Gretchen McNeil has written an amazing thriller book that not only scared me while I was among the pages, but also walking in my own sunny home. “Ten” was brilliantly written and kept its secrets even better because readers did not see the killer coming whatsoever. What started out as a party became the worst nightmare anyone could ever imagined. Ten teen-agers on an island for what is supposed to be an amazing three day party twists and turns into a thriller right along with the raging storm outside the mansion. Throughout the story there are people getting murdered, trying to escape the house, arguments, things getting thrown along with its accusations, and the surprise of all surprises in this book wraps it all up with a pretty little bow.

The suspense and action in this book was realistic for this situation. The beginning of the book, when Meg and Minnie are on the ferry to the island, sets up the creepy mood right away. It is a storm and they are on a rickety ferry with two middle-aged guys that tell them to be careful as they get off the boat. What is not freaky about that? All the deaths throughout the book were, dare I say, beautiful in the way they were written and planned. The first death definitely got readers, because it was a quarter of the way into the book, and then all of a sudden the body was there. Literally in the face of the main character, Meg, but it felt like the face of the readers. That was the moment readers realized how into “Ten” they were. As more and more deaths came the anxiety and thrill got amped up even more until they all came to that final moment of yelling, fire, and eventually calmness.

The only character that readers had a problem with was Minnie. She went after Ben right away at the beginning of the book, but then as soon as Meg even talked to T.J., Meg’s crush, she was jealous and mad at Meg. This issue was later discussed between the main character and T.J. which was impressive because the fact that not many authors talk about their secondary character’s flaws. Which leads to another thing. Readers loved how every character in the book had their flaws. Not just the main character which is common, but every single character. That caught readers’ attention right away, and it made the book more relatable despite the situation. Certain characters drew eyes to them for certain reasons, and in specific situations in the book readers wanted to know how they would react. Readers got to know the characters so well in this book despite many of their deaths occurring. There was so much detail and depth to each character that readers felt like they knew them personally even if readers only knew them for maybe 40 pages before the characters died. It was amazing, and not something that comes often with a stand-alone book all the time.

The ending is a bit of mixed feelings for readers. The ending left feelings of being shocked and awed and overall mixed feelings. Readers do not really like that a character came “back” from the dead, but there was not many characters alive left to do the killing. Another thing readers did not like was the fact that he somehow got out of the house multiple times and was able to run around the house, after he was supposed to be dead, and no one noticed. Overall, this book was an amazing thriller that was easy to absorb. The final moments of the book, on the dock, were so peaceful and calm it was the complete antithesis of the entire book.  It, however, fit the story perfectly. Definitely a five-star recommendation to anyone out there.