Phoeberaines

The Naturals

The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes is a young adult fiction. Published in November of 2016. The story follows a girl named Cassie, who's recruited to work with the FBI to solve cold murder cases. Cassie lives with a small group of fellow teens with special, "natural" abilities in Quantico, Virginia where the FBI is located. Throughout the book, characters are stabbed, shot, seriously hurt, and killed. She uses this as a resource to help find the killer of her mother, and discovers her family history is a deeper web than she thought.

Overview

The Naturals is the first book in a mystery/thriller series pitched by author Jennifer Lynn Barnes where the Mentalists meet Pretty Little Liars. It's about a girl named Cassie, who's recruited to work with the FBI to solve cold murder cases. Cassie lives with a small group of fellow teens with special, "natural" abilities in Quantico, Virginia, where the agency is kept a secret. They're trained in behavioral and psychological techniques, as well as in analyzing crime scenes, to catch serial killers. Scenes of kidnappings, murder, and torture are described. Cassie makes many connections that she believes could lead to the disappearance of her mother who also shared her same ability: the ability to read and connect with people on a different level. Through the help of her new friends and team, is she able to tell the good from the bad?

Books

Book 1: The Naturals (November 5, 2013)

A Seventeen-year-old girl named Cassie has always had the ability to read people. Piecing together and understanding the tiniest details within people, she can tell you who you are and what you want. But it’s not a skill that she’s ever taken seriously, just one she has always been gifted with. That is, until the FBI come knocking: they’ve begun a classified program that uses exceptional teenagers to crack infamous cold cases, and they need Cassie.

Book 2: Killer Instinct (November 4, 2014)

Cassie has always had a gift, one she denied her whole life. That was until her talent landed her a spot within a gifted FBI program for teens with innate crime-solving abilities, and into some harrowing situations. After barely escaping a confrontation with an unbalanced killer obsessed with her mother’s murder, Cassie hopes she and the rest of the team can stick to solving cold cases from a distance.

Book 3: All In (November 5, 2015)

After a line of brutal murders happening within the city of Las Vegas, Cassie Hobbes and her team "The Naturals" are called to be apart of the investigation. However, even with the team's unique profiling talents, these murders seem baffling: unlike many serial killers, this one uses different methods every time. All of the victims were killed in public, yet the killer does not show up on any tape. And each victim has a string of numbers tattooed on their wrist. Hidden in the numbers is a code and the closer the Naturals come to unraveling the mystery, the more perilous the case becomes.

Book 4: Bad Blood (November 1, 2016)

When Cassie Hobbes joined the FBI’s Naturals program, she had one goal: uncover the truth about her mother’s murder. But now, everything Cassie thought she knew about what happened that night has been called into question. Her mother is alive, and the people holding her captive are more powerful and dangerous than anything the Naturals have faced so far. As Cassie and the team work to uncover the secrets of a group that has been killing in secret for generations, they find themselves racing a ticking clock.

Characters

Main Characters

• Cassie Hobbes: Cassandra (Cassie) Hobbes is very good at reading people. Her talent for profiling lands her a spot in the elite FBI program for teens with innate crime-solving abilities, and into some harrowing situations. After barely escaping a confrontation with an unbalanced killer obsessed with her mother's murder and facing another life-threatening situation with Daniel Redding's apprentice, as well as dealing with a dangerous cult, Cassie continues to want to work on active cases.
• Dean Redding: Dean Redding is a profiler and Cassie Hobbes' boyfriend. His dad, Daniel Redding, was an infamous murderer. He's afraid that he is like his father and that he will hurt someone.
• Michael Townsend: Michael Townsend is a natural at reading emotions and is one of the teenagers in the natural program. At the beginning of The Naturals, he leaves Cassie a note with Agent Briggs' number. He is also known by many for doing stupid rebellious things.
• Lia Zhang: Leah Zhang's history is quite unknown. She often uses her powers of deception to mask the truth of her words or the feelings behind them. From what Cassie learns of before Lia joined the Naturals she has killed a man, and was part of a cult.
• Sloane Tavis: Sloane is like a human-computer, better with numbers and stats than most. She also re-builds crime sets in the basement, as well as whatever else she wants. When Cassie moves in, Cassie becomes her roommate and friend.
• Judd Hawkins: Judd Hawkins is a retired marine sniper. He is the main caretaker for the house and keeps an eye on the teenagers in the Naturals program. He has the final word on the Bureau’s teenage assets in the Natural Program and which cases they can and cannot do.

Publicity

From numerous sources listed such as GoodReads, and RatedReads, they deem the series to overall moderate in comparison to other known psychological thrillers. There really isn’t much language in it; there’s really no sexual content; it’s all about the violence and the description of what the serial killer does to maim victims, as well as non-detailed and brief references to a character’s childhood abuse.