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heathermjackson 's review for:
Ten
by Gretchen McNeil
The Good: If you're not familiar with Agatha Christie, then you might not see the ending coming. And, well, probably a lot of teens are not familiar with her, so this book's end twist might seem brilliant!
The Bad: I won't fault this novel for being unoriginal because re-telling classic stories is a trend right now, and that's fine, but the novel just wasn't well written. The main character's inner monologue told every mundane thought that went through her head, and all of the "possibilities" for what was happening. If writers do their job well, they don't need to have the main character constantly voice "what if this happened?" or "what if so-and-so is the killer?" Good writing leads the reader to wonder those things themselves. The character musing about it all is just annoying filler. And the characters... they were 2-dimensional at best. The relationship between the main character (Meg) and her BFF (Minnie) had an attempt at some depth, but it fell flat because it was so predictable and neither of them changed or grew. And it was painful to read, because I could see the author trying to set up Meg as this girl who never speaks her mind and to save herself she just needs to stand up and say what she really thinks, but instead her knight in shining armour shows up. Lame. And the mystery... there are holes in it. Even though the villain explained everything at the end, a lot of things don't make sense and would be impossible for one person to pull off. Especially the set up about the party. [SPOILER ALERT] Really, no one talked to the host before they went? They all just accepted this Facebook invite and went separately to a deserted island? And though the villain at the end explains that the host was going to a different weekend party, so if anyone mentioned a party, she'd assume it was that one... come on, how stupid is that? A party on a deserted island doesn't get mixed up with a party in the city. And no one checked the WEATHER?! There was a convenient storm that trapped them all there so they couldn't escape??? Did the villain plan the weather too?!
Oh gosh, I'm getting angry now. I think I could write a least a dozen pages ranting about the holes in the villain's "brilliant plot." But I won't.
In Conclusion: If you love mysteries and killers with brilliant plans, don't read this book.
The Bad: I won't fault this novel for being unoriginal because re-telling classic stories is a trend right now, and that's fine, but the novel just wasn't well written. The main character's inner monologue told every mundane thought that went through her head, and all of the "possibilities" for what was happening. If writers do their job well, they don't need to have the main character constantly voice "what if this happened?" or "what if so-and-so is the killer?" Good writing leads the reader to wonder those things themselves. The character musing about it all is just annoying filler. And the characters... they were 2-dimensional at best. The relationship between the main character (Meg) and her BFF (Minnie) had an attempt at some depth, but it fell flat because it was so predictable and neither of them changed or grew. And it was painful to read, because I could see the author trying to set up Meg as this girl who never speaks her mind and to save herself she just needs to stand up and say what she really thinks, but instead her knight in shining armour shows up. Lame. And the mystery... there are holes in it. Even though the villain explained everything at the end, a lot of things don't make sense and would be impossible for one person to pull off. Especially the set up about the party. [SPOILER ALERT] Really, no one talked to the host before they went? They all just accepted this Facebook invite and went separately to a deserted island? And though the villain at the end explains that the host was going to a different weekend party, so if anyone mentioned a party, she'd assume it was that one... come on, how stupid is that? A party on a deserted island doesn't get mixed up with a party in the city. And no one checked the WEATHER?! There was a convenient storm that trapped them all there so they couldn't escape??? Did the villain plan the weather too?!
Oh gosh, I'm getting angry now. I think I could write a least a dozen pages ranting about the holes in the villain's "brilliant plot." But I won't.
In Conclusion: If you love mysteries and killers with brilliant plans, don't read this book.