I know I've been a little lazy on the posts, but I've been busy with school. That seems like a common factor with reasons for my lack of posts... but it's so stressful this semester (and it's just my Junior year... OF HIGH SCHOOL!) So, I'm a little worried about what my life will be like in college. This semester I have: Honors Latin III, AP Chemistry, Honors US History, and Marching Band... and each one of them is stressful in their own way. Anyway, getting off the subject of stress in my life, let's move on to the stress of the Ten teenagers in Gretchen McNeil's new novel Ten. This novel was a fantastic thrill ride, the plot isn't that hard to comprehend either. That's one reason I loved the tag line (Ten teens. Three days. One killer.) because, if anyone asked me what the book was about, I would just recite the tag line to them and they would say that the book sounded amazing. Even with the self-explaining tag line, I'm going to post the synopsis from Goodreads:
SHHHH!
Don't spread the word!
Three-day weekend. House party.
White Rock House on Henry Island.
You do NOT want to miss it.
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 first impression of this book was that it was going to be amazing. I'd never read a book about normal teens being hunted my a killer, or a story as suspenseful as this one. Once I saw how small the book was though, I was a little worried about how the story would play out in such a short amount of time, but it worked out well. I really liked the plot and the characters, and how it all tied together in the end. However, at times it was quite predictable. The first couple people who died, I knew a couple chapters before they actually died, and I saw some of the conversations coming into action before it actually did. But there were also times where I didn't know what was happening, especially the last 50 pages or so. I was shocked about how it tied together, I didn't see it coming for sure. I told a friend after reading the book that McNeil cheated with who the killer was... (Ah... I had to catch myself, I almost gave an important piece of info away.) I was worried towards the end when people started to die, and the chances of it being certain people increased, but the author did great with the shock factor of the last couple chapters. I really didn't see it coming, and I loved how it all tied together in the end. I give this novel 4/5 stars, just because of some of the predictable moments, but overall it was a great read, and I look forward to reading other books like this as well as other books by McNeil.
Additional Announcement: The Army of Ten is a website hosted by McNeil, and it is used to spread the word of Ten with libraries/book stores/etc. It's an amazing site and you guys should check it out I have a button on the sidebar of the blog, so just click on it and it will take you straight to the site. I like this site because it gets the book out into other peoples hands, and it also gives you the chance to win awesome stuff... by doing different "missions" in order to win a couple prizes. Just click on the picture below, or the button on the side bar. I LOVE IT! CHECK IT OUT!
