Ten by Gretchen McNeil

The Synopsis:
SHHHH!
Don't spread the word!
Three-day weekend. Party at White Rock House on Henry Island.
You do NOT want to miss it.

It was supposed to be the weekend of their lives—an exclusive house party on Henry Island. Best friends Meg and Minnie each have their reasons for being there (which involve T.J., the school’s most eligible bachelor) and look forward to three glorious days of boys, booze and fun-filled luxury.
But what they expect is definitely not what they get, and what starts out as fun turns dark and twisted after the discovery of a DVD with a sinister message: Vengeance is mine.
Suddenly people are dying, and with a storm raging, the teens are cut off from the outside world. No electricity, no phones, no internet, and a ferry that isn’t scheduled to return for two days. As the deaths become more violent and the teens turn on each other, can Meg find the killer before more people die? Or is the killer closer to her than she could ever imagine?

My Thoughts:
With just those three phrases on the bottom of the cover, I knew I was going to be hooked.

 Ten teens.  Three days. One killer.

Say whatttt?  This is a murder mystery for YA? Yes, please!  It's kind of disturbing for that I got excited about reading a book about murder, but it sounded like something I'd enjoy.  I didn't have high expectations for it, but I thought that it would be an enjoyable, quick, dark read for me to get sucked into.  And since I haven't read much of murder/mystery, I thought it'd be something new and different to add to my reading repertoire. 

I felt as if Meg was a fictional version of me.  While she wasn't outgoing she had many moments of courageousness and bravery and was very aware of her surroundings.  She wasn't talkative and when she did speak, she had important things to say.  So, it wasn't just useless banter that would take up pages.  Plus, with her perceptive mind, much of the setting was explained very well.

Honestly, I wouldn't have minded more meat to the book.  I get that the book only takes place in the matter of three days, but do the characters eat anything or go to the bathroom (not that I exactly want to know that detail)?  I felt like because the story was so fast-paced, there wasn't any other details about the book besides the murders.  With this missing, I didn't really get to know each of the characters.  I didn't feel anything when people died, nothing.  T.J, whom Meg spends much of her time with, made no type of character-reader attachment for me.  I wanted to feel something with these characters, but I didn't, and it bothered me. 

Other than that, the story was pretty good.  It was one death after the other, and it created a lot of suspense and adrenaline.  I flew through the pages (read the book in one day), waiting to see what happened next.  I kept on playing the guessing game and turned out that I was wrong. 

Ten was sick and twisted, but in the good way.  The lack of character development and attachment made it less enjoyable for me, but the murders made up for it, I guess.  Ten was a super fast read, only reaching 294 pages, but was attention-consuming and adrenaline-pumping.  Fans of murder/mysteries, twisted stories, and horror stories might enjoy this book.