I stayed up well past bed time finishing this book, it so engrossed me.  It’s the kind of story that takes the reader to the precipice and holds them in trepidation, page after page, at what ghastly occurrence is surely just beyond.

The story is set in the Ozarks, a hardscrabble land of immense beauty and sheer violence, the people living very near the precipice themselves, getting by in ways lawful and otherwise, mostly the latter.  It’s a place where blood and names matter, determining histories and futures, yet aren’t nearly enough when times get desperate.  The main character is Ree, a tough as nails seventeen year old who wears thin cotton skirts with combat boots in the dead of winter.  She’s a high school dropout, but not for wanting more for herself.  She aspires to a military life far, far from this existence, but, for now, this is where she finds herself, caring for her younger brothers and a mother lost to mental illness.  Her father, Jessup Dolly, possibly the best crank cooker in the vicinity has disappeared, left the family without anything, and worse.

Ree gets a visit from the local sheriff warning her that Jessup’s court date is one week hence, and if he doesn’t show, they will lose the house and land that have been in the family for generations.  Even more, she will lose any opportunity to flee this life, to make something for herself,  for how can her brothers and mother get on without her and a place to stay.  Despondent, she sets out to find him, walking through hill and dale to pay visits to some pretty scary characters, anyone who might lead her to him.  No one will talk, save to deliver dire warnings of impending doom if she doesn’t quit, though she never does, even when she reaches the end of her rope.

It’s a thrilling, page turning story that took me to the back of beyond and home again, though travel weary.  I highly recommend it.  It’s also, as they say, a “major motion picture.” Put it in the queue.