Meg and Minnie have been best friends since middle school. However, their friendship has been more strained lately, so attending a secret house party on a secluded island seems like a good chance to make amends. Things become even more complicated when it turns out T.J. Fletcher has also been invited - because both Meg and Minnie have feelings for him. This petty drama is thrown into the background, however, when other party invitees begin to die. At first the deaths seem like accidents, but as the remaining guests look more closely at the bodies and the clues surrounding the deaths, the more suspicious each one begins to seem. When all outside help is cut off by a violent storm that takes out electricity and internet, and with the ferry back to the mainland not scheduled to return for several more days, the survivors must determine who the killer is - before every last one of them is dead.
I'd read one other book by Gretchen McNeil before, although several years ago, but I remembered that I'd enjoyed it even more than I'd expected I would, based on the summary. The same thing happened to me with this book. As I read it, I had several different characters in mind who could reasonably be the killer. McNeil managed to surprise me in the end, while still maintaining a consistent plot. I love to be shocked by the ending of a book, and it rarely happens to me anymore. This novel wrapped everything up in the end, without making things overly cookie-cutter perfect, and while still keeping the element of surprise.
I have to say that while I did end up liking Meg by the end of the book, I really wasn't impressed by her through most of it. She was, simply put, too quiet. She didn't say most of what she thought, and she often let Minnie walk all over her. I hate when the hero or heroine of a novel doesn't have many admirable character traits. I understand that Meg was supposed to be a regular teenager, and as much as I appreciate the steps taken to make her a realistic teen, I don't think that making her mousy necessarily makes her relatable. Thankfully, some stronger traits managed to come through by the finale, but I don't think it should have taken a life-threatening situation to prove Meg's strength.
I very much enjoyed the setting of the book. Often in "scary" novels, the setting is nearly the same: a possibly-haunted, decrepit, deserted house. The setting for this story was very different. Although the island did end up being deserted, the house was not; it was the ten (or fewer, as people died) teenagers facing the issues together. The house was modern, and there was no thought of ghosts. The storm even let up, while people were still being killed. The focus was entirely on the murders, so that the book could be frightening without going over-the-top trying to scare readers. I ended up enjoying the book a lot more, since it focused more on plot than on the scare factor.
After reading this book, I've decided to find the other books that I haven't yet read by Gretchen McNeil, and buy them all. The copy of Ten that I read even had a preview in the back for another book by McNeil, which I read, and was disappointed when it cut off. There is something about McNeil's writing that just pulls the reader in. I would give this novel a rating of four stars. I finished it very quickly, and it provided a much-needed reminder that there are some very good books out there. I would recommend this novel for readers who enjoy murder mysteries, stormy islands, and surprise endings.
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