TEN by Gretchen McNeil

Ten
Gretchen McNeil

Rating: A+
Release Date: 9/18/12
Synopsis from goodreads.com:
And their doom comes swiftly.

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 thoughts on the book:
Ten is the perfect combination of horror, romance, and mystery. This book kept me on the edge of my seat from the first page until the very last sentence. Ten follows Meg, through third person limited POV, while she attempts to stay alive on a deserted island with ten other people, one of who is the killer. One by one, her friends and acquaintances are killed off while she finds clues and tries to discover who the murderer is before it's too late. 

Meg is a likable heroine, and her love interest, T.J., is also likable. Neither teen is angsty, and both really go above and beyond to take care of themselves and the others. Meg's best friend, Minnie, is bipolar, and Meg has been taking care of her since the 7th grade. Meg is a loyal friend, and just an overall strong character. She sacrifices her own happiness, repeatedly, in order to appease Minnie. T.J. doesn't have any crazy friends that we see, but he's also a kind and respectful character. I really liked reading about both of them, and I spent the majority of the novel hoping they both came out of this alive. 

The plot is intense, suspenseful, and terrifying. I was up all night reading this book. I could not put it down. And through it all, I was also hopeful that T.J. and Meg would end up together. McNeil does an excellent job of keeping the reader guessing, and she includes plenty of red herrings and clues. It's almost impossible to know who the guilty person is. I kept going back and forth between three or four different people, and I could not narrow it down. Every time I thought I had it figured out, someone else did something that made him or her look guilty. The pacing was perfect, and the ending wrapped everything up nicely. I wasn't bored for a single second during this novel. 

In an effort not to spoil the book, I'm going to end my review here. Overall, I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes a good horror or mystery novel. This is the best suspense book that I've read in years. Give Ten a try. You won't be sorry.

Pre-order Ten today!