A beautifully-written little novel about sixteen year old Ree Dolly. Ree is hardened and tough, and fiercely protective of her mother and her siblings. Ree is responsible for her entire family. Her mother is mentally ill and her two younger brothers are starting to get traces of the meanness that defines the males in this rough environment. Ree's dad, who cooks methamphetamine (practically all the men in Ree's rural Ozarks community cooks meth), goes missing one day. Ree's dad put the family property up as his bail. Ree must find her dad and turn him in, dead or alive, or she and her family will end up homeless. Woodrell creates a bleak portrait of the suspicious, violent, clannish meth-driven culture of those in the rural Ozarks. The part in which Ree gets the shit kicked out of her by some relatives is one of the most disturbing beatings I've ever read. But Woodrell shows that people even amidst great poverty and misery are capable of great humanity too. Which is good, because otherwise you'd probably want to hang yourself when you're done with the book.