Felicity was found wandering alone later that night, but has always denied remembering anything at all about what happened. They'd left to drive her best friend Felicity home and were never seen again. Now a senior in high school, she came to live with her grandfather seven years ago after the mysterious disappearance of her parents. Tress sometimes goes to school hungry, dirty, and smelling of the animals, and she dresses in whatever she can afford from Goodwill.

The Initial Insult is the first book in a YA suspense duology.Īs THE INITIAL INSULT begins, Tress is living with her alcoholic grandfather at what the town has labeled the 'White Trash Zoo.' Her grandfather keeps exotic animals, including a black panther, and pays far more attention to them than his granddaughter. The storyline is filled with violence (a character is hit in the head with a brick and chained to a wall beloved pets meet gruesome deaths), profanity ('f-k,' 's-t,' 'goddamn,' a-hole, and 'bastard'), and teens getting throwing-up drunk and taking drugs, including marijuana, cocaine, and Ox圜ontin. She'll threaten to seal Felicity up behind a brick wall if she refuses to tell Tress what she knows. Certain that Felicity, despite all her denials, knows what really happened, she devises a desperate plan. Now a senior in high school, she's determined to find the truth behind her parents' disappearance. Sent to live with her alcoholic, neglectful, and emotionally abusive grandfather, Tress left behind a happy comfortable life and entered one filled with sadness and poverty.

When she was in fifth grade, Tress' parents disappeared without a trace while driving Felicity home. Parents need to know that Mindy McGinnis' thriller The Initial Insult is told in alternating chapters by Tress Montor and her former best friend, Felicity Turnado. One character is a drug dealer.ĭid you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide. Teens get throwing-up drunk, smoke marijuana, take Ox圜ontin.

The initial insult by mindy mcginnis