REVIEW : Ten by Gretchen McNeil

REVIEW : Ten by Gretchen McNeil

   1:24 AM       Elisa

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Ten

Author      : Gretchen McNeil
Publisher   : Balzer + Bray
Source      : Bought
Pages        : 320 (Paperback)

Summary from Goodreads :

From Possess author Gretchen McNeil comes this teen horror novel inspired by Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. Perfect for fans of Christopher Pike’s Chain Letter and Lois Duncan’s I Know What You Did Last Summer, Ten will keep readers on the edge of their seats until the very last page!

It was supposed to be the weekend of their lives—an exclusive house party on Henry Island. Best friends Meg and Minnie are looking forward to two days of boys, booze, and fun-filled luxury. But what starts out as fun turns twisted after the discovery of a DVD with a sinister message: Vengeance is mine. And things only get worse from there.

With a storm raging outside, the teens are cut off from the outside world . . . so when a mysterious killer begins picking them off one by one, there’s no escape. As the deaths become more violent and the teens turn on one another, can Meg find the killer before more people die? Or is the killer closer to her than she could ever imagine?

Book Trailer :

(whoa, I must say the trailer is quite creepy 0_0)

review

Firstly I need to confess that I'm a big fan of Agatha Christie's 'And Then There Were None' (it's an amazing thriller novel and you should try to read it too! =D) and also since I'm one of those amazing 90's kids, I've watched a couple of that 90's horror and thriller teen movie (sadly I missed 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' but I was fan of 'Scream' series). So the summary above is very familiar to me and because I knew from where the idea was, I thought the storyline would be pretty predictable. Nevertheless, I was pretty excited to read this book. I also actually have never read any book from Gretchen McNeil and have never read any teen thriller and horror novels before (I dislike Goosebumps because I'm a coward and hate the horror-after-effect because I'm quite imaginative *facepalm*) so this was adding fuel on my excitement and wanted to know if this book and the author would work on me. And guess, it does work on me, definitely! =D

This book is even beyond my expectation; though I was excited, I didn't put too much expectation because, you know, it gets just so-so rating. I enjoyed this book quite much, could hardly put it down because I wanted to know what would happen next and was very curious who the hell the culprit is. I like McNeil's writing here. The story moves swiftly in a quick, fast pace without being too forced, I think there are no single unnecessary and wasted scene because, well, the whole things set in only three days, but I barely realized it. I also think McNeil created some nice twists and modifications in this teeny version of ATTWN so it would not exactly like the original one, like the appearance of mysterious DVD which reminded me of 'The Ring' (the japanese version btw, I don't watch the Western one because having watched 3 volumes in a row is already too overwhelming for me, ugh), changes the nursery rhyme and 'prediction' how each of them would die into a diary of a dead girl (it's bloody brutal, I've warned you), changes the reason why everybody should be dead, and of course with a cliche high school love story like a popular boy falls in love with just an average-but-smart girl (which is my favorite formula, actually =p). I know those are not so original but I think it's still enjoyable and add some interests into the story, especially if you haven't read 'And Then There Were None' or watched any 90's horror-thriller movies.

Saw the story inside Meg's head as the main character and the main voice, I also could feel the fear she feels (thanks to the great writing) and could not help but kept guessing the murderer along with her. Although she's a smart and a kind girl, I have to admit that there's nothing special about her, I even thought she's kind of pathetic. I think the other characters are actually more colorful and have certain traits although they mostly are not good person. Maybe because most people will die in the end, McNeil created some fellows that are actually jerks and would not be missed or make us feeling loss if they're gone. TJ as the love interest also... well, just the average nice and hot boy who has a crush on our Meg. Just... nothing special. Nevertheless they add their own stories in the bigger picture and since the start the focus of the story is not about character's development but more about their each role in this story. I was also surprised with the identity of the murderer at the near-end of the story, totally unexpected and never thought it would be 'you'! Wow!

I guess I'm a person who don't always take 'unoriginality' and 'familiarity' as a bad thing and just enjoy it as it is, so I give it solid 4 stars. It gave me a great high-tension and bone-chilling moments when I read it in the middle of the night.
I'm not ensuring you would absolutely enjoy and love 'Ten' since almost the whole thing in it is pretty familiar and also it has several flaws. But you should give it a try especially if you have an interest into horror-mystery-thriller reading but you don't know where to start and probably you'd enjoy or even love this book if you have never heard or read about Agatha Christie or never watched 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' or 'Scream'.
Happy reading! =D

"Vengeance is mine; I will repay.

For the time when their foot shall slide.

For the day of their disaster is near.

And their doom comes swiftly."

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REVIEW : Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris

REVIEW : Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris

   3:57 PM       Elisa

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Unraveling

Author      : Elizabeth Norris
Publisher   : Balzer + Bray
Source      : Bought
Pages        : 464 (Hardback)

Summary from Goodreads :

Sixteen-year-old Janelle Tenner is used to having a lot of responsibility. She balances working as a lifeguard in San Diego with an intense academic schedule. Janelle's mother is bipolar, and her dad is a workaholic FBI agent, which means Janelle also has to look out for her younger brother, Jared.

And that was before she died...and is brought back to life by Ben Michaels, a mysterious, alluring loner from her high school. When she discovers a strange clock that seems to be counting down to the earth's destruction, Janelle learns she has twenty-four days to figure out how to stop the clock and save the planet.

Book Trailer :

Review :
This book has sat for more than a year on my shelf before I finally read it, and one of those books I decided to buy based on a pretty cover and a feeling that this book might be good. But of course, there was a bit hesitation because I actually had no idea what the story was about, the blurb and trailer didn't say much. I was afraid I wouldn't like this book though my friend loved this book and highly recommend it to me, until I read it myself. I feel really bad for abandoning this book for such a long time because it's REALLY GOOD! REALLY REALLY GOOD. I was glad that 'science fiction' tag is not only a bluff. I enjoyed reading this book so much, even brought my hardcover copy to my office (which obviously added a trouble lifting my heavy bag) because I wanted to know what would happen next. Well-paced and unpredictable, jam-packed with action and high stakes, with emotional, beautiful writing and engaging characters that will make you love them each page!

At first I was confused where the sci-fi and countdown-to-the-end-of-the-world part in this book, though it's still highly entertaining for me. At early pages we learn more about Janelle and her ordinary yet tough life. Also, it seemed more like criminal story because Janelle put a lot interest on her father's cases, and the last one is quite bizarre, involved a kind of bio-terrorism which put quite a disturbing image in my head. But then everything gets more exciting and becomes clear one by one after Janelle gets hit by a truck from nowhere, literally dead and gets resurrected by a mysterious boy named Ben Michaels. What's the connection between Ben Michaels, sort of bio-terrorism, and apocalypse? This book made me guessing a lot and yes, unpredictable. I really didn't see them coming and I really really LOVED that part =D

Since the start, I already fell in love with Janelle. I emotionally touched by her raw voice and thoughts, I easily connected to her interesting personality. She doesn't fake how tiring her life is and act a lot like normal girl who faces the same thing in the real world, still she love her family so much and takes a good care of them even her bipolar mother. Thankfully she's also surrounded by awesome people like her FBI father, her little brother Jared, and her best friend Alex and Cecily who helps her going through. It makes her grows a lot maturer and stronger, a bit cynical and sarcastic, also has a big curiosity because of her father influence. And of course there's Ben Michaels, the tragic beauty, but lovely Ben Michaels. I was so touched by everything he does for his friends and especially for Janelle *melting*. I think he's one of unique hero I've known and he's very complicated, not include his real identity, and I already add him to my too-long book-boyfriend list =D.
The secondary characters who keep showing up are very likable as well, like Jared, Struz, Cecily, Elijah and the others. They have their own unique personality that enrich the story. And just a warning, if you like one of them, just prepare your heart to badly break later. The ending part is so heart-breaking it brought tears on me, and made me want to start reading Unbreakable right away!

Overall, if you are a fan TV series like 24, Fringe, X-Files or Veronica Mars (I just copy it from everywhere else. I actually haven't watch any of them, yeah I'm so lame =_=), a fan of Sci-fi, Criminal and even Dystopia with great main characters, and don't mind reading "F" word that scatters like everywhere, you really don't want to miss this series! Romance doesn't take a big part in this book, remind you, but in my opinion, for this book small portion doesn't lessen the meaning =). I even think to start hunting some of TV series above because of this book ;p. Thank you Liz Norris for writing such an amazing series!

Happy reading! =)

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