Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Review: Ten by Gretchen McNeil

Ten
By Gretchen McNeil
Publisher:
Balzer + Bray

To Sum It Up:

When best friends Meg and Minnie are invited to an exclusive party on Henry Island, they jump at the chance to go on the weekend getaway. Without telling anyone about their whereabouts, they reach the party, but the hostess is nowhere to be found. The raging storm outside is attributed as the cause. But the party must go on, and it does—until the partygoers start showing up dead. Meg realizes that they are getting picked off one by one, and she's figured out that one of them is the killer. With no way to send for help and no way off the secluded island, all the teenagers can do is survive until morning.

Review:

I was beside myself when I found Ten lurking in my mailbox. Eagerly, I sat down and started reading. The book started off okay, but several chapters in, I was rolling my eyes, snickering, and leaving the book unread and desolate on my nightstand. It took me an eternity to finish the book, and it took me even longer to review it. I wanted to like the book and be kind, but I just couldn't do it.

Ten, being a horror book, was lacking a great deal in the horror department. I read the book in solitude at night and I still wasn't scared. I could have been camping on an island while reading and still have been perfectly at ease. I'll admit that the book was kind of creepy, but that's about it. I was confused, though. For a book written under the genre to scare people, I was a little more than disappointed—my bravery knows no bounds.

Everything about the book was so typical it hurt. Several teenagers are stuck on an island with a psycho killer on the loose! Oh, but there's a twist—the killer is one of them! Been there, done that—several times, actually. I was quite bored with the triteness and predictability of the plot. I started counting how many times I rolled my eyes. This book bothered me so much because I really did want to like it! The odds were not in Ten's favor.

The characters in the book annoyed me to no end. You have Meg, with her co-dependent, depressed bestie, Minnie, and her angsty ex-boyfriend, T.J. That's about all of the characters I can remember. There were more than several secondary characters, but I gave up on remembering them, seeing as most of them died. The book was cluttered with names, and, I'm sorry, but it's terrible that a character's sole purpose is to kick it. I tried to like Meg, I really did, but she was just so annoying. She kept trying to please her friend Minnie, who I have come to resent, and barely tried to figure out what was going on. I'll admit that Meg and T.J. were the most sensible of the characters, but their “I like you, but I hate you” relationship distracted me from rooting them on to survive. The baddie, who isn't revealed until the very end, is the most interesting out of the lot.

I will admit that the ending caught me off guard—just by the slightest. That's what saved the book for me. I had everything fairly figured out; the little twist, however, sent me back to the drawing board. I found my balance quite quickly after the bump, but the bump was enough to make me rethink the book. Yeah, most of my time was spent yelling at Meg to open her eyes and dig a little deeper, but at least I was involved in the book. Unbeknownst to me, I was all caught up in the action, and that's all anybody can ask for in a book—an escape.

All in All:

I was sorely disappointed with this book. Although the horror just wasn't there for me, I do encourage others to try it out for themselves.

15 comments:

  1. Only mildly creepy is not good. :( I was really excited about this one when it first hit the scene but it really isn't getting very good reviews. May have to pass. Sorry you were bored with it.

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    1. I was really disappointed because I was looking forward to reading it. The lack of horror really bummed me out, but that's just me.

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  2. I have been wanting to read this, and I the plot/predictability is because it's a modern re-telling of And Then There Were None, so being inspired by that, the plot must have followed a similar story. But the fact that this really dragged and it took you ages to read does make me wary!

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    1. I've never read the Agatha Christie story, so I wouldn't be able to compare. The similarities would make sense though. Maybe someday I'll check out the original tale.

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  3. I was never really attracted to this book but when I saw you read it I was curious about your review. From what I remember of the reviews I read, most were consistent with what your review. I'm sorry it didn't work out for you, but thanks for the honest review!

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  4. I have actually heard only positive reviews until this point, so I'm sorry to hear that this book isn't as great as some people have made out.

    It sounds like it's too predictable and not scary enough which are two things I hate. Although I'm quite easily freaked...

    Great review, anyway Ally and I'm glad at least the ending could make you rethink this book a little with the twist.

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    1. Yeah, the ending was the savior of the book. Too bad the rest of the book wasn't as surprising as the ending, I think I would have appreciated it more.

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  5. I keep reading mixed reviews of this one..though I was interested I am thinking I shall pass! Great review!

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    1. Yeah, the book just wasn't my thing. I had high hopes, but the book just didn't deliver.

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  6. Well, this book definitely does not sound like it would be for me. Overdone plot, unlikable characters, much eye rolling? All things I can do without, thanks very much. Really, I'm not sure that I've read a single positive review for this book. Hmm. Sorry you didn't like this one, though, Ally; it's no fun to read a book you don't enjoy.

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    1. My eyes got a real work-out from all the rolling they did, lol. The book just wasn't there for me. I kind of knew that I wasn't going to like it from the start; I arrogantly believe myself to be fearless when it comes to reading horror novels.

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  7. Uh, Meg killed me! I think your description of her is pretty accurate. The premise of the story was great, the execution was lacking.

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  8. Sorry to hear this Ally, but you're not the only one who's disappointed over this book. A lot of blogs I follow felt the same thing you did.

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    1. I thought I would be the only one to find fault with the book; I'm glad that's not the case!

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