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A review by paragraphsandpages
Ten by Gretchen McNeil
3.0
One party, one island, ten guests. When dark secrets start being revealed and a fun weekend turns deadly, who can Meg trust? As her “friends” start being killed one by one, it’s up to Meg to find out who's behind it, and save who she can.
After reading Get Even and Get Dirty by Gretchen McNeil, I was extremely excited to see what she would do with a more typical thriller setting, and what sort of twists would keep me on my toes this time. Unfortunately, Ten didn’t quite deliver, as while the plot itself was filled with surprises and dark turns, too many other elements were brought in that I wasn’t a fan of.
My main frustration with Ten dealt with the characters and the romance. Now, I don’t mind a bit of romance in my thriller/murder mystery, as it can raise the stakes, but the way it was used in this book worked against the plot, rather than with it. It’s more of a distraction rather than a motivation for the main character, and the thoughts about her love interest, the triangle she was involved in, felt too forced and intrusive, rather than logically fitting in with the story and thoughts in Meg’s heads. It also made some moments unrealistic, especially the ending and the reaction to it. Additionally, the characters themselves also felt a lot shallower in this book compared to the Get Even duology. While yes, the duology had more time to develop these characters as well as used multiple POVs, Ten still could’ve done a much better job with characterization. Everyone feels extremely shallow, and no one seems especially likable, making the deaths all meaningless. Even the main character, Meg, felt weak and underdeveloped, most likely due to the focus on her love interest and a lack of true background. It removes a layer of fear and worry from the story, as the reader doesn’t necessarily care about what happens to everyone. Lastly, the characters were also all kinda dumb and oblivious. It took 3 deaths for everyone to think that maybe there was possibly a murderer, and even then people had doubts!
My smaller frustration comes from the reveal of the murderer and the fact that it felt kind of like a cop out. While I liked how the “why” worked to connect previously unrelated characters, the “who” felt like an easy way out. (Spoilers now!)
I’m not gonna say I hated Ten, and it definitely isn’t going to keep me away from McNeil’s other novels, but I am going to go into her other novels with less optimism than I did this one.
After reading Get Even and Get Dirty by Gretchen McNeil, I was extremely excited to see what she would do with a more typical thriller setting, and what sort of twists would keep me on my toes this time. Unfortunately, Ten didn’t quite deliver, as while the plot itself was filled with surprises and dark turns, too many other elements were brought in that I wasn’t a fan of.
My main frustration with Ten dealt with the characters and the romance. Now, I don’t mind a bit of romance in my thriller/murder mystery, as it can raise the stakes, but the way it was used in this book worked against the plot, rather than with it. It’s more of a distraction rather than a motivation for the main character, and the thoughts about her love interest, the triangle she was involved in, felt too forced and intrusive, rather than logically fitting in with the story and thoughts in Meg’s heads. It also made some moments unrealistic, especially the ending and the reaction to it. Additionally, the characters themselves also felt a lot shallower in this book compared to the Get Even duology. While yes, the duology had more time to develop these characters as well as used multiple POVs, Ten still could’ve done a much better job with characterization. Everyone feels extremely shallow, and no one seems especially likable, making the deaths all meaningless. Even the main character, Meg, felt weak and underdeveloped, most likely due to the focus on her love interest and a lack of true background. It removes a layer of fear and worry from the story, as the reader doesn’t necessarily care about what happens to everyone. Lastly, the characters were also all kinda dumb and oblivious. It took 3 deaths for everyone to think that maybe there was possibly a murderer, and even then people had doubts!
My smaller frustration comes from the reveal of the murderer and the fact that it felt kind of like a cop out. While I liked how the “why” worked to connect previously unrelated characters, the “who” felt like an easy way out. (Spoilers now!)
Spoiler
Having the killer be someone we didn’t even know existed, a sibling to Claire, meant that any assumptions and theories the main characters or reader made would always be wrong, since no one actually knew this Tom guy existed. Like, here I am questioning every person of the group + Jessica and other mentioned friends looking for motives, but it was this secret sibling all along. Just rather annoying, if you ask me.I’m not gonna say I hated Ten, and it definitely isn’t going to keep me away from McNeil’s other novels, but I am going to go into her other novels with less optimism than I did this one.