The Gods Will Have Blood Summary

The book opens with the visit of Evariste to the General Assembly of the Section. This Assembly headquarter's are in the old church of the Barnabites, which is destroyed by the Republicans and now serves the purpose of bringing citizens to trial, proving their innocence or punishing them with death. Evariste is a regular visitor to this place; he considers those not coming as indifferent to the Republic so, in his opinion, they should be fined in order for their presence and voting in meetings to be mandatory.

After he leaves the headquarters he goes home. He lives in an old house with his mother. An artist, Evariste has it difficult to make enough money for himself and his mother, because making money through art is really difficult in that period when no one outside France is interested in its art. Yet he is not concerned; Evariste doesn't care about money, his only thoughts are helping the nation, the innocent, and protecting them from wrongdoers. This serves as a source for argues between him and his mother, who is more realistic and states that in fact, all the people in France are starving and that all of the French money is abroad, while French people own none of it. Evariste argues that these short-term hardships are necessary to gain long-term happiness, and then his mother goes on describing how she brought him to life, her hardships, and how Evariste turned to be such a compassionate and helping son.

On that same day, Evariste goes to Jean Blaise’s shop. Jean Blaise is a print seller, as well as a dealer in ornamental boxes, fancy goods, and games of all sorts. He lives only with his daughter, Elodie, whom Evariste fancies. Evariste goes to Blaise to present him his idea; a Revolutionary pack of deck, in which for kings, queens, and knaves are substituted Liberties, Equalities, Fraternities. Evariste thinks that this type of deck is necessary because words such as king or knave hurt the ears of the Patriots. However, Blaise rejects his idea because he thinks that it will not be successful and won’t make Evariste any money; people who play cards won’t change the ones they are used to with the new ones. Then they start having a heated debate over the Revolution that ends with Evariste leaving the shop in furry, saying farewell to Jean Blaise.

After a letter sent to Elodie, in which Evariste explains that he cannot visit her shop anymore because he and her father do not share the same views, Evariste and Elodie arrange a meeting. In that meeting, Elodie finally manages to convince Evariste to express his love for her. Then they spend many hours talking to each other about love. They start seeing each other every day in the morning. In one of these days, Elodie tells him about her first lover, how he managed to seduce her and then left her. Evariste is determined to revenge against this man, but Elodie doesn't show him the name of the man.

One day Citizeness Rochemaure, a distant friend of Evariste, comes to his house to meet him. She is dressed in nice clothes, has put on perfume; she gives the impression that she is a rich lady. Her reason for the visit is that she wants Evariste to arrange her a meeting with Marat, whom Evariste knows. Evariste agrees, and Rochemaure gives Evariste's mother the promise that she will help her son to find a good job. Days later, Evariste receives the news that he is appointed as a magistrate to serve the Republic. During his first trial, Evariste votes for the suspect to be declared innocent because there isn't enough evidence to prove him guilty. The suspect is indeed declared innocent because Evariste's vote was the decisive one. He is congratulated for his fairness by his lover, Elodie. Meanwhile, Citizeness Rochemaure's lover, Henry, meets her to tell that he is going away. During his visit, he sees a letter on her desk and when she leaves the room, Henry steals it. He reads it and finds out that it has information about the queen and other people, so Henry decides to take this letter to the committee.

During a walk, Brotteaux finds the monk that he and Evariste saved from being accused as a thief. The monk is hungry and doesn't have a place to stay, so Brotteaux takes him to his place. Later he takes home a prostitute that needs a place to stay for the night because the committee is looking for her. Meanwhile, Evariste is becoming more blood-thirsty, punishing most of the suspects with death. The prisons are full of prisoners, so to empty them prisoners must be killed.
Brotteaux, the monk, and the prostitute are arrested as well and put to prison.

One day his sister comes to his house and meets his mother. She wants Evariste to help her husband who is imprisoned because of being a banker and emigrating abroad. Her mother is convinced that Evariste won't help her, but she agrees to tell him to do so. When he comes home, she mentions that she has heard news from his sister. At that moment Evariste asks her to stop talking about his sister; if he knew where she was, he would put her to prison himself. She visits the place where her husband is imprisoned daily, and even tries to convince a judge to set him free, but without success.

A change in the law which makes possible the execution of suspects without a trial makes it easier for Evariste and other judges to continue with their job. They feel they are above anyone else and that their judgment is always correct. His sister's husband is killed, as well as Brotteaux, the monk, the prostitute, and Rochemaure. Evariste feels troubled for killing all his previous friends, but he convinces himself that all he is doing is necessary for the Republic. He even tells to Elodie that he won't accept her love anymore because he is totally devoted to the Republic.
Meanwhile, he feels that people do not care anymore about the revolution and that they want all the killings to end. No one is coming to see the executions anymore and even Robespierre himself is being mocked by the people. Finally, Robespierre is accused himself by the Convention. Evariste is ordered to participate in the meeting of the Council, knowing that if he does so he may be arrested. He decides to attend, and just as he thought, he and other participants are arrested. They try to resist but they are vastly outnumbered. Evariste even tries to kill himself but without success.

People celebrate the fall of Robespierre, and it is the day when they will be executed. Evariste is afraid of being killed, but he considers his death as just because he was too weak. Elodie throws a flower towards him, as he is being dragged to the guillotine.

Months after the death of Evariste, Elodie finds a new lover, Desmahis. She takes him home, throwing the ring that Evariste gave her into the fire.