Butcher & Blackbird

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Chapter 7

Chapters 8-11

Chapters 12-16

Chapters 17-21

Chapter 22-Bonus Chapter

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Chapters 12-16Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 12 Summary: “Puzzles: Sloane”

Eight months later, Sloane video chats with Lark while in Boston, preparing to attend a gala with Rowan, who will be receiving an award for his restaurant. This counts as the favor that Sloane owes Rowan for giving David a job. Lark advises Sloane on which dress to wear and how to fix her hair. In addition to being a musician, Lark is a music therapist for kids and gives them gold star stickers when they do a good job. She jokingly gives one to Sloane for her outfit.

For the first six months after their last competition, Rowan and Sloane talked nearly every day. Lately, they have been talking less because Rowan is busy preparing to open another restaurant. Sloane is scared to enter a relationship with Rowan because she does not want to discover that she is unlovable. She is not used to intimacy or emotional closeness because the only person who has stuck by her is Lark; not even her parents are around anymore. Lark gives Sloane a pep talk about how great she is and how she deserves happiness, even if there is risk involved. Plus, the fact that Rowan invited her to the gala, and not somebody else, suggests he is interested too.

Sloane has to travel to Spain for work the following morning but looks forward to seeing Rowan regardless. She hangs up with Lark, finishes getting ready, and then heads to the lobby to meet Rowan, who kisses her neck. Rowan has hired a driver to transport them to the event. Rowan texts on his phone while chatting with Sloane about how busy he has been preparing to open the new restaurant and dealing with problems at the old one. David has been doing well washing dishes and lives at a group home.

At the event, Rowan charms everyone and seems to find socializing easy. Sloane finds it easy to talk to people when she is hunting them because she has a purpose, but otherwise, she finds social interaction difficult. However, Rowan makes it easier for her, and they chat with people throughout dinner. Sloane doubts whether she and Rowan deserve love or happiness, but she wants it nonetheless. They dance, and Rowan asks if Sloane wants to have “real fun” now. She looks forward to whatever this means until Rowan explains that he wants to kill a serial killer named Dr. Stephen Rostis together. Sloane is disappointed because she thought this was a date and not a murder activity. She would normally be excited to kill a serial killer, but now she feels crushed and worries that Rowan does not have romantic feelings for her after all. Rowan realizes Sloane does not want to kill someone tonight and seems pleased that she still showed up regardless, until his phone rings, alerting him of a problem at the restaurant that necessitates him leaving the event immediately.

Rowan texts Sloane the driver’s contact information, and she leaves the gala, heading back to her hotel to sleep. Rowan texts that he misses her, and she returns the sentiment. They both look forward to seeing each other again in August for their competition.

Chapter 13 Summary: “Humanity Eroded: Sloane”

Sloane and Rowan meet outside the rural, isolated house of this year’s target, Harvey Mead, who lives in Texas. They can hear him hacking someone up with a chainsaw. They both agree that they want Harvey to suffer regardless of who kills him. Rowan warns Sloane that Harvey is unusually large and strong. Sloane enters through the back door while Rowan enters through the front. The noise of the chainsaw has stopped, and it is now raining.

Sloane cannot hear any movement in the house, so she carefully goes through each room, searching for Harvey. She cannot find him anywhere, but she finds his mother’s mummified corpse. Finally, she enters a bedroom that is full of monitors showing views of different parts of the house. She sees Harvey sneaking up on Rowan, so she runs out of the room to help Rowan but collides with Harvey instead.

Chapter 14 Summary: “Shattered”

Outside, Harvey kicks Sloane down a hill, injuring her shoulder. Harvey drags Sloane to his cellar and locks her there. Another woman named Autumn is already down there, sobbing because Harvey just killed someone named Adam. Sloane promises Autumn that she is going to kill Harvey, but she is not sure if this makes Autumn feel better or not. Sloane texts Rowan that she is locked in the cellar, and he comes to let her out. Autumn wants to get out too, but Rowan tells her to stay there until they have killed Harvey.

Rowan inspects Sloane’s shoulder, saying it could be broken and she needs to see a doctor soon. He is upset that she got hurt because of his game and fears losing her. They kiss. Autumn escapes the cellar and Harvey chases her. Rowan gets an ax and attacks Harvey with it, then ties him up. Sloane retrieves Harvey’s mother’s corpse, touches Harvey with it, and pretends to make it talk. Harvey has a heart attack and dies, which disappoints Sloane because she wanted to torture him for longer. Meanwhile, Autumn wanders off, presumably to look for help. Rowan suggests they clean up and burn the house down before Autumn finds her way back to civilization and sends authorities to investigate. When they are done, they will go to Nebraska, which is relatively close, to have Fionn treat Sloane’s shoulder.

Chapter 15 Summary: “Imprints: Rowan”

Rowan drives Sloane toward Fionn’s house while she sleeps. She wakes up and frets over her appearance—she has several bruises and a boot print on her face. Rowan says she is beautiful like a “goddess of vengeance” (182). Sloane asks how Fionn feels about Rowan killing people since that seems like the opposite of a doctor’s purpose. Rowan says Fionn accepts him and Lachlan, and vice versa, after their “unconventional” childhood. After Rowan and Lachlan killed their dad, Rowan felt a sense of accomplishment instead of guilt, regret, or disgust. He wanted to kill more monstrous people to improve the world.

Rowan pulls into a gas station and buys a hat, sunglasses, and a clean shirt so that Sloane will feel comfortable going inside to use the restroom. They drive the rest of the way to Fionn’s house, but he is not home even though they told him they would be coming. The door is unlocked so they enter, but a woman named Rose whacks Rowan in the head with a crutch, then points a knife at him and demands to know who they are. They explain that Rowan is Fionn’s brother, and Rose calls Fionn to confirm this. Sloane rests on the couch while waiting for Fionn to return home. Rose reads tarot cards and warns Rowan that chaos, change, and pain will probably occur soon, but that knowledge will likely come out of it. This scares Rowan, and he worries that his relationship with Sloane could lead to her destruction.

Chapter 16 Summary: “Broken Revelations: Sloane”

Sloane recalls dreams about the moment after she killed the art teacher who abused Lark. Like Rowan, she felt relief instead of regret. She wakes up and remembers that Fionn put her shoulder back in place and gave her pain medicine. Sloane wants to take a bath, and Rowan offers to get Rose to help her, but she wants Rowan to help instead. He helps her bathe and then they start having sex. Rowan wants to know about Sloane’s numerous body piercings and does not want her to hide anything from him. Sloane worries about being loud, but Rowan does not want her to hold back even though they are at his brother’s house. They reveal their feelings for each other.

Chapters 12-16 Analysis

Sloane and Rowan usually only see each other when they meet for their annual competition, far away from their homes and everyday lives. When they visited each other’s cities in the last section, they observed each other but did not engage. In this section, however, Sloane accompanies Rowan to a gala celebrating his professional success. The event allows the two to observe aspects of their personalities that they keep separate from their killer identities, and opens up new aspects of The Nuances of Identity and The Complexities of Love in Dark Circumstances.

At the gala, Sloane is surprised to see a warmer, more gregarious part of Rowan: “His smile is easy, his laugh warm. His energy is infectious. Even though he’s capable of killing any one of them without remorse, he still puts people at ease, his mask infallible” (148). Sloane is slightly perturbed by this discovery, both because it contrasts so sharply with the Rowan she knows and because it reveals a significant difference between them. Unlike Rowan, Sloane feels uncomfortable with ordinary socializing. Sloane initially interprets this part of Rowan’s personality as a “mask,” suggesting that she sees it as a false persona that covers the “real” Rowan, who is the remorseless killer. But the truth is that both aspects of Rowan are real and that his identity, like Sloane’s, is a complicated patchwork of traits that emerge and recede in different settings. Furthermore, as the night proceeds, Sloane realizes that though she was initially shaken by discovering they are more different than she thought, their differences actually make them more compatible: “I find it hard to relate to people when I know they’re not shitbags who deserve to be relieved of their eyes. But with Rowan, it feels easier. He helps me make the first connections to other people. To find a common ground” (148). Rowan is a good partner for Sloane not just because they share a commitment to extrajudicial justice, but also because they complement each other as people. As their relationship evolves, both protagonists help each other grow into better, more capable, and happier versions of themselves.

The events that unfold during this section’s annual competition killing of Harvey Mead also reinforce the burgeoning partnership between Sloane and Rowan. While Rowan killed their first target and Sloane their second, they collaborate to take down Mead: Rowan subdues him with an ax, then Sloane causes his death by taunting him with his mother’s corpse. The fact that they each contribute equally to Mead’s demise demonstrates how the two complement each other. The Mead killing also advances their relationship more directly, setting up the inciting incident that kick-starts their relationship. While killing Harvey Mead, Sloane gets injured and her life is endangered, which inspires Rowan to seize the chance to kiss her, confess his true feelings, and have sex with her. Given that their relationship is based on murder, it is appropriate that its consummation comes after a murder and as a result of the intense emotions that mortal danger inspires. Although the protagonists’ unconventional and dark circumstances create many romantic challenges, these circumstances also become interwoven with the romance.

Even after Sloane and Rowan make it clear that they have romantic feelings for each other, Rowan still worries about whether a relationship is a safe or good idea, especially after the foreshadowing provided by Rose’s tarot card reading. Rose’s cards predict that a chaotic event will happen, which will reveal the truth about something but will also be potentially destructive. Reflecting the protagonists’ ongoing doubts about The Ethics of Vigilante Justice, Rowan worries that he will be Sloane’s destruction even if he does not mean to be. The cards’ foreshadowing comes true later in the book, but it is not Rowan who will threaten to destroy Sloane, but rather David. In reality, Sloane and Rowan do not put each other in further danger but save each other’s lives a couple of times throughout the text.