Overview
As a novel, THE INNOCENT ONE was received with great critical acclaim and went through many editions in hard and soft covers; the following comment from the Detroit News, was typical: "A brilliant story of a young man tried and acquitted of a murder, and what the acquittal does to him and the community ... The developments are exciting, brutal and unexpected." Mr. Reach has transposed the novel into a play of mounting, brooding suspense which builds, without the slightest let-up, to its shattering, terrifying climax. It tells the story of Dickie Hemmingwell, who has been acquitted of the sordid murder of a young college girl, acquitted because there was no conclusive evidence against him. After the trial, the shy, oversensitive Dickie is convinced that the whole town is against him and that he is a marked man for life. No matter that he is married to the lovely Liza, daughter of the town's wealthiest, most influential citizen; that success seems to be his for the asking; he feels wretched and unwanted. When he is given reason to suspect that not even Liza wholly believes in his innocense, there seems only one course open to him: to run. What he runs to is another life, another identity, in which violence becomes the controlling factor, until it inevitably explodes in another murder, and Liza's life is in dire jeopardy. This is a play that is strong in characterization, completely believable, extremely adept in the telling - a play warranted to hold an audience rooted in its seats from first curtain to last.