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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?
“Don’t expect to put it down once you’ve picked it up.”
SpeedyReadSA
Posted November 11, 2012
One of the best mysteries I have ever read. Reminds me of the old black and white movie "And Then There Were None". Very entertaining. Needs to be a movie.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.At_Random
Posted October 9, 2012
It was Mrs. Peacock in the Living Room with the rope. No wait, it was Mr. Green in the Conservatory with the candle stick. Or was it the pipe?!
Ten is a quick read that turned out to be a masterful YA whodunit meets Clue. It kept me guessing until the end of the book. The guess I did make proved to be W R O N G **sounds loud, obnoxious FAIL buzzer** but a big kudos to Gretchen for stumping me!
Although I wasn't shaking in my boots scared I'm still hoping Ten will encourage more ya authors to join the growing trend that's bringing thriller plots to ya novels.
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Yes this gets 5 trees that should stand for Outfreaklingstanding! Its no surprise either that it would be that awesome. Gretchen captured my interest in her writing when I read Possess by her last year and she has just seal the deal and can count on me as a long time reader of her work now. Ten is Gretchen's MO, she writes horror/mystery/suspense/thriller like no one else does. Forget biting your nails while reading, you are checking your doors and locking all windows and hiding under covers when you have one of Gretchen's books in your hands. Gretchen can give horror films a run for their money.
First I'm going to give you TEN reason why this book is Badass:
The suspense level is out of this world
The scenery of where it takes place is perfect
The characters do DIE
Its Bloody
Believe it or not, it has some LOL moments
The story is VIVID
You wont be able to predict the ending
One swoon-worthy guy
Excellent cover
Gretchen McNeil wrote it!!!
Ten is the story of 10 teens headed off to a party on Henry Island for 3 days. Meg is the main protagonist we follow along, she has her best friend with her when they jump on the ferry to head to this island. At this party they know will be T.J., the swoon-worthy hottie from school. Meg has been crazy for him, but has kept it under wraps since Minnie her BFF likes him too. No one knows that these teens are going to spend 3 days all alone. So when they all finally get there and see everyone staying the weekend, its a really random group of people. Not everyone even goes to the same school. Well that doesn't stop the party from starting, which includes a DVD they find that says play me. Hmm not sure about you but I personally would not have touched that DVD. The tape gets played and the message is: "Vengeance IS MINE" and well if this doesn't scare the crap out of you then you might be crazy. The countdown has begun! One by one the teens start to die pretty horrifically. There is no way off the island and a really bad storm has knock power and communications off. Who will survive this weekend? Is the killer amongst them or someone lurking on the island?
When you pick up a copy of TEN, grab a really comfy blanket, a really bright light and your detective hat and immerse yourself in this thriller. I recommend it to everyone, even if horror isn't your thing. Enjoy!!! - Yara
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted March 17, 2013
It didnt spenf enough time on getting to let ud kno the characters before the violence begins-at the end I still had questions
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Posted March 8, 2013
I thought this was a great book that i finished in a day. It was suspensful and kept you on the edge of your toes. If you like And There Were None by Agatha Cristie, then get this book... it was like a modernized version of it.
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Posted February 25, 2013
I looooove a good spooky story. Action-packed, semi-predictable-yet-still-surprising thrillers? TOTALLY my thing. I would positively LOVE to see more books just like this filling up the YA genre, and Ten was an excellent addition to that!
This is one book I've recommended to a NUMBER of friends (there's actually a LINE UP of people waiting to borrow my copy). Pick this one up if you're looking for spine-tingling chills and a plot that will keep you guessing.
Reasons to Read:
1. Solid writing for creepy scenes:
Gretchen McNeil's writing totally sets up the creepy atmosphere for the whole book; it's solid and the feeling it gives off is just perfect for the reader. Like, all I want to do with this book is curl up with it and a blanket and tea on a dark and stormy night = PERFECTION. Scary books rely so much on strong writing, and I was so pleased that Gretchen absolutely nailed this part.
2. Predictable - yet still thrilling:
Here's the thing: Ten is a retelling of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. So anyone familiar with that story won't be completely surprised by Ten's plot. And it isn't the most surprising, mysterious book I've ever read - but that doesn't take away from its enjoyment and it still isn't entirely predictable or formulaic either. It seemed like every time I felt I had finally figured it out, I was wrong about something.
3. Character dynamics:
One of the best aspects of And Then There Were None is how it highlights the relationships between different characters, and Ten does a fantastic job including this in the story. It's a driving factor between the plot, trying to figure out how this group of (mostly) strangers are all connected to one another - and then watching how they interact with each other. It's a great look into the dynamics of relationships and how people interact with others.
Yet there were a couple of relationships that felt a tad too weak for me - Meg and Minnie were interesting and their story wrapped up well for the most part, but I had a harder time buying into it at first.
But mostly, I wasn't impressed with how emotionless Meg felt at times. Especially at the end, when she figures out exactly what has been going on this whole time, she feels somewhat cold and callous towards all the deaths which have taken place. I know that it isn't particularly crucial to a book like this one, but it still felt a little too distant for me, personally. Honestly, except for this one thing I think this book would have been 5 stars. It just rubbed me the wrong way when I finished reading it.
Overall, Ten was en extraordinary new YA read - it was perfect for the mood I was in when I wanted a scary read, and this one definitely kept me on my toes and glancing over my shoulder!
ARC won in Pitch Dark Books giveaway.
Anonymous
Posted January 25, 2013
This book is awesome!!!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Phil_Hall
Posted January 11, 2013
Honestly, although this is a decent book, I just couldn't care about the characters. I don't know why. This is basically a retelling of an existing story, which by now you all have heard about, and TEN does a fine job of modernizing it, I just found myself...not caring. Sad, but I have to prop this up as less of a story than POSSESS (the author's first book.)
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.I initially picked up Ten because of all its rave reviews. When people compared it to 90’s slasher films and the works of R.L. Stine, c’mon! I can’t resist that! But excited as I was, I still had some reservations going in. Ten is loosely based off of the classic mystery novel, And Then There Were None, and I absolutely adored both the book and its movie incarnate. I guess I just wanted to like the book more than I actually did. Now that’s not to say Ten wasn’t entertaining but it wasn’t as bold or scary as I initially hoped either. Perhaps I just suffer from the curse of unmet expectations or maybe it’s because the book skewed a little too young for me, I’m not really sure, but by the end I was kind of done with it. For starters, I had issues with mixing up the two main gals, Meg and Minnie. I often had to flip back several pages just to figure out who was who. As for the other teens, they were thinly veiled characterizations of your typical high school cliques—your popular kids, do-gooders, stoners, jocks and techie types. Honestly, I didn’t really connect with any of them so when they were killed off one by one, it didn’t faze me. But though I had my issues with Ten, the story was short and fast-paced enough to keep me engaged. And yeah, the characters were generalized but it made me sort of feel like I was back in high school again. It was easy to get lost in the trivial drama that plagues our teen years, and honestly, I kind of dug that about this book. McNeil also did a decent job at masking the killer’s identity, though I was able to figure it out a few chapters before the intended reveal. Ten did also have its creepier, on-edge moments that made me want to flick on the light and cuddle up to my dog for safety purposes, but overall, for this horror-junkie, it wasn't enough. I do think Ten will be more effective with a less-horror-enthused, younger audience so I will totally be recommending it to my younger siblings and their hormone-driven friends.
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Posted October 25, 2012
I couldn't stop reading it! Read the whole thing in two hours! I had thought it was one character for the whole book, and in the end, I was so close! This is a great book, and it had me running to turn on the lights and huddle under a blanket. I was so scared ( I'm quite paranoid, though. ) Definitely worth reading!
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Posted October 13, 2012
I can say that after reading only the two books by Ms. McNeil (Possess and Ten), I am officially a fan. Her writing is engaging, exciting, enticing, and, yes, excruciating at times. But the excruciating bits comes from the well-developed hit-the-nail-on-the-head frustrating parts of teenage love angst. Ten had me on the edge of my seat from the first page (which I started at lunch) and successfully kept me from doing all things responsible until I finished it later that day. I'm a fan of the San Juan islands, I'm a fan of Gretchen McNeil, and I'm a fan of well-crafted mysteries -- therefore, I'm definitely a fan of Ten!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted October 7, 2012
Figured the "who done it" was the least likely, and it was. Wouldn't discourage anyone from reading it, though. It was just not my thing.
0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.I love a good mystery and when I heard Ten was a thriller adapted from Agatha Christie’s novel And Then There Were None I immediately preordered it. McNeil delivered a suspenseful, gripping and entertaining thriller that kept me guessing till the end. I consumed this in a single day and loved it. Ten is a fantastic thriller that takes place on Henry Island located off the coast of the Pacific Northwest. Meg and Minnie two high school seniors are heading by ferry to the island for the hottest, hippest party of the year. When they arrive on the island, they find only eight other people have been invited. Stranger still, they don’t all know each other and attend different schools. The host has been delayed and won’t arrive until morning. They make themselves at home, and kick back a few beers as storm rages outside. They gather round to watch a movie and pop in a DVD. It contains an eerie, sinister message that declares, Vengeance is mine. The tale that unfolds is suspenseful, creepy and kept me captivated to the last page. I loved the Breakfast Club mix of personalities invited to the island. The protagonist Meg, is pretty grounded and plans to be a writer. She looks out for her friends and often puts their needs first. She tends to be an observer and a bit awkward, but I liked her. Minnie is loud, crass and has serious mental health issues. While I felt sorry for her, I also loathed her. TJ is a very handsome, a polite boy that Minnie has crushed on forever. The rest of the teens have all different personalities. From the jock to the know-it-all. McNeil cleverly portrayed them so that some you liked and others you did not. The romance that develops was sweet and genuine. I loved watching it develop and it created a nice diversion from the killings! While the tale is told in third person, Meg drives most of the tale. McNeil did a fantastic job of letting this tale unfold. There is a fine art to revealing clues to the reader, and hers were quite ingenious. Midway through the book, we knew the connection between the teens, but not the why or how. McNeil, kept me guessing as to who the killer was. I did solve it, but had to wait to find out the how and why. I loved every tantalizing moment of it. The entire book was well paced, as the suspense kept building. The last quarter of the book moved at a blindingly delicious speed that had my heart racing. The climatic ending was epic and had me gripping my nook as the scene unfolded. As the final details were revealed, all the puzzle pieces McNeil had subtlety provided fell into place. I love that moment; that feeling when you see the whole picture and believe. It was incredibly done, and I loved every spine-chilling moment. Ten will delight fans of mystery and suspense. This thriller kept me completely entertained and is the perfect fall read. Gretchen McNeil weaves a fine tale and I look forward to reading more of her work.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Kptrsn19
Posted September 23, 2012
If you are a Christopher Pike fan you will love this book! It's old school, classic horror and it's amazing! Gretchen McNeil definitely keeps you on your toes, there are quite of few twists and turns, most of which I didn't see coming. The deaths were creative and not always pleasant, which is just what you want in your scary books. Ten flows smoothly and the killer was not easy to pick out. I think Ten fits in with both those that love horror a lot and those that are a bit hesitant of it. If you can handle it, Ten is best read on a dark and stormy night.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Katee_Robert
Posted September 23, 2012
I've been in a serious YA funk for a long time. Just completely burnt out. That said, I knew I wanted to read this book as soon as I recognized the cover and the title -- a re-imagining of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. I LOVED that book as a kid and it completely rocked my world, so I was going into this with pretty high hopes (and well aware that it'd be hard to match).
Yeah, Ms. McNeil more than surpassed my expectations. She perfectly captured the eerie aspect of some of the more deserted San Juan islands, and the book was so deliciously atmospheric--all without taking away from the plot and characters.
And Meg. I love Meg so freaking much. She was completely real and well-rounded and her mixed emotions over her best friend and T.J. only served to make her more real.
This book was, quite frankly, brilliant. It managed to creep me out and there were a few parts where a true spike of fear actually showed up.
Ms. McNeil is now an instant-buy for me.
'Ten' blows horror/suspense out of the water. Vibrant and very vivid, you’ll think you’re on the island trying desperately to avoid death from an unknown killer – most likely one of your new friends. Well written, 'Ten' demands visceral reactions from its readers as instinct to hide or turn the page and go deeper into the mindset of each character. Simply put, it’s gleeful terror in perfection.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.'TEN' is a taut and riveting young adult thriller set on Henry Island - a private island off the coast of the Pacific Northwest. Meg and her best friend Minnie are excited to be invited to one of the hottest parties of the year, thrown by the most popular girl in school. When they arrive at the island, they discover that there are only ten of them on the island, instead of the huge crowd and party they were expecting. A storm hits Henry Island and they are suddenly cut off from the rest of the world and with no way out. Soon, people are dying one by one, there are strange red marks on the wall, and they don't know who to trust. Will Meg be able to survive the weekend until she can get off the island for help?
In my opinion, there are nearly enough young adult thrillers out there. With 'TEN', Gretchen McNeil has written a truly creepy page turner. The book is very well written and had me hooked from the very first sentence. I literally couldn't put it down until I finished it and found out who the killer was. The setting is a perfect place for the book - a secluded private island shut off from the rest of the world during a storm. The characters are original and have unique personalities and flaws - all which fit perfectly into the plot.
The way the story is writing is phenomenal. It starts out at a good pace, and then things just start accelerating until you have to find out what's going on. There are some incredible twists and turns that you don't see coming - which only add to the completely engaging storyline. Every piece of the story is perfectly implemented and works together to make a serious masterpiece of a thriller. I honestly can't say enough to show how amazing this book is and how much I absolutely loved it. 'TEN' is by far one of the best thrillers I've read, and definitely one of the best books I've read in a long time. You don't want to miss this one! Very highly recommended!!
Disclosure: I received a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Gretchen McNeil’s highly engaging and thrilling murder mystery, Ten, will have readers guessing throughout the entire book. It has that nostalgic feel of those popular teen horror flicks of the eighties, although there is nothing cheesy about it. When best friends Meg and Minnie and eight other teenagers went on a weekend retreat at an exclusive house party on Henry Island, they never thought it would turn out to be a three-day hellish getaway. The two best friends’ weekend of fun without adult supervision and trying to win over the handsome T.J. Fletcher comes to a halt when a DVD discloses a very menacing message: Vengeance is mine. Soon people begin to die violently and cause the patrons of the party to turn on each other.
Ten quickly becomes a roller-coaster ride once the first death is exposed. The pace of the story moves smoothly as Gretchen manages to build and intensify the mystery into new unexplored levels. The writing is fantastic and brilliant. It is enriched with highly detailed descriptions and canny dialogue that readers will feel like the eleventh attendee of this fiasco-turned party.
There is no question that this book would not have that thrilling and suspenseful effect without Gretchen’s unmatched writing style. She brilliantly delivers a story that has creepiness written all over it without having to go gory overboard. Gretchen has scored big time with Ten. It holds all of the elements that make thrillers what it is while she adds her own twists to make it her very own. Even after that last page is turned; it leaves a long-lasting effect on its readers.
StaceyONeale
Posted September 18, 2012
After reading POSSESS last year, I was more than excited to be asked to be part of the TEN blog tour. Honestly, I’m really not a fan of horror which is why a 5 star review from me is so impressive. I really enjoyed this book from start to finish. The characters are complicated with lots of twists and turns. The story is vivid and easy to follow.
I thought this book read like a movie. It slightly reminded me of all the things I loved about Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer back in the last 90’s. I know it’s loosely based on Agatha Christie’s, And Then There Were None, but I haven’t read it, so I can’t compare.
You will be scared in the very best possible way. Oh, and don’t be worried that Gretchen limited the horror because it’s YA. There is nothing about this story that’s watered down. If you love thrillers, it’s something you should read really late at night when no one else is home.
Fans of YA looking for something beyond paranormal and dystopian really SHOULD NOT MISS this book!
A house party on an isolated island. A raging storm. A mysterious DVD with an ominous message. A power outage. Ten teens trapped with no way to escape. And a dead body. It’s the perfect set-up for a fun whodunit that would make Agatha Christie proud. In fact, it’s pretty much a re-telling of her classic mystery And Then There Were None (Ten Little Indians), but for teens.
I was kind of a weird kid, I read pretty much anything I could get my hands on. I’ll never forget reading a copy of Ms. Christie’s book when I was no more than twelve years old. I was spending the weekend with my grandmother and I found a copy tucked away on a shelf in the basement. I curled up and read the book, hiding it from her whenever she would enter the room so she wouldn’t fuss at me. Thus began my infatuation with murder mysteries and spurred my love/hate relationship with all things horror related.
When I first heard about this book, I was very excited. I loved Ms. McNeil’s Possess, and I was excited to see what she would do with this. I wasn’t disappointed. While I wasn’t creeped out, or even surprised by the ending, it was still well-executed and well-written. I’m well above the targeted age range for this book, and I’m sure a lot of teens may not be familiar with the original, so they will probably find the twists and turns surprising.
The book is well plotted and follows the murder mystery format to a T: Introduce the characters/setting, a mysterious occurrence, a strange message, the first body is discovered, all hell breaks loose, fingers are pointed, red herrings abound and the killer is revealed with a twist. It’s a tried and true formula that works well when executed properly and Ms. McNeil does a fine job.
While I did have a few problems with it (I thought the teens were a little too reluctant to face the fact that they were being hunted — the clues were blatantly obvious to me), I realize that this may have had something to do with the fact that I’ve read a lot of mysteries over the years, so my version of “the obvious” may differ from others. I also didn’t feel like I completely connected with any of the characters, but then again, that could just be me.
I would highly recommend this one to fans of mysteries/thrillers. Even if you don’t like slasher movies, I would give this one a try. This book is light on the scares and blood. It’s more about figuring out who the killer is and why. It’s a quick read and an engaging mystery.
Overview
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 ...