Down the Road

Set in the 1980’s, Lee Blessing’s Down the Road spins a tale of a convicted serial killer and the husband-and-wife team hired to write the account of his crimes. The killer, Bill Reach, has confessed to the murders of 19 women, but there may be many more. Over the course of their interviews, the couple–Dan and Iris Henniman–grow increasingly uncertain of the ethics of their task. Are they merely relaying gruesome events, or are they helping readers consume rape, murder, and mutilation as they would any other product available to society? Are they, in fact, helping turn Bill Reach into a celebrity?