A chapter can skip an available page because its text flow is instructed to begin on the next odd-numbered page. In InDesign, an odd-page break is different from an ordinary page break. Inspect that instruction before deleting a blank page or dragging the chapter into a new, disconnected text frame.
Describe the intended opening
Decide whether chapters must open on a particular side or simply continue on the next available page. A deliberately empty reverse can be part of the book's structure. An unexplained empty page can also be a mistake. The presence of white space alone does not tell you which it is.
Adobe documents separate Page Break, Odd Page Break and Even Page Break characters for threaded text. It also distinguishes an inserted break from paragraph-level controls. This gives you a specific place to investigate when the text seems to avoid a usable frame. Adobe: Paragraph break options.
Inspect the text flow on a duplicate
The following is a proposed layout experiment, not a tested file. Save a copy, identify the last paragraph before the jump, and inspect the break and start settings around the new chapter. Record the page where text stops, the apparently unused page and the page where the chapter resumes.
Change only the suspected odd-page instruction on the duplicate, using an ordinary next-page behavior when that matches the intended design. If the chapter moves into the skipped threaded page, the comparison supports the diagnosis. Discard or undo this diagnostic change unless the content owner approves that new opening.
If the text becomes overset instead, check whether a usable next frame actually exists. A break cannot create a suitable destination simply because the Pages panel contains another page.
Approve a reading rule, not a cosmetic patch
For a fictional memory book, suppose each new trip begins on a right-hand opening. Removing every blank reverse may defeat that approved reading rhythm. Conversely, a short event programme may have no such rule, making an inherited odd-page break unnecessary.
Write the chosen rule in the layout notes. Avoid inserting decorative art just to conceal an unexplained blank page. If extra material later changes parity, the underlying break may create a different gap and repeat the confusion.
Test a controlled edit and the PDF
On the review copy, add or remove a short amount of preceding text and observe whether the chapter still follows the approved start rule. Then inspect the exported PDF's physical page order and chapter openings, including any deliberate blank page.
Pass when the chapter begins where intended, all required text remains present and any blank page has a documented reason. Fail if deleting the page merely moves the gap, breaks the text thread or changes the wrong section.
Imagild can supply the book's visual artwork. Threaded frames, break characters and chapter-opening rules belong to external InDesign layout; a generated decorative spread cannot repair an inconsistent text-flow instruction.