Book Review: Ten by Gretchen McNeil
Overview
Genre: HorrorPROS:
page-turning thrills; creative kills; well-crafted whodunitCONS:
not-for-the-squeamish violenceTen is a suspensful thrill ride that is damn near impossible to put down.
Review:
Ten teens. Three days. One killer.
In Gretchen McNeil’s murder thriller Ten, Meg and her best friend Minnie are on their way to an exclusive island for three glorious days of unsupervised partying. Shortly after they arrive, a storm cuts the island house off from civilization, and the group of teens must hunker down until Monday when the ferry returns. That would be a lot easier if there wasn’t a deranged killer on the loose, picking them off one by one….
A few reasons Ten rocked:
90′s Nostalgia
- Doc Martens and plaid optional.
Do you miss the teen horror novels and movies of the 90′s? The ones where the teens are super high school-ish and backstabby up until the moment someone actually stabs them in the back? This book will take you back to the era of Christopher Pike, R.L. Stine, and Lois Duncan on your bookshelves, and Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer and The Craft on your movie screens, and it is so much fun to go back.
Seriously, Whodunit?
- You won’t see me coming.
I was completely guessing until the very end on who the killer was. Cleverly placed red herrings and calculated mistrust between characters will have you changing your predictions until the moment you find out. You won’t guess who it is. No seriously, don’t even try.
Revenge
- Raise your hand if you’ve wronged me.
In this case, revenge is clearly a dish served ice cold, in the middle of nowhere in a thuderstorm. The killer plans an elaborate scheme to first terrify and then murder each of the victims, and it feels VERY personal. A video montage that hints at crimes committed and coming retribution gives clues to the gruesome methods by which each victim will die. Bonus points for creativity and improvisation with your revenge scheme, psycho-killer! Well done.
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This book sounds like something I would love! I’m really in to horror movies. I just re-watched all four Screams. I’ll have to check this one out.
Ten sounds so cool, but I couldn’t find it at my bookstore!
I guess I’ll have to amazon it.
I did the same, downloaded it on Nook, and didn’t stop reading it until I was done! It’s a lot like And Then There Were None, but updated with some nasty teens. I know that doesn’t sound like the best description, but I also quite liked it. It was fun, and very suspenseful. Definitely a fast read too.
I just finished reading this and I loved it! While I would have liked a bit more at the ending, I thought it was a really fun slasher book. I agree with your review – I did NOT figure out the killer. I though I did, but I was so wrong.
I loved Gretchen’s last book Possess, so I’m really excited to get my hands on this! Great review, thanks!