Blood Moon

In Blood Moon, Brown delves into moral responsibility versus career loyalty through several different characters. The interplay between moral responsibility and career loyalty drives John, Beth, and Barker in different ways. The narrative contrasts characters who prioritize the truth with those who pursue career ambition at the cost of everything else.

Barker becomes the embodiment of career ambition over the truth or common decency. His character arc is defined by his unrelenting self-preservation and corruption. He orchestrated Billy Oliver’s confession because “solving” the case helped his career, but he was not interested in actually finding the real killer or even Crissy Mellin’s body. Since he committed this act of corruption, he’s been obsessed with hiding his own crimes. He conceals the case’s connection to the blood moon because it complicates his narrative and calls into question Billy’s guilt. This desperation to hide his own crimes leads him further and further down a path of destruction. He has Frank Gray intimidate Isabel Sanchez and then pretend that he kidnapped Molly in order to kill John. When his plan fails, he panics, kills Gray, and attempts to pin the crime on John. Barker’s character arc is an examination of moral decay, as he continues to sink to new lows to protect his own interests. His eventual personal ruin is a direct result of his obsession with protecting his career.

In contrast, John’s journey throughout the novel shows a powerful transformation from compromised loyalty to regaining moral responsibility. Initially, John feels guilt for giving in to Barker’s pressure in an attempt to secure a promotion for himself. His allegiance to his career over his integrity backfired; he did not get the promotion, he has been treated poorly by Barker, and his guilt over what he participated in ruined his marriage and threatened his relationship with his daughter. John realizing the extent of Barker’s corruption, and Beth’s determination to find out the truth about Crissy’s abduction, is the catalyst for his moral reawakening. John assaults Barker, ending his career, and he focuses entirely on solving the case with Beth.

Because of what Beth and John have done, they are viewed as unreliable to others. Both of their careers have been demolished. John points this out to Beth:

‘We’ve got nothing, Beth. Not even solid reputations to give us some believability…You’re being given credit for producing a true crime episode that you now claim isn’t true.’ He pointed to his own chest. ‘I’m a cop, known for the chip on his shoulder, who’s been fired and has an arrest warrant out for him. A bulletin from us would be immediately tossed’ (314).

Despite their lack of reputations, many colleagues do help John because they recognize Barker’s corruption. John puts himself in danger to solve the case and protect his daughter, atoning for any previous dereliction of duty. The Epilogue reveals that John becomes the head of the Crimes Against Persons unit, working beside Mitch Haskell and Isabel Sanchez, who share his integrity, symbolizing a triumph for truth and justice rather than corruption.

Beth also navigates this theme, but in a different way. While her career as a true-crime producer should be about uncovering the truth, her new boss, Winston Brady, is more interested in optics and ratings than an honest episode. Brady tells Beth to stop investigating—that the episode will air as is—and then fires her for continuing to pursue the truth. To add insult to injury, he attaches both Beth’s and Max Longren’s names and reputations to the flawed episode. Beth knows that airing the episode as it is will ruin the show’s reputation and destroy Max’s legacy and her career. Beth repeatedly illustrates that her primary drive is a commitment to the truth, not her own career. When Brady fires her, she continues to pursue the truth, even when she does not think it will keep the episode from airing and ruining her career. Ultimately, Beth is vindicated, Brady is fired, and she is offered his job. Beth’s eventual resignation from Crisis Point after completing the corrected Crissy Mellin episode solidifies her commitment to personal integrity over blind ambition. She chooses a career option—freelance editing—that is riskier but allows her to be with John.

Blood Moon illustrates that when a character is more focused on their career than their integrity or moral responsibilities, justice erodes and leads to tragic consequences. The narrative punishes characters who were ambitious at the expense of honesty, like Barker and Brady, while celebrating the characters who choose personal integrity and embrace moral responsibility, like Beth and John.