Title: The Initial Insult
Author: Mindy McGinnis
Series: The Initial Insult #1
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
(Expected) Publication Date: February 23, 2021
Page Count: 384
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Thriller, Mystery
Time Period: Current Day
Location: Ohio
Souce: NetGalley*
Rating: 5 Stars
Welcome to Amontillado, Ohio, where your last name is worth more than money, and secrets can be kept… for a price.
Tress Montor knows that her 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. She might still be a Montor, but 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,” – a wild animal attraction featuring a zebra, a chimpanzee, and a panther, among other things.
Felicity Turnado has it all – looks, money, and a secret that she’s kept hidden. She knows that 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 having a panic attack.
But she’ll have to.
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. With a drunken party above them, and a loose panther on the prowl, Tress will have her answers – or settle for revenge.
In the first book of this duology, award-winning author Mindy McGinnis draws inspiration from Edgar Allan Poe and masterfully delivers a dark, propulsive mystery in alternating points of view that unravels a friendship . . . forevermore.
Of all the saints and all that is holy, what in the hell did I just read? I can always count on Mindy for something dark and real, but this was twisted in ways I didn’t even begin to fathom in my little brain. How One could get from point A to point B… in such a gruesome, horrific manner boggles my mind. And makes me so incredibly sad.
Anyway. It was a bit of a slow start for me. Which is fine. Not every book needs to jump head first, body mind and soul into something huge, right? The way this book is written it’s a card game. It’s not a card game where all cards will revealed at the same time. Oh no. They will be revealed one at a time at an excruciatingly slow pace. And I will be there to savor every moment of it.
Let’s talk characters. Are they likeable? Nope. Well, wait. One is. Really, he is. Some might even say too likeable. He’s that guy in the horror movie that you just know is going to die. Yeah. That one. Or he’s the Stefan. Minus the immortal part. The one who is genuinely just good to the core – always going to help people no matter what.
But the rest? Flawed to the core. Make horrible decisions. Adults included. And why? “Because I was dealt a bad hand.” Boo-fucking-hoo.
Writing? Oh, man. I can always count on Mindy to give me an honest-to-goodness gritty, dark, and foreboding story. She delivers in spades, once again. The writing drew me in, as always.
These quotes are from an uncorrected proof and may change. Therefore I only chose a couple that REALLY spoke to me.
“Now it’s a dead thing, still in my chest. And if I can’t feel the good things anymore, then doing a few bad ones shouldn’t hurt a bit. And they are long overdue.” ~This spoke volumes of eeriness.
“My friends – at least that’s what we call each other – watching me me half-comatose and being carried off into the dark.” ~I really liked how this spoke to the lack of depth of their friendships and how she even recognized that.
Pace:
~Intensifying
Storyline:
~Character driven ~Intricately plotted
Writing Style:
~Gritty ~Engaging
Tone:
~Angst-filled ~Atmospheric
~Bleak ~Disturbing
~Gruesome ~Strong sense of place
~Thought provoking
Character:
~Brooding ~Complex
~Twisted ~Unlikeable
~Well-developed
Trigger Warnings if Needed: (Highlight to see)
~Animal Death ~Violence
~Parental Death
*Thanks to NetGalley and Katherine Tegen Books for an eArc review copy of The Initial Insult. This in no way influences my review or thoughts on the book, its characters, or the writing.
Sprinkles of Perfection 