Ten

After going to see 'And then there were none' at the theatre I was obsessed with this and wanted other adaptations to watch and read. On the BBC over Christmas they put on their own version of this which I enjoyed watching, I then found Ten. I was so excited with this, what could possibly be better? It is also a YA so I was really looking forward to this. Unfortunately I think my expectations were too high and although I finished the book, it was just O.K.Ten is about a group of students, who get invited to a party on an island for the weekend. All of the people couldn't wait to get there as it sounded like it was going to be the weekend of their lives, and it was going to be, but not for the reasons they thought. Everyone has a reason for being there and although they don't know everyone, they each know a couple of people.Soon it becomes apparent that their host is not going to show up and things start to happen in the house, beginning with a DVD that they stumble upon.Like I said before this book was O.K, it passed a few evenings but I thought it didn't live up to my expectations. I found it relativity slow initially and at one point I was questioning giving up with the book. I am glad I stuck with it, as it did get a little better, however I didn't care for any of the characters and I thought I knew very little of them. I guess that's the point of the story and we weren't meant to know much about them. I did find this difficult to get into though and this could be why I found it such a struggle initially.I did like the fact I hadn't worked out the killer, and around the 150 page mark the novel picked up a bit.

SHHHH!Don't spread the word!Three-day weekend. Party at White Rock House on Henry Island.You do NOT want to miss it.In "Ten" we follow Meg as she arrives on Henry Island for a party thrown by one of the "popular" girls - dragged along by her best friend she expects nothing more than a few days of fun. Instead she ends up on the trail of a killer whilst all around her the body count mounts..Great fun this one - especially for lovers (as I am) of those classic teen slasher movies such as Friday 13th and Halloween, I spent an entertaining few hours picking my survivors, guessing the identity of the killer and anticipating which of the victims may end up getting the best "death"....come on, we all do it with this sort of story do we not? Fans of scary stories told around the campfire will know exactly where I am coming from...Told in a snappy engaging style, Meg is an interesting and intelligent character to tag along with as she discovers clues, follows her instincts and tries to hold things together, all the while fighting her ingrained attraction to teen heartthrob TJ who she has rejected on the basis that best friend Minnie is also crazy about him. Friends first, that typical teen girl rule (which often gets thrown out of the window of course) of dating.Throw in an eclectic mix of typical teens, the usual horror movie rules, some clever little nods to vintage tales of its type (Christie's "And Then There Were None" springs to mind, as does one of my favourite death scenes from the original version of Friday 13th) and you have the perfect recipe for a tasty little treat of a book that has an appeal for young at heart readers everywhere.There is not anything new here particularly - it felt more like a homage to horror, an age old tale given a modern setting and told for todays audience - but its a whole load of fun and if you are looking for an easy but captivating read to while away a few hours this one may hit the mark.Note for the author: If the intent was to make Minne THE most annoying female teen character in fiction, who you thoroughly wish the Killer would despatch sooner rather than later lest you have to dive into the pages and strangle her yourself, then job well done! I loved (hated) her. Brilliant.Happy Reading Folks!

Ten is about 10 teens that are invited to a party. It's not an original party, because it's a party on an island.' SHHHHH! Don't spread the word! Three-day weekend. House party. White Rock House on Henry Island. You do NOT want to miss it'.It was supposed to be the weekend of their lives, but soon, it turns into a game of Hide and Seek and a very good place for a killer to hunt his prey.' And their doom comes swiftly'Ten had me hooked from the very first page. I brought this book for Halloween, as i don't actually read horror books, but it turns out that i didn't have time to read it, because i had other books that i had to read first. But i really wish i would have read it sooner.The style of writing was very easy to like, and i think everything was well described, except maybe the characters. And speaking of which - they were one of the reason why i didn't really,really love it. As we already know, this book is about a killer, so obviously some people died. I think there were like 3 teens that died in a day, and the others thought that it was an ' accident'. They kept on thinking that, and i was so irritated! Only when we get to like page 190, do they finally come to their senses and realize that it wasn't an accident, and that actually there is some psychopath trying to murder them all. Like really?! How stupid are they!!!? And what also got on my nerves was Meg's ( main character) ' best friend' - Minnie. Meg was worried about her like every single second. There is this boy, named T.J ( What a stupid name/ nickname by the way) and both of them have a BIG crush on him. T.J wants nothing to do with Minnie, and wants Meg instead. And Meg is more than happy to be with him, but she doesn't because of her crazy friend ( and when i say ' crazy' i mean crazy), she is worried she will hurt her feelings if she finds out that she has a crush on him as well and wants to go out with him. BIG... DEAL... It seemed like literally EVERY girl has a crush on him. One word that i can think of to describe my feeling to that is - ANNOYING!The killer mystery was another thing that i didn't really like. I mean i liked it, but i suspected who it might be since the character appeared in the book. And i was right. So it wasn't a very big surprise for me.The thing that i liked the most was this cool diary that Meg found, i love reading diary's. It was so interesting!I have to admit, i was not expecting to be scared whilst reading this, but much to be shame, i was. Seriously! I was like looking around my bedroom thinking that someone might come through the door or something and slice my throat open or worse. Guess that's why i don't really read horror books.The very ending, as i told you, wasn't very full of surprises for me, but Ten still had some twists that i didn't see coming.Overall, Ten is a very well written, and engaging book that kept me guessing and turning the pages. Scary, spooky and totally awesome! I highly recommend it to people who like horror/thriller books, but not so much to people like me, who think the killer might magically appear out of the pages and stab you with a knife until you bleed to death. Urggghhh, me and my imagination... i better not read books like this, you never know what i might imagine next...