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3.42 AVERAGE
3.42 AVERAGE
Read this in a night. Pretty good suspense/thriller. I don't love scary books, but this one did what I wanted it to--transported me to another world for a while.
This review can also be found on my blog here.
My Rating: 3.5 stars
"We could've had fun at home. And not, you know, lied to our parents and gone to a house party on an island in the middle of nowhere."
"At Jessica Lawrence's house on Henry Island. Long story. Been an accident. Phone's out. Need help."
Modern retellings of classic stories can be tricky. Finding a balance between how much of the original story to keep and how much to change, figuring out how to update plot devices to the digital age, and worrying about how fans of the original work will react are just a few of the problems that need dealing with. But McNeil deals with them. And Then There Were None is considered by many to be the pièce de résistance of Agatha Christie's body of work, so using it in retelling is nothing short of risky. But Ten works and it works well.
The retelling even surpasses the original in one area: diversity. Ten has, you guessed it, 10 main characters, with an even ratio of male and female victims, where the original clocks in at 7/3 instead. In addition, the cast is surprisingly racially diverse. It's a sad fact that when I read a YA novel written by a white author, I expect there to be exactly one character of color, if any. When T.J. (who is Black) was introduced, I assumed he would be it, but I was pleasantly surprised when 3 more of the kids of the island were people of color (1 Samoan boy and 2 Asian girls). The diversity of the cast is especially significant given the racist history of the Christie novel. Even further, Minnie is bipolar and while this isn't treated perfectly, it is dealt with better than most YA novels I've read. The narration makes it clear that the ableism she suffers at the hand of the other characters is unacceptable. I do wish that Meg used less ableist language in her thoughts, though.
There were other things that I didn't like so much in addition to the ableism. Meg... well, she isn't the quickest cheetah on the savannah sometimes. It takes her a long time to figure a few things out that seem obvious to the reader. And then...
Trigger warnings: murder, violence, suicide, mental illness, ableism
My Rating: 3.5 stars
"We could've had fun at home. And not, you know, lied to our parents and gone to a house party on an island in the middle of nowhere."
Summary: Meg and Minnie shouldn't be at Henry Island. There's a big storm coming, their parents don't know where they are, and there's an unsolved murder at a nearby high school. But when Jessica Lawrence invites you somewhere, you show up. Period.
And so Meg and Minnie head off for a 3-day party on Henry Island. Meg doesn't want to be there, but Minnie wants nothing more and where Minnie goes, so goes Meg. But when the ferry drops them off at the dock, there's no Jessica Lawrence and there's no party. Instead, there are 10 kids, 1 DVD, and 1 murderer.
Trapped on an island with no internet, cell phone service, or way out, Meg's new friends are dropping like flies. She knows she's not the one killing off the rest of the group, but then... who is? Who would lure teenagers to an island just to kill them off? And why?
"At Jessica Lawrence's house on Henry Island. Long story. Been an accident. Phone's out. Need help."
Modern retellings of classic stories can be tricky. Finding a balance between how much of the original story to keep and how much to change, figuring out how to update plot devices to the digital age, and worrying about how fans of the original work will react are just a few of the problems that need dealing with. But McNeil deals with them. And Then There Were None is considered by many to be the pièce de résistance of Agatha Christie's body of work, so using it in retelling is nothing short of risky. But Ten works and it works well.
The retelling even surpasses the original in one area: diversity. Ten has, you guessed it, 10 main characters, with an even ratio of male and female victims, where the original clocks in at 7/3 instead. In addition, the cast is surprisingly racially diverse. It's a sad fact that when I read a YA novel written by a white author, I expect there to be exactly one character of color, if any. When T.J. (who is Black) was introduced, I assumed he would be it, but I was pleasantly surprised when 3 more of the kids of the island were people of color (1 Samoan boy and 2 Asian girls). The diversity of the cast is especially significant given the racist history of the Christie novel. Even further, Minnie is bipolar and while this isn't treated perfectly, it is dealt with better than most YA novels I've read. The narration makes it clear that the ableism she suffers at the hand of the other characters is unacceptable. I do wish that Meg used less ableist language in her thoughts, though.
There were other things that I didn't like so much in addition to the ableism. Meg... well, she isn't the quickest cheetah on the savannah sometimes. It takes her a long time to figure a few things out that seem obvious to the reader. And then...
Spoiler
and then there's the last page. The last 3 paragraphs of the book. I really, really enjoyed this novel up until the last 3 paragraphs, when this happens: "As nightmarish as the whole weekend had been, as horrifying and painful and life-altering in a way that even years of therapy wouldn't be able to cure her of, it had done one beautiful thing. It had brought her and T.J. together." Really? Really? Your best friend was murdered in front of your eyes 29 pages ago. ELEVEN PEOPLE died (if you include Claire and the Taylors. But no. None of that matters. Because you have a boyfriend now. Who cares about anything at all when there's a boyfriend to be had? A boyfriend whom you SHOT with a GUN not 36 pages ago. A boyfriend whom you SHOT with a GUN in the SHOULDER, a shoulder that he probably needs to PLAY FOOTBALL in order to keep his SCHOLARSHIP. Congratulations, Meg! T.J.'s probably going to lose his scholarship, end up resenting you, and dumping you to move back to Washington because he can no long afford to attend his PRIVATE UNIVERSITY TUITION. But hey. You have a boyfriend (for now). And that's all that matters.Trigger warnings: murder, violence, suicide, mental illness, ableism
I absolutely enjoyed reading this novel! It does play homage to Agatha Christie’s novel “And Then There Were None” but has a modern twist upon it. As a mystery enthusiast, I always love reading novels that keep me turning the page, and this novel does that. Definitely a must read.
This was a fun horror read that was a pretty good lead up to Halloween. The deaths were pretty well thought up and pretty creepy, there were enough twists and turns to keep me guessing , and for the most part I liked the characters (and didn't like the characters that were mean and nasty, even though them dying sometimes seemed a little harsh). I liked that some horror tropes were kept (remote house, isolated by a bad storm) and some were broken (Meg making the decision to try and keep everyone together because if you've ever seen a horror movie in your life, you know that separation leads to more death,
So if you'd like a good book with plenty of chills and frights and a decent enough mystery, Ten is a good bet for you. Was it a literary masterpiece? No. But was it a fun and fast read that had me taking bets on who the killer was and how the murders were being accomplished right under all their noses? You bet.
Spoiler
even though I was right all along and it was Ben! Either I'm really clever or I've just watched too many procedurals and know how to play spot the killer better than I ever thought, but I knew that was a total red herring with the nuts in the salad (though he played it a little fast and loose, almost not getting to his epi pen in time) and then no one had the foresight to actually check for a pulse, or even really check his body. Oh youths). I didn't call him being Claire's brother so that was also a good twist.Spoiler
and TJ survives despite Nathan's prediction that he'd be the first to go. I know the other kids got all up in arms about Nathan saying that--don't get me wrong, it was a douchey thing to say but Nathan was a douchebag so it was also expected--but really, you know most of them were thinking it. Just because it is a common trope in horror films, which speaks more to the possible inherent racism in those films and stories than it does to whoever thinks of that in a joking situation because it's become an ingrained stereotype in our pop culture. And we're always happy when our expectations are subverted and the black guy survives (LL Cool J in Deep Blue Sea, anyone? I freaking cheered that he made it to the end. His character was awesome and that stunt with the oven=genius). But yay to McNeil for having a POC be one of the main characters (and adorable and nice and everything) and also point out that stereotype in horror genre pop culture and then subvert it. Very nicely done.So if you'd like a good book with plenty of chills and frights and a decent enough mystery, Ten is a good bet for you. Was it a literary masterpiece? No. But was it a fun and fast read that had me taking bets on who the killer was and how the murders were being accomplished right under all their noses? You bet.
Este libro, que se ha convertido en uno de mis favoritos, me enganchó tanto, que no paré hasta que me lo terminé. Literalmente, me lo leí en ocho horas. Inquietante hasta el final y una gran novedad.
While I predicted the ending very early on, Ten was still an enjoyable read.
Incredibly unoriginal but I still enjoyed it. There are a million other books with basically this exact story line, but it still kept my attention the whole way through. I’d recommend it.
Here on Goodreads this book got kind of mixed reviews and I almost didn't read it because of that. I'm so happy I decided to! Modeled after Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, this book starts off with kind of an ominous feeling that bad things are ahead and then just keeps with it the entire time.
The book itself moves really fast and it's an easy ready. The characters aren't the most likeable, but I found that because of how fast I read it that that didn't matter to me very much. Plus, I knew by the end most of them would meet some pretty bad fates anyway. Is that terrible of me to say??
The only reason I wouldn't give this book an A is because it was a little juvenile and because it's modeled after a different book it lacked a little originality. However it was a fun read that I had a hard time putting down so I'd still recommend it!
The book itself moves really fast and it's an easy ready. The characters aren't the most likeable, but I found that because of how fast I read it that that didn't matter to me very much. Plus, I knew by the end most of them would meet some pretty bad fates anyway. Is that terrible of me to say??
The only reason I wouldn't give this book an A is because it was a little juvenile and because it's modeled after a different book it lacked a little originality. However it was a fun read that I had a hard time putting down so I'd still recommend it!
I really enjoyed this! I liked the twist reveal at the end I honestly wasn’t expecting it. I thought it was the same person as Meg thought it was so I was pleasantly surprised!