In this excerpt, the narrator reflects on how the story of certain individuals will eventually be reduced to a sensational, lurid tale in a cheap true-crime paperback. Such books are often found gathering dust in hidden corners of used bookstores, emphasizing their cheesy and exploitative nature. The imagery evokes a sense of the story's potential transformation into a shocking, easily digestible piece of sensationalism.

Through this quote, Perkins highlights the fleeting, often tragic fate of people's stories when they become part of mass-market entertainment. It suggests that what once might have been a meaningful or complex event could be flattened into a superficial spectacle, emphasizing the dark side of sensationalism and the way real-life tragedies are sometimes exploited for entertainment.