66 pages • 2-hour read
Blood Moon
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Chapters 10-17Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, child death, and death by suicide.
Chapter 10 Summary
Beth compliments John’s culinary skills: The gumbo he reheated was delicious. He says that the recipe is a secret. She jokes about him having to kill her, and he mentions a friendlier swap. Their chemistry is undeniable, and John hurriedly rises to clean up. John offers Beth a burner phone to call Max and check in. Beth tells Max that she didn’t take her flight and fills him in on her day. She doesn’t tell Max about the incident with Frank Gray and John and their escape into the bayou.
Max suggests that Beth drop the case, as Winston Brady came to see him. Brady asked why the production office received two calls asking about Beth. Brady got a call from Tom Barker asking why Beth contacted one of his detectives. Max told Brady that Beth is from Louisiana and was visiting friends, but Brady did not believe him. Max tells her that she will not wear down John, so she should just come back and make nice with Brady. Beth is hurt that Max does not believe in her but tells him that she’s staying until after the blood moon.
John showered and changed while Beth was on the phone. John asks her about the call, and she tells him that Max is peeved. She says that Barker called Brady asking about her. John asks about the disappearances in 2018. In January, a 19-year-old woman in Jackson, Mississippi, went missing while biking home from work. In July, a woman in her early twenties disappeared while walking her dog. Beth claims that they’re regional, but John tells her it’s a stretch. She believes that the abductions began in 2018. Beth could not find any other missing women during previous blood moons, and the two blood moons in 2018 were significant. The blood moon in January 2018 was also a blue moon—two full moons within a month. Beth asks John if he’s getting drunk, as he’s becoming obnoxious. He apologizes and admits that he’s upset from talking about the case. The blood moon in July 2018 was significant because the total eclipse lasted 103 minutes—the longest-lasting blood moon of the 21st century.
John admits that her observations are compelling, but he cannot go through the case again. The Crissy Mellin case destroyed his life, ending his marriage and ruining his career. Barker hates John because John did not believe that Billy Oliver was the killer. Beth says that if she’s right, a killer will attack on Thursday. John tells her that she can stop him then and drinks more bourbon. Beth tells him that it’s callous for him to sit by while another woman is attacked. She tells him that she was beginning to think she’d misjudged him, but her first impression of his “arrogant disregard” was accurate.
John says that he argued that Billy was not a good suspect and that they needed to look at other people. Barker wanted to be done with the case, so he assigned Gray to interrogate Billy, and Gray got Billy to confess. John admits that he capitulated because he was vying for the same promotion that Barker was, and he feels disgusted with himself because of it. Then, John has an almost uncontrollable urge to kiss Beth. He tells her to get away from him and never to accuse him of being unfeeling, or he’ll “show [her] different” (121).
Chapter 11 Summary: “Monday March 10”
An unnamed man jogs through a park, irritated by the rain. It reminds him of the weather on November 7, 2022. There was fog, rain, and cloud cover, so he was not able to see the “glorious red moon” (122). He knew the exact moment of the eclipse and was impatient for it to happen. He’d had a normal evening with his family and then made an excuse to cruise the streets for a woman within the required age range. It was easy to find one, which he felt was destiny. He’d taken Crissy’s red-blonde hair as a sign that she was meant to be his sacrifice but was upset when she fought him. Because she fought him, he could not enjoy the experience like he’d hoped.
The man was excited for the next blood moon, and he was determined to find a sacrifice who “understood how special she was to be selected, who would be compliant and accept with humility and gratitude her reason for being born” (124). The man finishes his jog and walks back to his car, but he’s frustrated with the rain. He is convinced that the sacrifice would have gone seamlessly if he had been able to see the blood moon before. He wonders if Mother Nature will ruin the experience again.
Chapter 12 Summary
When Beth gets up, John is already gone. He went to get Beth’s things from his house. Beth goes into John’s room while he’s gone and looks around. She finds a photograph beside the bed. In it, John looks truly happy standing beside a young girl. Beth thinks that she would like to know the John in that photograph, and then she goes to take a shower. John returns as she gets out of the shower. There’s sexual tension between them. He tells her that after she’s dressed, she can tell him where to drop her off. Beth is disappointed that he won’t help her investigate the case.
John leads Beth to the car he keeps on the property. He takes her to the hotel, and she thanks him for the help. He tells her that she should fly back to New York. She asks him who the girl in the photograph is, and he tells her it is his daughter. She apologizes for opening old wounds. Then, he leans over and kisses her. He then tells her to make sure that she’s on the flight. Beth goes into the hotel and turns to get one last look, but John is already driving away.
Chapter 13 Summary
John almost runs into Frank Gray. John is uncharacteristically friendly to Gray, which makes Gray suspicious. John asks if Barker is in, and Gray asks him why he wants to know. John lies, and Gray calls him on it. Gray pushes past John and tells him that he’s onto him. John tells him that he’s onto him too and flicks a gum wrapper at him. John found the gum wrapper on his property from when Gray circled his house the previous night. John goes to his desk and attempts to work, but his thoughts return to Beth.
John takes out the thumb drive with Crissy Mellin’s case file. John calls Detective Morris, who oversees Larissa Whitmore’s case. Morris says that she did consider the relationship to the blood moon but could not find a connection between the man they arrested for Larissa’s disappearance—Patrick Dobbs—and the other missing women. She tells John that she tipped his department about the link to the blood moon, and John asks whom she spoke to.
John slams through Barker’s office door and picks him up by his shirt and punches him in the nose. John accuses him of knowing about the connection to the blood moon and the missing cases. He tells him that if he sends Gray out to his house again, he’s going to shoot him. Barker tells John that he’s going to charge him with assault and fires him. As John leaves, he warns Gray that if he messes with him again, he’ll shoot him.
Chapter 14 Summary
John goes to Beth’s hotel and asks what room she’s in. When he gets to the room, he tells Beth that he’s concerned about what Barker will do to her and that he needs to get her out of the hotel. There’s a knock at the door; it’s John’s best friend, Mitch. John thanks him for the favor. Beth is surprised to see the man from the seedy bar they first met at. Mitch is going to drive them somewhere, but Beth will not go until John explains. John tells Beth what he found out from Detective Morris about the connection between Crissy Mellin and Larissa Whitmore. He tells her that Barker knew that Crissy was abducted on a blood-moon night but hid that information. John tells her that things will get much more dangerous and that she should fly back to New York. Beth refuses.
John tells her that if she agrees to help him, he’s not affiliated with any department. They will need to be secretive and stay in the fishing cabin. Mitch brings his truck around, and John and Beth get in. John will go back to his house and get his boat and Mutt. Mitch takes Beth to get provisions, and John gives her two prepaid debit cards.
Barker’s wife starts crying at the sight of his broken nose. After surgery, when he’s at home, he wonders if he’s going to be a laughingstock. Gray visits Barker at home. Gray tells him that John and Beth have been in the hotel all afternoon. Gray points out that people in the department admire John, and Gray points out that while Barker has been trying to make John look bad, he’s made himself look worse. Gray tells Barker that he’ll always be loyal to him but warns him not to double-cross him. Gray promises that he’ll turn on Barker if he does.
Chapter 15 Summary
When John gets to the cabin, he’s annoyed to see Beth and Mitch having a good time. Beth is ready to get to work but wants to call Max first. Beth goes into the bedroom, and Mitch asks John if he knows what he’s doing. He points out that John wouldn’t have gotten involved in the case if not for Beth. John tells him that he has to do this so that he can live with himself.
Beth asks Max to tell her exactly what happened. Max admits that he manipulated her so that she would investigate the blood-moon angle. Max wishes that he’d handled the episode better and tried to get John to speak with him when he had the chance. Max tells Beth to get the Emmy for him.
Chapter 16 Summary
Beth tells John about her call with Max. John tells her that he called Detective Morris and got the names of the lead detectives on the two other cases. John talked to Detective Roberts, who agreed to send his case file to John. Detective Cougar was also cooperative and assured John that his department would watch its suspects on Thursday, the night of the next blood moon. All the detectives were skeptical of the blood-moon angle, and John cannot blame them. He notes that none of them have sent them their case files yet.
John reviews his interview with Carla Mellin, which ended antagonistically. He plans to ask some trustworthy people in his department for help. He calls his contacts in the department, and they all agree to help but warn him not to underestimate Barker. Beth is cooking dinner, and she added names to the contact list. John informs her that Gracie Oliver—the grandmother of Billy Oliver, the suspect in Crissy’s case—is dead. John had to inform her that her grandson died by suicide.
Chapter 17 Summary
As Beth and John eat omelets, John asks if Beth is in a relationship. She says that she’s not but that she lived with a man. He cheated on her, so she left him. Beth shares that she had a sister who died from a brain tumor at 16. A week before Beth graduated from college, a neighbor found her parents dead in their bed. It was ruled a murder and death by suicide, but Beth believes that her parents made a pact to die together because they had nothing to live for. John reminds her that her parents still had her, but she tells him that wasn’t enough. Then, the case files from Cougar and Roberts arrive.
Beth and John go through the files, but there is very little evidence. John speculates that the serial killer is working within a region and may have set up a structure to commit the murders. Beth wonders how the killer lured the young women into his vehicle. John and Beth both believe that the killer has a lair where he transports them. They discuss what the victims may have had in common to attract the serial killer, and John suggests that “maybe it’s the victims who are fixated on the blood moon, not the perp” (189). John calls Detective Morris and asks if Larissa Whitmore was interested in the occult. Morris says that Larissa was not. John shares that he thought the women might have been taken while watching the moon. Morris tells him that the 2018 blood moons in Shreveport and Jackson were in the daylight, so they would not have been impressive.
Chapters 10-17 Analysis
In this section, the symbol of the blood moon grows more urgent and is now directly tied to the killer’s worldview and timeline, while rain begins to emerge as a symbolic force that disrupts clarity, both literally and metaphorically. The emotional stakes heighten as John reveals that he initially cooperated with the department’s cover-up in hopes of earning the same promotion as Barker—a confession that deepens his self-loathing and underscores the personal cost of compromise. Max’s wish for Beth to win him an Emmy serves as a double-edged sword: It confirms her skill and ambition but also forces her to confront the ethical boundaries of true-crime journalism and the industry’s appetite for spectacle.
These chapters also introduce the killer’s perspective, offering insight into his obsession with ritual and visibility; his frustration with the rain and fixation on a “compliant” victim reflect a warped desire for control and cosmic meaning. The novel’s structure—continuing to shift between John, Beth, the killer, and antagonists like Barker and Gray—keeps the tension taut and reveals the many forces working to suppress the truth. As John and Beth begin to work together more closely, their relationship shifts from mutual suspicion to emotional intimacy, yet this closeness is constantly imperiled by external threats. Every choice they make now risks not just their careers but also their lives—signaling that the consequences of past silence are catching up to them and that action is no longer optional.
Brown primarily explores Moral Responsibility Versus Career Loyalty through John and Barker. Barker’s use of Frank Gray to threaten John and anyone who jeopardizes his career shows a chilling commitment to keeping his secrets. In contrast, John moves from being initially reluctant to help Beth with the Crissy Mellin case to steering the investigation. John’s transformation is catalyzed by conscience, marking a sharp departure from his former complicity. Even though he is fired and threatened with arrest, John continues the investigation, demonstrating how moral clarity can outweigh professional consequence. The novel also presents John and Barker as thematic foils. Where Barker clings to power and secrecy, John learns to relinquish control in order to pursue justice. Importantly, John’s former colleagues—like Mitch and Detective Morris—as well as law enforcement from outside jurisdictions, are willing to help him once he commits to doing the right thing. This suggests that, despite what John perceives as unforgivable mistakes, he remains admired for his integrity and potential to lead.
The Lingering Effects of Trauma and the Search for Healing continue to shape both John’s and Beth’s actions. This section illustrates John’s sustained regret over Crissy’s case. In particular, John feels agony over Gracie Oliver, Billy Oliver’s grandmother. John informed her that her grandson died by suicide, which destroyed her. John’s grief over his part in this reveals his strong sense of empathy. The fact that Gracie died after her grandson—and will never know that Billy was forced to confess—adds to John’s anguish. This occurred when John chose to take on the persona of cold indifference that Beth complained about earlier in the novel. John’s unresolved grief over Billy and Gracie fuels his eventual decision to re-engage with the case because he wants to redeem himself. His guilt, which initially leads to isolation and emotional detachment, becomes a catalyst for transformation once he begins to trust Beth and accept his mistakes. By allowing himself to feel and express emotion, John begins to move through the trauma rather than remain defined by it.
Beth’s personal traumas are also introduced in this section, and the reader learns that her sister—her parents’ favorite—died, which led to her parents’ murder and death by suicide. Beth states that her parents died because they had nothing to live for, which suggests that Beth did not feel valued by her parents. After losing her family, Beth found purpose in her relentless pursuit of justice for others as a way of healing from her past and gaining a sense of control in a world riddled with crime and loss. Beth is driven by her intuition and professional expertise. Despite her network and bosses claiming the Crissy episode is complete, Beth continued to research the case until she uncovered the blood-moon connection. Her work ethic, emotional resilience, and disregard for institutional approval all reflect a deep internal wound and an ongoing need to assert moral clarity where others have failed. Beth and John begin to bond not just over the case but through their shared emotional scars, which creates space for mutual understanding and connection. Their willingness to be vulnerable with one another, despite years of guarding their emotions, allows for the possibility of healing.
The theme of Truth, Justice, and the Cost of Silence is enhanced in this section. Barker deliberately suppressed the blood-moon connection because it complicated a case that he wanted closed for his own career advancement. By silencing the truth, Barker not only endangered future victims but also distorted the justice system, using it as a tool for personal promotion rather than public accountability. John attempted to fight against his department and was labeled a “bad apple” and, ultimately, silenced for three years by Barker. John’s preparations for pursuit indicate that he always suspected that Crissy’s case would resurface. John has burner phones, an unlisted address, and even a secret fishing cabin with a vehicle, which indicate that he knew that, at some point, the case would return. These choices position John as someone who has internalized the cost of speaking out and has prepared himself for the eventual reckoning. In this way, the novel critiques the systems that enable bad systems by silencing the people who try to do the right thing.
The narrative’s use of visual parallels reflects the deepening connection between John and Beth. Beth is moved by a photograph of John smiling with his daughter, an image that humanizes him and suggests a once softer self. This moment encourages her to trust him more fully. Later, John sees Beth laughing with Mitch and becomes irrationally angry, a sign of his growing emotional investment and jealousy. These reactions show that both characters are beginning to let down their emotional defenses, even if they don’t fully understand the depth of their bond yet. The fact that they retreat to John’s secluded family fishing cabin underscores this emotional shift. The cabin is the only place where they feel safe enough to work, away from institutional scrutiny and personal danger. It also functions as a liminal space—part sanctuary, part surveillance outpost—and symbolizes both John’s past and his potential for change. The remoteness of the bayou offers them freedom, but it also reinforces how easily a killer could remain undetected. The region’s isolation, combined with unpredictable weather and loosely enforced jurisdictional lines, enables the killer to operate in secrecy. In this way, the physical setting becomes a mirror of the novel’s moral terrain: murky, dangerous, and shaped by forces just beyond visibility.
These chapters mark a decisive shift in the novel’s momentum, as characters transition from reluctance and avoidance to action and exposure. John’s moral reckoning and Beth’s unshakable resolve intersect to drive the investigation forward, while Barker’s increasingly desperate attempts to preserve his power underscore the destructive nature of institutional silence. John and Beth’s alliance is forged in opposition to the system that once defined them both. The blood moon becomes more than a metaphor for danger; it is a countdown to reckoning as unresolved cases, personal pain, and long-suppressed truths edge closer to the surface.
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