Tress’s decision to exact the real truth from Felicity is born from years of anger and hurt. The two try to remain friends, but the politics of small towns get in the way, especially now that Tress is living on her grandfather’s “white trash zoo” in a dirty trailer, in hand me down clothes, and with a parental figure who wants nothing to do with her. Felicity cannot remember anything that happened that night, and the investigation into Tress’s parents’ disappearance is non-existent. This event orphans Tress, changing her life for the worse in many ways. Except, there’s an accident and Tress’s parents are never seen again. She’s under strict instructions from her mother to never let anyone see her like that (she’ll never be able to marry if someone knows), and so they drive her home in the middle of the night. And on the night Tress’s parents go missing, Felicity is about to have a seizure. Felicity’s also hiding a big secret from her best friend she has epilepsy. Felicity’s mom approved the friendship since Tress’s family was one of the founding families of Amontillado, and in that town, it means something. Years ago, the two girls were best friends. The Initial Insult isn’t terribly loose in this part of the retelling, as Tress decides to seek revenge (sort of?) on Felicity while at a party and brick by brick, entombs her. The revenge takes the form of burying him alive, brick by brick, under the catacombs. It’s a retelling of his classic The Cask of Amontillado in which a man takes revenge upon another who has insulted him. If that sounds familiar to Poe fans, it should. If you don’t know going into it, this story is set in Amontillado, Ohio. The problem is, you will plow through this book because it is intense, concise, and the relationship between Tress and Felicity is riveting. It’s the ultimate cliffhanger of an ending, and if I have to wait another year for this to finish, well, that’s my fault, I guess. The Initial Insult is the first of a duology, and if I’m honest, I was ticked when this audio ended. And she does it again with the two female characters in this book, Tress and Felicity. Mindy McGinnis has never been one to sugar coat her YA characters, whether it’s the spiral of a mentally deranged AP kid, an athlete getting hooked on heroin, or a revenge-seeking sister.
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