TEN

Today's book review is on TEN by Gretchen McNeil.  It is 294 pages long and is published by Balzer + Bray. The cover is a picture of an isolated island in the Pacific Northwest. The intended reader is someone who likes young adult mysteries, thrillers, and retelling of classic mystery novels.  There is mild foul language, discussions of sex and sexuality, and violence in this novel. The story is told in the first person of the main character Meg. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book-  It was supposed to be the weekend of their lives-  three days on Henry Island at an exclusive house party. Best friends Meg and Minnie each have their own reasons for wanting to be there, which involved are schools most eligible bachelor, T.J. Fletcher, and look forward to three glorious days of boys, bonding, and fun-filled luxury.

But what they expect is definitely not what they get. Suddenly, people are dying, and with a storm raging outside, the teens are cut off from the rest of the world. No electricity, no phones, no internet, and a ferry that isn't scheduled to return the days. Aa 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 ever imagined? 

Review-  A masterful retelling of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None updated for modern tastes.  Meg is trying to handle just the last few months before she can get away and go to college at UCLA  but her best friend Minnie is not handling their soon-to-be separation very well. So this was supposed to be a last big hurrah for the two of them to spend time together and have a little fun. But soon accidents start to happen, and then a suicide or at least it looks like one and Meg knows something has gone terribly wrong. The story kept me guessing, I wasn't sure exactly who was the one behind it but when the reveal happened I wasn't surprised necessarily by who the person was but who they were pretending to be. Of course if you have read the Agatha Christie classic novel you will enjoy this novel more but if you're just looking for a teen thriller, who done it; I would recommend it. It is well written, the characters are interesting and complex, and it's just in general a good teen slasher novel.

I give this novel a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.