Book Review: Ten by Gretchen Mcneil

Title: Ten
Author: Gretchen McNeil
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Publication Date: September 18, 2012
Age Group: Young Adult
Number of Pages: 294 Pages
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Three-day weekend. House party.
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?

MY REVIEW

Ten is a grab you by the throat and hold you there read, meaning it will not let you breathe until it is finished. It had its hooks in me from the very first moments on Henry Island. I really relished the teen slasher feel to Ten, because I will admit I enjoy a good slasher movie occasionally. I grew up on movies like Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer. What I liked about the main character is she is strong and capable despite her very co-dependent relationship with her best friend, Minnie. Minnie on the other hand is narcotic and controlling.

When Meg and Minnie arrive at the Island, there is a new group of characters to meet. All the characters are from different schools than Meg and Minnie, except T.J. and Gunner. Gunner is Minnie’s ex-boyfriend and T.J. is the boy that both Meg and Minnie want. The problem is T.J. has eyes for Meg, while Minnie has staked claims even though he does not want her. This is going to lead to major conflicts between the girls. At this party, almost everyone is a stranger except a few small groups. This is not a good sign for our characters.

As people start dying, Meg tries to figure out who is behind the vicious murders. If she wants to survive, she cannot trust anyone. All Meg wants to do is save herself and her friends, but with a storm cutting off all contact with anyone, that may not be a possibility. I loved the small details as they come together to create such a well-crafted story.

I loved that I could not see the end coming. With every reveal or clue, the person of interest shifted and turned, leading down a twisted road of who done it, without revealing the mastermind behind the revenge filled weekend until the very end. Meg keeps a level head throughout the book, because she knows that it is up to her to figure out who is behind it and why they are after the group in the first place. I could not have been more wrapped up in the story, trying to solve who the murderer is alongside Meg. I really enjoyed Ten and could imagine it as a slasher movie in my head perfectly. It really is a slasher movie in the form of a book, and maybe one day I will get to see it played out on the big screen. 

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