BOOK REVIEW: TEN by Gretchen McNeil

TEN
Gretchen McNeil
Baltzer+Bray
Ages 14 & up

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?

MY REVIEW:

I love Gretchen McNeil. I don't mean as a writer, though she is incredible in that realm. I mean I love her as a human being. I've been fortunate to know her, and I can honestly say she is one of the most enthusiastic, gracious, and generous people I know. So why did it take me so d**n long to read TEN? I thoroughly enjoyed her book POSSESS, by the way.

Well, my only excuse is that I started grad school around the time TEN came out. I've had a personalized copy on my shelf ever since, and it has also been at the top of my TBR list ever since. Now that I'm graduated and I actually have time to read for pleasure (not just in the bathroom or in my car while my kids are in music lessons), I finally pulled it off the shelf.

I knew I'd enjoy it. No doubt about that. I just didn't think I'd enjoy it as much as I did. I started reading Sunday morning and finished it Monday night. I NEVER read books that fast. My average reading time is a month at least. But TEN got its hooks in deep and I could not stop reading!!! I got 3/4 through it by midnight on Sunday and only stopped because I make it a point not to stay up late, and midnight was really pushing it for me. And when I went to bed, I literally had to go through the house and close all the windows and lock them and check the locks on the doors. And I actually slept with my lamp on. I really did.

TEN is so deliciously creepy, so suspensefully thrilling, it has got to rank up there with the best of them. Inspired by Agatha Christie's AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, McNeil totally channels Christie and King and Harris...wrapping all things terrifying into a yarn aimed at the YA crowd (but equally pleasing to us grown-ups, too!)

If you like things to go bump in the night, then TEN had better be at the top of your TBR list.

CONTENT RATING:

Profanity:  High

Violence:  High

Sexuality:  Moderate