Book Review: Ten by Gretchen McNeil

Release Date: September 18, 2012
Author: Gretchen McNeil
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Length: 304 pages
Source: ARC

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?

    

Review:

Characters: Ten features a cast of ten characters spending a weekend on a secluded island. The protagonist, Meg, feels like an outsider and wonders why she was even invited to the party, but reluctantly goes along for the sake of her best friend, Minnie. After watching a disturbing DVD everyone is put on edge and decide to turn in for the night. That's when things go from weird to scary. After the first death, Meg begins to grow more and more confident, and show a braver side to herself. Can she save her friends from the demented serial killer, or is she the next target? I found the character development for this book to be brilliantly written, you always had a good sense of a character before they're taken out. Especially some of the more main characters. you got to see them go through struggles that led to them changing and growing throughout the book.

Romance: Even though the description alludes to some romance, I honestly thought I'd have to leave out this section. However that isn't the case. When Meg gets to the island she finds T.J. Fletcher welcoming her, the only problem with this is that she's in love with T.J., and the problem with that? Minnie has a thing for him too. Not wanting to betray her best friend, who gave up popularity to stay her friend, Meg tries her best to stay away from T.J.. But when he begins to show interest in her, will she stay loyal to her friend, or will she give herself a chance at love? I found the romance for this book to be a fantastic aspect of this book, it helped add more depth to the story and gave it more emotion, since you could see Meg torn over what to do about T.J., while trying to stay alive and keep her friends safe.

Predictability: Depending on your familiarity with the thriller/serial killer genre this could either be completely shocking or mildly predictable. This was the first book in this genre that I decided to read, mainly cause it sounded awesome, and I was tripped up by a few twists and turns along the way. When it was predictable, however, it was in that magical way that didn't ruin the book for you, but instead made it all the more enjoyable to read. I was so happy how everything came together and clicked into place like the pieces of a puzzle. 

Ending: With this being a stand-alone book, the ending wraps everything up in a nice easy package. There's nothing left in the unknown and everything fleshed out. That being said since this is a thriller I don't want to say whether or not this ended well because I want you to read this and be kept in constant suspense of who will live and who will die. I will say this, though, I thought the ending was well written, like the rest of the book.

Rating:

There's no way it could get any less than 5 stars, I don't care if you like the thriller/serial killer genre, I'm sure you'll love this book. It's a fairly quick read and I wouldn't be surprised if it became a movie some day.