Gretchen McNeil's Ten is a modern retelling of one of the most famous Agatha Christie classics'.

Meg and Minnie are heading to a secret party of the school's most popular girl. Meantime Minnie is excited, but Meg is not that happy, mostly when it turns out, that T.J. , her secret crush is also on the guest list. Things start getting weird, when in the house there is no host, and only eight other people. T.j.'s best friend Gunner, who also happens to be Minnie's ex boyfriend, with his new girlfriend, Kumiko, two gamers, Nathan and Kenny, the bossy control freak Vivian, the quiet Lori, and Ben, who seems to like Minnie. After a strange accident, things become even more awkward, when they find a DVD 'Vengeance is mine'. And the same night someone dies... Most seem to agree that it was a suicide, but Meg is suspicious. And the panic just grows, when it turns out that their host maybe will not come, moreover even the weather is against them and there is no phone or Internet... Meg realizes, that someone is hunting them down one by one. But who, and why? She starts to investigate, to make sure they survive until the ferry comes...

I was very excited, because I am a huge fan of Agatha Christie, and I have read her original novel so many times. However I have to say, as a retelling, the story fails. It has a great potential, but can not deliver it. The start was really interesting, but after a time the book turned rather into a teen slasher story with all of its cliches. The characters started out well, but then became quite stereotypical. T.J. the popular jock, Vivian the bossy eminent, etc... Another thing I don't liked, that the main character, Meg, was focusing constantly at her relationship with Minnie and at her secret crush on T.J, however we barely got know the other characters and there could be much more interaction with them too. There was no classic detective story-like questioning, and things happened too fast. Next to these, the end was also a typical teen slash cliche.

Ten was an entertaining book for once, but not the type of story I want to reread again and again. It has great potential, but sadly it just can not deliver it. Both the story and the characters are stereotypical, cliche and easily predictable.



ISBN number:
ISBN-13: 9780062118790
ISBN-10: 006211879X