what fun fun fun mystery. It has tie ins from about a thousand other books, movies and shows. You sift through it thinking..."oh, in THIS show it was so and so" "in THAT movie it was this person"

but...each story is their own,right? and each one has it's own plot and characters.... Or is this like Clue?

LOL You won't know until you read it.

such fun! ( )

If you have read "And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie, then you can pretty easily tell what will happen in this novel! The setting and main idea is the same: a group of people are invited to an island, and one by one, they start getting killed. In this case 10 teens come expecting a party but things turn sour pretty quickly.
Despite the fact that I was able to predict the main occurrences (a large part of this is surely because I have read the similar Agatha Christie novel) this was an entertaining, suspenseful, and crafty little read. Meg, the main character, is very likable: she defends her friend even when it's not easy, is pretty quick to piece things together, and makes really none of your "predictable horror film female" choices (like going off to make-out in the woods or something similarly stupid).
The writing style is good, although there are a few cliches scattered among the more well-crafted pieces. McNeil is good with really drawing the reader into the story and presenting clues, characters, and happenings in an effective way.
While "Ten" is nothing super-duper-spectacular (and could use a better title), I found it a great read for a story day and will certainly be reading another Gretchen McNeil book in the future. ( )

I've never read Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, so I don't have anything to compare it to. From some of the other reviews I've read it seems like this book is a disappointment compared to Christie's book, which inspired this one. Well, since I don't have anything to compare it to, I will say I enjoyed this one.

I read this one in just a few hours, it's a quick and entertaining read. It definitely kept me guessing and took me by surprise with the twist, which I probably should have seen coming. If you're new to the murder mystery genre and want to ease your way into it, this one is probably a good one to start with. It's not too gory and will keep you turning the pages. ( )

When Meg and her BFF Minnie are invited to a weekend party at a popular girl's vacation house, they jump at the chance. Or at least Minnie does and Meg is drug along for the ride. Looking forward to hot guys, partying, and style, the girls take a ferry over to an exclusive island. Right away things get weird. First off, the girl that is supposed to be hosting is a no-show. Then a major storm whips up, leaving all the guests stuck until it blows over. Meg is not looking forward to spending the weekend with her off-limits crush (because he's Minnie's crush too) and Minnie's ex and new girlfriend. It's just awkward.

Then people start dying. At first it seems innocent... but then how many coincidences can you have before it starts to look intentional? Meg knows it has something to do with a creepy diary that she's found, but doesn't know if revealing it will make her look guilty. As she struggles to figure out who the killer is and how to get the heck off the island, things get more and more deadly. Will she figure it out before it's too late?

My Thoughts:
I read this book at the end of October in honor of Halloween. It seemed like the perfect book for this time of year due to the subject and just look at that cover!! Definitely creepy. I was looking for something fast-paced and easy to read... and I definitely got that.

This book was totally reminding me of my R.L. Stine/Christopher Pike reading days. You have 10 people stuck on an island and someone is killing them off one by one. Definitely a Fear Street-type book if I ever saw one. I really enjoyed reading something that reminded me of that time period because it seems pretty rare in YA anymore. Things in YA have gotten DEEP and developed... which is a good thing!! But sometimes I just want to read a classic mystery which doesn't have a ton of hidden meanings and back-stories and emotions and all that stuff. If you are looking for something to just entertain you, this is your book.

So now the book. The main character is Meg who is in a co-dependent relationship with her best friend Minnie. Minnie has mental issues and depends on Meg far too much. On top of that, their friendship is tense due to Minnie finding out that Meg has decided to leave her go to college in California. When they show up to the island they discover T.J. is there. Basically Minnie wants T.J., but he wants Meg... and Meg wants him back, but she doesn't want to hurt Minnie. So yeah, it's awkward and tense there. There are 7 other people at the house which leads to a lot of suspects once the killing starts. It also made it hard for me to keep track of everybody and what their roles were.

I will say that for a book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading, I didn't care for ANY of the characters. There wasn't a single likable one in the bunch. The ones that I wanted to like (Meg and T.J.) could never actually get it together for me to consistently root for them. Minnie was the worst of the group. Super annoying clingy airhead bitch. Needed slapped at least TEN times throughout the book.

It's definitely a book looking into if you are looking to read a pure mystery without much depth. Something you can read without hurting your head over. Something that just entertains and scares you a little.

Overall: A book that totally had me channeling my R.L. Stine reading days. It's a book about a bunch of teens stuck on an island with a killer. It's thrilling and addicting, but it's not deep. Definitely something to read to get in the Halloween mood... or just for entertainment.

My Blog:
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It was fine for a YA thriller/mystery , and once you get past the first~7 chapters, the book moves quick. ( )