[Book Review] - Ten by Getchen McNeil

Title: Ten

   Author: Gretchen McNeil

   Format: Hardcover
   Release Date: September 18th, 2012
   My Rating: 4.5 out of 5.0

     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 Review:

     Ten was one of those books that slipped past my radar. It was a great read and when it put me on the edge of my seat, it kept me there through the rest of the book. I fell in love with this book almost immediately. The protagonist Meg was just so believable and represented a normal teenage girl who was trying to have fun and lead a normal life. She was nervous when the first got on the island that their friends party was going to take place.

     While this is supposed to be a normal party, it ends up being everything but ordinary. From the synopsis you can tell that all the of teens at the party are being hunted. What got me the most about this story was the characters. The characters were amazing, and how Gretchen weaves a story between them and makes their each uniqueness intertwine between the characters. She does a great job making not only the characters believable, but understandable and relatable.

     It's just a gradual learning through the book how the characters are involved, as they are slowly murdered in numerous ways. I thought the mystery would be a bit different, but my version of the mystery wouldn't do this justice at all, and I applaud McNeil for a wonderful job. I guarantee you won't figure out who the killer is, until all the pieces are put together for you. I thought I nailed who the killer was, but McNeil did it again and pulled the one trick out of her hat, and literally blew my mind.

     Minnie was one of my favorite characters in this book. Mainly because she was so unstable. We understand that Minnie goes into this rage fits or something of that nature, or some sort of OCD meltdown; anyways, she for some reason keeps her cool for the beginning of the worst. When things start and her meltdown takes over she begins to burrow into herself and the trauma shows clearly all over her persona. I loved her the most out of all the character, because she is relates to how any normal person reacts and was a great distraction to keep your mind off the other issues and trying to figure out who the killer was.

     A major issue I found was Meg, her character seemed to be pushed around more often than what she did at the party. There were more times at the party that Meg showed she was the one in control, she was the one taking charge of things and piecing together who the killer was, but when you look at the past it says complete opposite. You learn through the book, that Meg more often than not drops things, and bends over backwards for Minnie at any cost, and I found that frustrating. She's this push-over in her past, but in the present she's the one in charge; it just confused me more than it made sense.

     The problem I have with books like these though, is the lack of re-readability. I can't re-read this unless I bury it in a hole and find it many years down the road and read it to one of my children (I don't have yet). On that note, I actually cannot wait to read to my children one day and share my passion with them. So I guess in that aspect it's got some, but nothing like a plot driven book has. Maybe that's why I don't normally go for Mysteries as often, they lack the re-readability I enjoy from time to time.