I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Initial Insult by Mindy McGinnis Series: The Initial Insult #1
Published by Katherine Tegen Books on 2/23/21
Genres: Contemporary, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 384
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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Tress Montor’s family used to mean something—until she didn’t have a family anymore. When her parents disappeared seven years ago while driving her best friend home, Tress lost everything. The entire town shuns her now that she lives with her drunken, one-eyed grandfather at what locals refer to as the “White Trash Zoo.”
Felicity Turnado has it all: looks, money, and a secret. One misstep could send her tumbling from the top of the social ladder, and she’s worked hard to make everyone forget that she was with the Montors the night they disappeared. Felicity has buried what she knows so deeply that she can’t even remember what it is . . . only that she can’t look at Tress without feeling shame and guilt.
But Tress has a plan. A Halloween costume party at an abandoned house provides the ideal situation for Tress to pry the truth from Felicity—brick by brick—as she slowly seals her former best friend into a coal chute. Tress will have her answers—or settle for revenge.
Short and Sweet Review
In Amontillado, Ohio, your last name means more than how much money you have. Tress Montor used to be important until her parents mysteriously disappeared while driving her best friend, Felicity home. Now Tress lives with her grandfather Cecil at his trailer with a wild animal attraction in the back that the townsfolk like to call “White Trash Zoo.” No one knows what happened the night Tress’s parents disappeared and Tress knows that the only person who would have answers is Felicity. So at a party Tress gets Felicity to go with her into the basement and Tress ambushes her and puts her in a coal chute, because Tress will get the answers she wants even if it means sealing Felicity behind a wall.
Tress and Felicity are our main characters. They used to be best friends but after the night Tress’s parents went missing things changed. After their friendship ended Tress is more worried about making it, her life with Cecil is way different than how it was with her parents. Tress ends up taking care of the animals, struggling with money, and sells drugs to the other teens. Felicity on the other hand has the looks and the money and she has to keep her social standing, but she also has a secret she keeps from everybody. We get both of these girls point of views and the point of view from the panther that escaped from the zoo (I’ll get into that later.)
So this book is a retelling of a Edgar Allen Poe story, and they both have interesting plots which is what drew me in. Tress wants answers and revenge and she’ll get them. You can tell that Felicity still cares about Tress and that’s probably why she was so trusting and met her in the basement. Tress also has some fond memories of when her and Felicity were friends but she also has somethings that she wasn’t so happy with. We get flashbacks from different points in the girls lives from the night Tress’s parents went missing, to when they first met, basically flashbacks from elementary school to high school. I’m glad we get both of the girls point of views because some things aren’t as they seem. There wasn’t one perspective I liked more than the other mainly because I wanted to know what happened so that kept me flipping pages. But there is one POV that I thought was totally unnecessary and it was of the Panther that escaped. Why did we even need it? It was strange and I feel like the book would have been fine with out it. We learn that the Panther escaped from the zoo and now its somewhere around town and funny enough it also ends up at the party and is talking about the kids in its weird POV.
I enjoyed this book. I felt like the ending left me wanting more so I’m interested to see what’s going to happen in the next book especially because this is a duology. Seeing Tress and Felicity go back and forth and slowly unraveling the events that happened seven years ago will have you hooked and invested in the mystery, it also gave a lot of background on how they got to where they are now. This book will keep you on the edge of your seat! Pick it up and get sucked into Amontillado!
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