History Literature / Ten

Meg and her best friend Minnie are among ten Seattle teens invited to a weekend party on Henry Island. Everyone expects to have a good time away from civilization, with their booze, boys, and other luxuries.

Until people start dying.

''Ten'' by Gretchen [=McNeil=] is a [[YoungAdultLiterature Young Adult]] mystery, which is a SpiritualSuccessor to Literature/AndThenThereWereNone, but in [[SettingUpdate modern day Seattle]], and with teens. Although Meg is designated as the protagonist and it's initially unclear to the partygoers that there is a murderer killing them, everyone is guilty of something, and if the murderer doesn't get to them first, their problems will.

Not to confuse with the film ''[[Film/Ten1979 10]]'', the manga ''Manga/{{Ten|Manga}}'', or the Pearl Jam album ''Music/{{Ten|PearlJamAlbum}}''.

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!! This book provides examples of:
* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler:Although Meg survives, Minnie doesn't.]]
* AxCrazy: The killer proves to be clearly wrong in the head.
* BattleAmongstTheFlames: [[spoiler:The climax occurs on a fiery boat.]]
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Meg and T.J. survives together, and the killer's dead. On the other hand, ten people have died because of Tom, Meg had almost killed T.J., and the survivors are probably going to need lots of therapy.]]
* BlackDudeDiesFirst: The characters discuss more than once about how T.J. might die first because he's black. He doesn't die first. [[spoiler:It becomes an inversion because he's one of the two surviving victims.]]
* ClosedCircle: Not only a storm happens to come, but the electricity and phone lines are cut off, the keys to the boat are stolen, and the ferry's not scheduled to arrive.
* [[spoiler: DeadPersonImpersonation: Tom burned Ben to unrecognition just a day before the story starts so he could take his place and act as a RedHerring.]]
* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler:T.J. was just playing possum after Meg shoots him in the shoulder and comes back to help defeat Tom.]]
* DisproportionateRetribution: As cruel as some of the victims were [[spoiler:to Claire, none of their acts are malicious or intentional enough to justify death.]]
* DrivenToSuicide: In the backstory, Clare, a student at Meg's school, had recently committed suicide. [[spoiler:She's the reason why everyone's getting killed off.]]
* ExtremelyShortTimespan: The story starts in the afternoon, one full day passes, and everything ends at the second sunrise.
* [[spoiler: FakingTheDead: Tom pretends to be dead in order to move about freely.]]
* FieryCoverup: [[spoiler:Tom burns Ben into an unidentifiable corpse in order to take his place.]]
* FinalGirl: [[spoiler:Meg, the protagonist, is one of two surviving victims at the end of the ordeal.]]
* ForTheEvulz: [[spoiler:Although Tom claims that he is delivering vigilante justice, his GuiltByAssociation reasoning with Meg, and the "collateral damage" with the elderly couple suggest that he's psycho.]]
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:In the end, Tom gets caught in the fiery boat that he meant to put Meg in.]]
* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:The murderer kills everyone off based on events that led to Claire's sucicide. For example, Lori, the girl that "stole" a singing role from, gets her vocal cords crushed by a noose. In the end though, the killer discards the poetic kills for some thrills for himself.]]
* LoveTriangle: T.J. and Meg would be a couple, except Minnie's irrational crush on him makes everything complicated between all three of them.
* MisplacedRetribution: [[spoiler:Meg didn't even do the offense Tom thought she did, therefore being the only "innocent" victim. Doesn't stop him pulling the GuiltByAssociation card.]]
* MurderSuicide: [[spoiler:The killer tries to get T.J, Meg, and Minnie to kill each other while thinking the others are the true murderer. It doesn't work.]]
* OneWordTitle: Also a TitleByNumber
* [[spoiler:OnlyTheLeadsGetAHappyEnding: Although Minnie dies, Meg (the protagonist) and T.J. (the love interest) survives.]]
* PoeticSerialKiller: See KarmicDeath.
* PosthumousCharacter: Played with. [[spoiler:The characters theorize that Claire might be extracting her revenge. It turns out that she's dead all along.]]
* TenLittleMurderVictims: Throughout the book, the characters go from thinking the first deaths were accidents, to thinking someone else is in the house, to thinking one of them is the killer. [[spoiler:The killer took the place of one of the victims.]]
* ThoseTwoGuys: Nathan and Kenny stay together more often than Meg and Minnie. [[spoiler:The former duo died around the same time in the same area.]]
* TitleByNumber: Also a OneWordTitle.
* VigilanteMan: [[spoiler:The killer is offing everyone to avenge Claire's suicide.]]
* WeHardlyKnewYe: Lori is the first to go.
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Not to confuse with the manga ''Manga/{{Ten}}'' or the film ''Film/{{Ten}}''.

Not to confuse with the manga ''Manga/{{Ten}}''.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Meg and T.J. survives together, and the killer's dead. On the other hand, twelve people have died because of Tom, Meg had almost killed T.J., and the survivors probably going to need lots of therapy.]]

* ForTheEvulz: [[spoiler:Although Tom claims that he is delivering vigilante justice, his GuiltByAssociation reasoning with Meg, and the "collisional damage" with the elderly couple suggest that he's psycho.]]

* LoveTriangle: T.J. and Meg was a couple, except Minnie's irrational crush on him makes everything complicated between all three of them.
* MisplacedRetribution: [[spoiler:Meg didn't even do the offense Tom thought she did, therefore being the only "guilty" victim. Doesn't stop him pulling the GuiltByAssociation card.]]
* MurderSuicide: [[spoiler:The killer tries to get T.J, Meg, and Minnie to kill each other out of thinking that each other are the true murderer. It doesn't work.]]
* [[spoiler:OnlyTheLeadsGetAHappyEnding: Although Minnie dies, Meg (the protagonist) and T.J. (the love interest) surivives.]]

* DeadPersonImpersonation: [[spoiler:Tom burned Ben to unrecognition just a day before the story starts so he could take his place and act as a RedHerring.]]

Meg and her best friend Minnie are among ten Settle teens invited to a weekend party on Henry Island. Everyone expects to have a good time away from civilization, with their booze, boys, and other luxuries.

''Ten'' by Gretchen [=McNeil=] is a [[YoungAdultLiterature Young Adult]] mystery, which is a SpiritualSuccessor to AndThenThereWasNone, but in [[SettingUpdate modern day Seattle]], and with teens. Although Meg is designated as the protagonist and it's initially unclear to the partygoers that there is a murderer killing them, everyone is guilty of something, and if the murderer doesn't get to them first, their problems will.

''Ten'' by Gretchen [=McNeil=] is a [[YoungAdultLiterature Young Adult]] mystery, which is a SpiritualSuccessor to Literature/AndThenThereWasNone, but in [[SettingUpdate modern day Seattle]], and with teens. Although Meg is designated as the protagonist and it's initially unclear to the partygoers that there is a murderer killing them, everyone is guilty of something, and if the murderer doesn't get to them first, their problems will.

Not to confuse with the Manga