Review: Ten by Gretchen McNeil

Title: Ten

Author: Gretchen McNeil

Genre: YA, mystery thriller, horror

Publication date: September 2012

Published by: Balzer + Bray

Source: Own paperback

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Synopsis:

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?

My rating: ★★★★☆
In this thrilling story, ten kids are invited to a weekend long party on Henry Island. The only way to get there is by boat or ferry, and it's pretty much deserted, with only one other house on the island. No parents and an island practically all to themselves--it's supposed to be fun, right? Wrong! The day after they all arrive, they start dying one by one. Could one of them be the killer? Or is someone else in the house with them, picking them off? *cue suspenseful music*

Ten was awesome! It had a great mystery, lots of suspense and action--I loved it! This may sound more than a bit morbid, but once you sort of find out what's going on, the deaths the killer orchestrated were smart. The way they all started dying was awesome--everything just fit together! I loved it!

But not all was good, I'll admit. The beginning was slow. 50 pages in and... nothing. Too much intro not enough action. Call me anxious, but I just wanted to get to the good stuff! I found it extremely easy to put down the book, and that is never a good thing. I set aside this book for about... I want to say maybe 2 months? Yeah, not good. But once the action good started, oh my gods! I could not put it down! The entire time, the book kept me guessing who killer was. From the beginning, my mind was set on one person and I was absolutely sure it was them. But then things pointed to it being a ghost? Crazy, I know. And then, Towards the end, we are redirected to someone I was not expecting at all but it made complete sense! Though in the back of my mind I didn't accept it and still thought my person was the killer.

And then the huge plot twist came! Whoa! I never would've suspected this person to be behind everything in a million years! I was very surprised. And then we find out their motive for all this...


If I was surprised before, I was shocked speechless by this point. It was just so crazy and so good! I cannot get over how well written the mystery and story were! I just love it when I don't guess correctly--about the killer in this case :)

There was another thing I wasn't too fond of: the introduction of so many characters seemingly all at once. I knew there was going to be ten kids, but good grief!


I just couldn't keep them all straight! Especially at the beginning, especially the 2 'M' names. M&M... yeah, cute. We get it -_-

The characters were okay... Meg was kinda slow to piece together what I had like 6 chapters ago. Seriously. All the signs were there, girl, come on! I don't think I really loved any of the characters. They were just kind of... meh *shrugs* I was more into the story--the mystery itself.

The mystery was smartly written, the story so suspenseful it will keep you on the edge of your seat guessing till the very end. It started off slow, but boy, you will definitely want to read this!

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a link to your review or comment below! :)