Tori's Review: Ten by Gretchen McNeil

Ten by Gretchen McNeil
Series: None
Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Horror
Rating: ★★★★
Pages: 296
Published by Balzer + Bray on September 18, 2012
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SHHHH! Don't spread the word! Three-day weekend. Party at White Rock House on Henry Island. You do NOT want to miss it.

It was supposed to be the weekend of their lives—an exclusive house party on Henry Island. Best friends Meg and Minnie each have their reasons for being there (which involve T.J., the school’s most eligible bachelor) and look forward to three glorious days of boys, booze and fun-filled luxury.

But what they expect is definitely not what they get, and what starts out as fun turns dark and twisted after the discovery of a DVD with a sinister message: Vengeance is mine.

Suddenly people are dying, and with a storm raging, the teens are cut off from the outside world. No electricity, no phones, no internet, and a ferry that isn’t scheduled to return for two days. As the deaths become more violent and the teens turn on each other, can Meg find the killer before more people die? Or is the killer closer to her than she could ever imagine?

Ten is about a group of ten teenagers that find themselves on a remote island with a killer in their midst. After watching a creepy video on the night of their arrival, teen after teen starts to get killed off in brutal and specific ways. After our protagonist, Meg, finds a journal of a dead girl, she realizes that the murders follow a pattern. After discovering the pattern, it's a race against time to rat out the murderer...before they're all dead and gone with no witnesses to find the killer.

This book was very suspensful. I read it on the way to my volleyball tournament, and it was definitely a way to get me on my toes...and to freak me out. The deaths aren't exactly graphics, but they're described enough to make my stomach churn. It sort of creeped me out how these teenagers (mostly Meg and T.J.) weren't really affected by all the death going on. It seemed as though their philosophy was, "Keep Calm and Carry On." I can't decide if I didn't like this about the book or if it was just something that I noticed.

As far as plot goes, this plot was amazing. I couldn't guess the killer. I really couldn't. Up until the very end, I thought I knew who it was, but I always changed the suspect. The fact that it was so hard for me to determine who the killer was shows that either (a) this was a good book or (b) I'm just stupid when it comes to this stuff. But regardless, there were so many twists and turns that I never suspected who it was by the end of the book. This is honestly the first mystery book that I've read that isn't paranormal that I haven't guessed the ending. Congrats, Ten.

Meg, at first, is super annoying, but as the book goes along I grow to like her more, and I want her to survive. Honestly, everyone else can go die. I was alright with Ben, and T.J. wasn't too terribly annoying, but I didn't like Minnie, and I didn't really have time to get to know the other characters in order to form an attachment to them. Hilariously, at first I thought Nathan was some super nerd, but turned out he was really popular? Goes to show how sucky I am at remembering character discriptions. I've just read so many of them. Anyway, Meg was really just a big pushover. The fact that Minnie basically ruled her life turned me off at first, but Meg grew on me. Minnie didn't.

I have to admit that the romance was a bit dry between Meg and T.J. T.J. was awesome and all and he seemed like a pretty solid dude, but I wasn't shipping them at the end. Honestly, I don't even know what makes a good romance, but I just know when I don't like a particular relationship. One good thing between the two of them though was the fact that T.J. came across as a real dude. Most guys in stories will be like "oh my god I've loved you forever I'm sorry I was such a jerk to you but I've realized the err of my ways now." Like yeah not buying that. I mean, T.J. was a bit sensitive, but it was reasonable. (Except the end when...you know. Yeah. I'm just saying I would've saved my own butt before a guy that rejected me.)

Ten really reminded me of Shark Night 3D except the book was actually scary. (Sorry, but the movie was just laughable. Utterly and positively laughable. I'm sorry if you loved it. The premise was just...kind of hilarious?) The basic plot of both the book and movie: teenagers go to island; teenagers have fun; teenagers die; two teenagers left; teenagers escape but now are in love. (I think they fall in love by the end of the movie. It's been three years.) But yeah. Pretty similar, right? I already heard that Ten was eerily similar to And Then There Were None. Considering I've never read this book (I plan on it), I didn't have a problem with Ten being so similar. I'm sure I'll have qualms once I read And Then There Were None though.

Reading this book has definitely encouraged me to read more thriller/horror books this year. I kind of like being scared, which is hilarious because I hate horror movies. I absolutely cannot stand them.

In conclusion, this was an interesting read. I'll definitely be checking out Gretchen McNeil's other books, because I liked this one a lot. I wouldn't go to say that I loved it because there were still faults, but I liked it enough to give it four stars! I think that this was a good book to read to break me into the YA horror/thriller genre. I'm really glad that I picked this up and decided to read it!

Oh yes and I love the cover. It's so simplistic and dark and just wow I love it.

"But the killer's still out there. He could have climbed out through one of the bedroom windows. She's not safe."

T.J. shrugged. "She's the one with the gun."