misrepresentation, including wrongful convictions, character assassinations, and irreversible harm to victims’ families.

Brown’s portrayal of the genre reflects a growing cultural debate about who controls crime narratives and to what end. As podcasts and streaming series elevate certain cases to the national spotlight, questions arise about which victims are amplified, which are ignored, and how storytelling choices shape public opinion. By embedding these questions into a fictional thriller, Blood Moon uses genre fiction to comment on nonfictional trends.

Beth Collins, the journalist protagonist, ultimately redeems the genre by challenging the original false narrative and pursuing the truth despite institutional resistance. In this way, Brown suggests that true-crime media is not inherently exploitative or noble. It is a tool, and its impact depends on how and why it is wielded.

Through its layered depiction of media ethics, Blood Moon highlights both the dangers and redemptive potential of the true-crime genre. It invites readers to think critically not only about the story within the novel but also about the real-world stories they consume and believe.

True-crime media shaping public perception is similarly explored in Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, which critiques how the media distorts criminal cases, or the HBO series The Case Against Adnan Syed, which examines wrongful convictions and investigative bias and began as a podcast. Like Blood Moon, these narratives blur the line between justice and spectacle, demonstrating the danger of truth becoming entertainment.