In Tender as Hellfire, first-time novelist Joe Meno limns a near-fantastical world of trailer park floozies, broken-down '76 Impalas, lost glass eyes, and the daily experiences of two boys trying to make sense out of their random, sharp lives. Dough and Pill are brothers bound by more than blood. The anguish of their past, the terror of their present, and the uncertainty of their future all underscore the only truth that is within their grasp: Each other. For beneath the cruel surface of their trailer park community lies a menagerie of odd characters, each one strange yet somehow beautiful. There's Val, the blowsy bottle blonde who shows surprising maternal instincts when the boys need it most. And El Ray del Perdito, the "Undisputed King of the Tango," a widow who dances nightly imagining his wife in his arms, as Dough peers through the window contemplating a love that seems not to die. In Tender as Hellfire it is the unexpected beauty that means the most, and this important literary debut provides all the beauty and pain that we can bear.