Name: Cori's review of Ten by Gretchen McNeil
Item: Ten
Rating: 4
Author: Cori

Gretchen McNeil

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—three days on Henry Island at an exclusive house party. Best friends Meg and Minnie each have their own reasons for wanting to be there, which involve their school's most eligible bachelor, T. J. Fletcher, and look forward to three glorious days of boys, bonding, 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 outside, the teens are cut off from the rest of the world. No electricity, no phones, no internet, and a ferry that isn't scheduled to return for three 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?

Emily C Peterson

Cori

I was really skeptical when I started reading this book due to the corniness of the plot and it reminded me of a television series I had watched before. But this book quickly shifted into a combination of mystery and true horror as all of the victims are trying to figure out who the killer was. The writing was not too in depth, but descriptive enough to develop an avid image for the reader. I really did enjoy reading this book. I stayed up until four in the morning to finish it, which was not a good idea. I loved it though. I finished it in about 4 hours and I’m happy I kept on reading. It really left me satisfied. The story was incredibly planned out and the ending left me in complete and utter shock. Incredible 4/5 stars

From Possess author Gretchen McNeil comes this teen horror novel inspired by Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. Perfect for fans of Christopher Pike’s Chain Letter and Lois Duncan’s I Know What You Did Last Summer, Ten will keep readers on the edge of their seats until the very last page! It was supposed to be the weekend of their lives—an exclusive house party on Henry Island. Best friends Meg and Minnie are looking forward to two days of boys, booze, and fun-filled luxury. But what starts out as fun turns twisted after the discovery of a DVD with a sinister message: Vengeance is mine. And things only get worse from there. With a storm raging outside, the teens are cut off from the outside world . . . so when a mysterious killer begins picking them off one by one, there’s no escape. As the deaths become more violent and the teens turn on one another, can Meg find the killer before more people die? Or is the killer closer to her than she could ever imagine?

Nessa Luna

This book really surprised me. Because the summary said stuff about boys and ‘their school’s most eligible bachelor’, I had expected it to be full of romance stuff, but it was a proper mystery novel which I liked very much!

The Characters – There are ten characters in this book, like the title says; Meg, Minnie, T.J., Gunner, Ben, Kumiko, Vivian, Lori, Kenny, and Nathan. I am not going to spoil the book by telling which of these characters die, of course, but I did find myself laughing out loud when after a while I realized there were only seven left (which is my favourite band, haha). In the end, when it was announced who the murderer was, it surprised me a lot, because I had never expected it of that person. Of course, when this happens, people start panicking, and blaming each other; and that really annoyed me, but that’s good, because that means that the characters felt real. I had this too when I watched the Doctor Who episode ‘Midnight’ in which a group of people get stranded in a vehicle on a planet made out of diamonds, and something from the outside wants to get in.

All these characters felt so real to me, though I never really got sad when another one of them had died. I just wanted to know who the killer was, and I really hoped the book wouldn’t end with all the ten teenagers dead.

The Romance – Like I said before, I had expected it to be full of romance, with Meg and Minnie trying to win T.J. for themselves, but it was far from that. Of course, there were moments between Meg and T.J. but those actually made me smile when I read about it. So yes, I ship it.

The Murders – There was a lot of murder going on in this book, of course. And all of them were different, the characters were all murdered in a certain way, which will make sense when you continue reading the book. One was shot through the heart with an arrow, another simply had his/her throat slit, this is going to sound a bit creepy, but I liked reading about the different ways the characters were killed.

The Story – Like I said before, it was a surprising story. I just couldn’t stop reading, and I actually had to force myself to put the book down and eat, sleep or work. It was just such a thrilling story, and perfectly written as well, a real page-turner. I had started to suspect people halfway through the book, and I actually made a list of the characters, how they had died, and I circled the people I suspected. Eventually, I was completely wrong, and I actually said ‘NO WAY’ out loud when I read who’d really done it. And that’s what I like about a book. I have read many predictable books, and that always makes me a bit sad, but I just didn’t find this predictable at all! I loved the writing, and I will certainly read another book by Gretchen McNeil, probably 3:59 because there was a preview of the book in the back of Ten, and I really enjoyed it.

devin.reads

Emelie

This book was... Interesting... It was a murder-mystery with a great plot twist BUT over all it was kind of boring and the book could easily have been have the pages! 

And i also found it very similar with a serie called Harper's Island, dont know if they have a connection.. But i would rather re-watch the serie again than re-read this book.

Lauren Tabor

Moon

Maria Banning

excellent book . Looking forward to reading more from this author

Tameka Young

Ok...I am afraid of my own shadow so I was naturally a bit hesitant to read a book about teens being murdered every which way on an island. Thankfully, I read this while it was broad daylight and no chance of any sort of killer to come and get me because I was so caught up in this clever whodunit! I pride myself on being able to figure out who the killer is in most situations,but I was completely surprised! Great writing by the fabulous Gretchen McNeil, I am proud to say I did not ONCE have to stick the book in the freezer!

Zoë Eitel

Not bad, very pretty little liars meets harpers island

Amanda Autumn Berrey

Two stars

A brief synopsis: Meg and Minnie go to a boathouse party on a secluded island with a bunch of schoolmates and things start to take a turn. As the guest list gets killed off one by one they all must find out who’s killing them off, and if it could be one of them

My review: The book itself wasn’t terrible it is just an over done plot line. I have read multiple books with almost identical plot lines and so I have seen the plot be executed better. That’s the problem with similar books is they’re nearly impossible not to compare. Most of the book was predictable except for the final twist. A decent read if you haven’t read anything similar

Marina Riaza

Este libro, que se ha convertido en uno de mis favoritos, me enganchó tanto, que no paré hasta que me lo terminé. Literalmente, me lo leí en ocho horas. Inquietante hasta el final y una gran novedad.

Ana Ignat

Megan Leprich

I honestly wasn’t a huge fan of this book. The plot and synopsis definitely intrigued me with 10 people being stranded on an island for the weekend and their friends start turning up dead. Sounded really promising to me and as I’ve never read Gretchen McNeil I wanted to read it. 

Meg and her best friend Minnie are heading to a party on an island for a weekend that you can only access by boat. A horrible storm starts the first night they’re there and they meet and hang out with 8 other people. Then their friends start dying one by one and everyone’s questioning if it’s someone from their group or is there someone else in the house? 

I had no problems with any of the characters (except the girls that wouldn’t stop bitching about everything) but sad to say I had the killer figured out pretty early on and I don’t like books that I can do that in. I want a book that’s going to completely throw me for a loop at the end but sadly this one didn’t do it for me. I understand this is geared towards a teen audience but all the drama and bitching amongst the friends really annoyed me. Like, someone’s killing your friends and you’re more worried about who’s hooking up with who? Definitely a flop of a book for me.

Devin Jones

Nadia Leontescu

Jeez, this book made me a little paranoid. I really didn't fully expect the ending, and I definitely didn't know who it was. There was some basic teenage drama that I'm not a fan of, but I liked the overall story. At times it was hard to keep track of the characters, but their deaths were definitely very interesting and memorable, to say the least. As someone who hasn't read And Then There Were None, I found this book to be pretty good, but I know that those who already read Christie's novel have issues with it.

Stefie 

Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None is the book that I will forever love. It’s the book that makes me a reader. I also love retelling. So when I found out about this book, I can’t help but to read it.

This is to me And Then There Were None meets 13 Reasons Why (note : I only watch the series and haven’t read the book). It works and I quite enjoy it. However, there are some scenes and some part of the story that I didn’t like.
Like the friendship between the MC & her best friend is a bit annoying to me.

All in all, I think it’s a fun book to read. It’s very teeny, but I kind of expect that since it’s a YA book :)

Kate

3.75* I am so conflicted on how I felt about this book!! On one hand, I LOVED it. It was gripping, heart pounding, addictive and so intense, a lot more so than I'd expected. It genuinely had me freaked out at points and kept me guessing until the last page which is everything I want in a thriller and something I rarely find. Yes it was incredibly cliche but in such a fun way, that it didn't take away from the enjoyment (although there was a questionable moment when a couple decided the perfect time to have a full on make out session, was after finding a house full of murderer bodies because, of course?...) On the on the hand, Ten was utterly littered with ableism and specifically ableist language, which was so incredibly disappointing. I understand that it was written in 2012, when people maybe weren't so understanding but oh my gosh, the ableist language was heavy. The cast was pretty diverse, out of the ten teens a minor character was Samoan, two were Asian and a main character black. (Although I'm not in a position to say wether or not the representation was harmful in anyway.) Another main character was described as having crippling anxiety and bipolar disorder but I personally wasn't a fan of the way she was portrayed at all. She was a pretty nasty character, which was consistently blamed on her mental health, which was more than frustrating. So yes, conflicted is definitely how I'd describe my feeling on Ten. I flew through it, couldn't put it down and I can't tell you how refreshing it was to read a YA thriller where I hadn't guessed 'whodunit' within the first few pages. Unfortunately, I can't ignore the blatant and fairly regular ableist language used and therefore can't give it as high of a rating as I would have, had that not been there. I'm definitely intrigued to read more from Gretchen McNeil, as (other than the ableism mentioned) I loved her addictive writing style and I just hope whatever I read next from her, isn't quite so heavy on the ableist language!

Emily C Peterson &
Ten by Gretchen McNeil

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