Daniel Woodrell, whose novels explored the dark side of life in the Missouri Ozarks, has died at 72, the New York Times reports.

Woodrell was born in Springfield, Missouri, and educated at the University of Kansas and the University of Iowa. He made his literary debut in 1986 with Under the Bright Lights, and followed that up the next year with Woe To Live On.

In 1996, he published Give Us a Kiss, for which he coined the term “country noir”; the novel told the story of a writer who goes searching for his brother in the Ozarks. He earned rave reviews for his 2006 novel Winter’s Bone, about a teenage girl determined to bring her father, a drug dealer who has skipped bail, back to their home.

Winter’s Bone was adapted into a 2010 film directed by Debra Granik and starring Jennifer Lawrence and John Hawkes; the adaptation scored four Academy Award nominations. Two of Woodrell’s other novels were adapted for the screen: Woe To Live On, which was adapted into Ang Lee’s 1999 film Ride With the Devil, and Tomato Red, which formed the basis for Juanita Wilson’s 2017 movie.

Woodrell was remembered on social media. On the platform X, novelist Gabino Iglesias posted, “I once got an email from my editor with a blurb from Daniel Woodrell and couldn’t reply right away because it felt surreal. Winter’s Bone is great and The Bayou Trilogy is an education, but Tomato Red and The Maid’s Version got me through a rough spot. We lost a giant.”

And author Aaron Gwyn wrote, “We lost Daniel Woodrell the day after Thanksgiving. He wrote about my people—the backwoodsmen of the Ozark highlands—more truthfully, more thoughtfully than anyone. I thought of his novels as friends. Rest in peace, Daniel: I’ll do my meager part to ensure your work lives on.”

Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.