Ten by Gretchen McNeil

Release Date: Out now!

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Pages: 294pgs

The Story

SHHHH!
Don't spread the word!
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?

The Review 

Gretchen McNeil's debut novel Possess was one of my favourite YA horror books from 2011 and having heard she was writing yet another book in the same genre . . . I was pretty giddy in excitement because I absolutely love her writing style and her storytelling so, so much. In her second book, TEN, while it was mostly predictable and cliche at times, but I didn't care at all because it was entertaining in every single aspect and was just so much fun to read. Running very much like a teenage horror movie - both fast-paced, terrifying and shocking at every turn you take - there was something just so enjoyable about this book and while some of the characters may appear to be stupid before their death comes knowing but . . . they certainly can die in many different ways and that was a lot of fun!

Honestly the best thing about TEN is how quickly you can read it. While it was short in page length and didn't necessarily contain lot of character development (in fact there is none really since everyone was being killed off before you got to say 'Hey there!'), but there was this strange way where this book had still managed to fit all of the story and its characters nicely together . . . becoming the kind of book I like to read and in the end McNeil wrote and dealt with everyone's lives (and death) very, very well. She has a knack for it I tell you! But there's another thing too that I loved about this book: I always knew who the killer was (thanks to my childhood Nancy Drew books which had made me into such a clever girl detective if I do say so myself) and yet I still always found myself second-guessing on who the killer is and his or her motives which was the fun part for me and boy did I love it!

While I can't say a terrible lot about this book without spoiling it (like a lot since a lot of people die) but I absolutely loved the main character, Meg. Honestly she was the only one I could really rely on in the book. She was smart, witty, kind, and was completely aware of what was going on in her surroundings and never did she fail to keep up her strength until the killer was found . . . she was really brilliant even if I didn't get a chance to know her very well enough as a character. But as for her best friend, Minnie, well . . . let's just say she most certainly drove me up the wall that one. I wanted her to DIE already and even though no one - no matter their moody and selfish, bitter ways - deserves to die but gee whiz she was god awful to Meg and I don't know why these two where friends! And as for Meg's love interest well . . . just you wait! He was one awesome dude and one - I hope - you will come to appreciate.

Overall, while I thought the story shared a lot of similarities to one of my favourite mini TV shows, Harper's Island, but TEN was still a perfect read and will be perfect for any horror fan out there such as myself! If you don't mind a quick-paced read containing characters who die all over the place (c'mon you know you will love the whole dying thing or maybe that's just me haha!), then I would highly recommend this book within as second and now I'm really eager to see what else Gretchen McNeil comes up with next!

The Rating

4 1/2 / 5 stars