Blood Moon

Beth is the primary female protagonist in Blood Moon. She is a producer at the hit true-crime show Crisis Point, and she lives in New York City, though she’s from Louisiana. Beth is shown as principled, driven, and unwavering in her search for the truth, but she has also felt alienated from other people after she lost her parents and sister years ago. Her only close friend is her mentor and boss, Max Longren. She, like John, experiences The Lingering Effects of Trauma and the Search for Healing. Her father killed her mother and then himself because they felt like they had nothing to live for after their younger daughter died, so Beth is determined to always have a purpose. She chooses that “something” to be the rigorous search for the truth. The Crissy Mellin case stuck with her long after they finished the episode because something felt wrong. While researching, she found the connection between the other abductions and the blood moon.

Beth epitomizes Moral Responsibility Versus Career Loyalty because she sees her duty to the truth as more important than her career. She is ambitious, but she knows that continuing to pursue Crissy’s case puts her career at risk. Ultimately, she’s fired for her pursuit. Beth becomes a catalyst for John’s transformation, but he helps her transform as well. She falls in love with him, and after she completes the Crissy episode, she resigns from her job and returns to Louisiana to be with him. Her personal relationship with John becomes more important than the career that had been her entire life before. In the Epilogue, Beth is dismissive of the possibility that she might get an Emmy because of her episode on Crissy. The professional accolades are not as important as telling the story honestly and with integrity. Once she succeeds in her goal, she resigns and moves to Louisiana. This shows that while her only purpose before meeting John was to seek out the truth, she might have a greater purpose moving forward.

Barker serves as one of the two antagonists in Blood Moon. He is John’s boss at the police department, and he got the promotion that John wanted after the Crissy Mellin case. Barker’s character explores the dark side of the theme of Moral Responsibility Versus Career Loyalty. He decided to quickly close Crissy’s case by coercing Billy Oliver into confessing, and he continues to cover up his corruption throughout the novel. Barker has suppressed several crucial pieces of evidence—the connection between Crissy’s case and the blood moon and Billy’s dyslexia. He dispatches Frank Gray to intimidate anyone who might attempt to question Billy’s guilt while simultaneously punishing anyone in the police department who does not fall into line, most notably John. After Crissy’s case, Barker didn’t fire John, but he gave him the worst jobs in the department in the hope that he would eventually quit.

Barker is vindictive and focused on appearance over substance. He is outraged that so many of his officers are loyal to John even after John is fired, but his bullying drives them further away. Barker is willing to use anyone for his personal gain, even attempting to use Molly’s kidnapping to his benefit by convincing John that he had her. This is the climax of his desperation to hide the proof of his corruption because he is willing to kill John. Ultimately, he kills Gray because he wants to frame John for the murder.

Barker eventually pays the price for his corruption. He is arrested and charged for murder, and his wife divorces him. These are direct consequences of his relentless pursuit of self-interest over his moral responsibility to the public. He stands as an example of what happens when a person has career loyalty and ambition and does not have integrity.