Blog Tour: Ten by Gretchen McNeil

It was supposed to be the weekend of their lives--an exclusive house party on Henry Island. Best friends Meg and Minie each have their reasons for being there (which involve T.J., the school's most eligible bachelor) and look forward to two glorious day 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 outside, 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? (Book blurb)

Meg Pritchard is a writer, an introvert. For her entire high school life she has lived to take care of her emotionally unstable best-friend Minnie, but Minnie's constant mood changes and possessiveness are beginning to wear on Meg's nerves. She's been accepted into a college thousands of miles away, and Minnie's anxiety at her leaving has only been growing as the time comes closer for Meg to leave. As a sort of last chance to bond, Meg--against her better judgement--agrees to go with Minnie to a house party on a small, ritzy island.

She expected the unchaperoned chaos of a house full of teenagers, but now she'll be lucky if she can make it out alive.

Ten by Gretchen McNeil is a summer thriller. It's a fast read filled with suspense and a creep-factor that will make you want to leave the light on as you read it. Nothing is predictable in McNeil's work as you wait on the booggy-man to jump out of the closet. This isn't your fainting heroine type of horror story though. The closer you are to the end of the book the more you want to shout your encouragement to Meg. Even if there are a few times you want to scream, "DON'T GO IN THERE!!"

I am not a fan of horror movies. However, some of my favorite YA books have turned out to be in that very sub genre. Ten by Gretchen McNeil, however, was a bit too much for me. I literally couldn't read it after nightfall. It was full of suspense and gorey, cold-blooded murders. No, thank you. I also found the narrator, Meg, a bit whiney at the start of the book.

But, despite all of this, I did enjoy it. The last scenes in the book completely redeemed it anywhere else it fell short to my slightly biased taste. Meg turned out to be a kick-ass heroine and even though in the end she's lost nearly everything, you can feel a sort of soldier-like depression but also a hardy resilience, and you know that the character you've been following will be okay.

McNeil's writing was simple throughout most of the book. There wasn't a great deal of profound depth, which makes it a perfect quick-read in the summer time or between hectic classes during the darker half of the year. Her real, shining talent is in writing the suspenseful scenes, like the fight scene at the end. That last fourth of the book blew me away. The words and the actions they portrayed had no awkwardness, they flowed perfectly and kept me on the edge of my seat.

Overall, a wonderful short read for your horror fan, a beyond perfect gift for Halloween, Ten definitely deserves the attention of a suspense-loving reader.

Don't forget to check out the other stops on the TEN Tour!