The Symbol of Blood in Lights Out

The Many Meanings of Blood

Blood flows through Lights Out as a recurring concrete symbol that shifts from the clinical to the intimate, from evidence of trauma to a mark of shared desire. In a novel that blends dark romance with thriller elements, blood never remains merely a bodily fluid—it becomes a vessel for guilt, life, and the deepening complicity between Aly Cappellucci and Josh. The symbol first appears in the trigger warnings, which list "Blood and gore (in a hospital setting)" and "Description of a violent death (remembered)." From there, it weaves through the story, gaining new layers each time it is spilled, cleaned, or contemplated.

Blood as a Symbol of Guilt and Complicity

The most charged instance of blood occurs off-page: the death of Bradley Bluhm. Though the novel never describes his corpse directly, the aftermath is saturated with references to blood. Aly and Josh rely on her mob family to dispose of the body, and the clean-up is a bloodless act of erasure—yet the guilt remains. Josh, reflecting on his father’s crimes, thinks of how the mob’s opulence was “built on the bones of victims,” a metaphoric bloodshed that echoes their own. When Aly later considers Brad’s flight to a non-extradition country in the epilogue, she chooses to focus on freedom rather than the literal blood on their hands. The couple’s shared secret is a stain no amount of cleaning can remove.

Earlier, blood marks Josh’s own past. He is the son of a notorious serial killer, a man who covered himself in real blood before being caught. Josh, by contrast, uses fake blood in his masked videos—“to horrify and titillate millions of strangers.” This deliberate substitution distances him from his father’s nature. Yet when he accidentally cuts his hand on Aly’s knife during their first sexual encounter, real blood appears. Aly, a trauma nurse, stitches the wound at her kitchen table. The moment transforms blood from abstract danger to tangible evidence of trust: she wields the blade, he bleeds, and she repairs him. This complicity binds them.

Blood as a Marker of Life and Desire

For Aly, blood is part of her professional life. She works in a trauma unit where “Blood and gore” are daily realities. After a difficult shift, she sees the sunrise as “the arterial red of freshly spilled blood,” a morbid comparison that reveals how her work has bled into her perception of beauty. Yet she also craves the darkness of the Faceless Man, whose videos often feature him shirtless and “covered in blood.” When she finds his mask on her bed, she wonders if the blood in his videos is real and whether she is about to become a victim—but instead of fleeing, she feels arousal. Blood, for her, becomes a signal of life, danger, and the authenticity of his obsession.

The couple’s consensual scenes repeatedly involve blood. In chapter 15, Josh stabs a knife into Aly’s mattress and commands her to “ride it,” drawing no actual blood but invoking the threat of it. In the red-lit room where he punishes her, the setting itself mimics blood. When they later make love after removing his mask, the gentleness contrasts with the earlier crimson-tinged power exchange. Blood symbolizes not only violence but the vitality of their connection—each time it appears, it reinscribes their choice to be together in the dark.

Blood as a Bridge Between Trauma and Healing

Aly’s past trauma is also linked to blood. She caused the car accident that killed her mother at sixteen. The memory returns when she treats a car-accident victim, triggering a PTSD flashback that leaves her unable to continue. Josh comforts her, reframing her guilt, and she then initiates a scene with “no safe words.” Blood here is absent—the memory of it drives the need for expiation. By choosing Josh, Aly confronts the guilt she carries and replaces it with a consensual darkness that heals rather than destroys.

Similarly, Josh’s own blood—the cut on his hand—becomes a souvenir. Aly saves the bloody rags for DNA testing, hoping to learn his identity. The test fails because Josh swapped the hair sample, but the rags themselves are evidence of intimacy. They are also evidence of a promise broken: Aly had agreed not to investigate him. The blood thus symbolizes the couple’s ongoing negotiation of trust and deception. In the end, when they play a predator-prey game in the forest, blood is only implied—the struggle is physical but clean, a sign that their bond has moved beyond the need for literal blood to mark commitment.

Blood and the Nature of Violence

The novel uses blood to differentiate between real violence and performative violence. Josh’s father killed without purpose; Josh uses fake blood for entertainment and real blood only in consensual play. Brad Bluhm, the rapist and possible serial killer, leaves no visible blood in the story—his violence is hidden, his victims silenced. When Aly confronts Brad in the hospital, she notes his steady pulse and normal blood pressure, a clinical reading that reveals his lack of empathy. Blood, here, is a vital sign that marks the difference between a predator who spills others’ blood and a man who only spills his own in a shared act.

Ultimately, blood in Lights Out is never just red. It carries the weight of family legacy, professional trauma, erotic surrender, and the couple’s willing entanglement in violence. For Aly and Josh, every drop is a choice: to own their darkness, to trust each other, and to wash the guilt away together.

Study Questions and Answers

1. How does the symbolic meaning of blood change from the hospital setting to Josh’s videos to the couple’s private scenes?
In the hospital, blood is clinical—a sign of injury or disease that Aly treats with detachment. In Josh’s videos, blood is performative and erotic, a deliberate aesthetic that attracts Aly. In their private scenes (the cut hand, the mattress knife, the red-lit room), blood becomes a token of trust and shared transgression. It moves from something to be healed to something to be desired, then to something that seals complicity.

2. Why does Aly save the bloody rags from Josh’s wound, and what does this reveal about her character?
Aly saves the rags to run a DNA test, hoping to identify Josh. This reveals her dual nature: she is a trauma nurse trained to preserve evidence, yet she also wants control over the mystery man who obsesses over her. The act is both professional and personal—she uses her hospital connections despite feeling guilty. It shows she is unwilling to surrender fully to the unknown, even as she embraces the risk.

3. In what ways does blood connect Josh’s past (his father’s crimes) to his present relationship with Aly?
Josh’s father used real blood in his killings; Josh uses fake blood in his masked persona. When Josh accidentally bleeds in front of Aly, he breaks the pattern of performance. Aly’s stitching the wound is an act of care that accepts his real blood—and, by extension, his real self. The blood marks a transition from hiding to intimacy. Josh later reflects on his father’s crimes as “sick” while his own blood—shared consensually—becomes a bond rather than a violation.

4. How does the absence of blood in Brad Bluhm’s death scene affect the reader’s perception of the couple’s guilt?
Brad’s death happens off-page; no blood is described. This erasure makes the murder feel abstract, almost justified—the narrative focuses on the clean-up and the cover-up, not the gory details. The absence of blood allows the reader to sympathize with Aly and Josh, who believe Brad deserved his fate. The symbol is inverted: the “bad” character’s blood is invisible, while the “good” characters’ blood (Josh’s cut) is seen and addressed, reinforcing the story’s moral ambiguity.