Cold cases are about to get hot. The Mentalist meets Heist Society in this exhilarating teen crime thriller. Seventeen-year-old Cassie is a natural at reading people. Piecing together the tiniest details, she can tell you who you are and what you want. But, it’s not a skill that she’s ever taken seriously. That is, until the FBI come knocking: they’ve begun a classified program that uses … classified program that uses exceptional teenagers to crack infamous cold cases, and they need Cassie.
What Cassie doesn’t realize is that there’s more at risk than a few unsolved homicides-especially when she’s sent to live with a group of teens whose gifts are as unusual as her own. Soon, it becomes clear that no one in the Naturals program is what they seem. And when a new killer strikes, danger looms close. Caught in a lethal game of cat and mouse with a killer, the Naturals are going to have to use all of their gifts just to survive.
Think The Mentalist meets Pretty Little Liars-Jennifer Lynn Barnes’s The Naturals is a gripping psychological thriller with killer appeal, a to-die-for romance, and the bones of a gritty and compelling new series.
Praise for The Naturals
“The Naturals is Criminal Minds for the YA world, and I loved every page.” –New York Times best-selling author Ally Carter
* “[A] tightly paced suspense novel that will keep readers up until the wee hours to finish.” –VOYA (starred review)
“This savvy thriller grabs readers right away.” –Kirkus Reviews
“It’s a stay-up-late-to-finish kind of book, and it doesn’t disappoint.” –Publishers Weekly
“In this high-adrenaline series opener…even a psychic won’t anticipate all the twists and turns.” –Booklist
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This book was amazing! The thing I loved about this book is a lot of the times with suspense books I can figure out the killer or person of interest early on but this book kept me guessing until the end. I found out who the killer was when it was disclosed.
This book grabbed me from the beginning and it kept my attention for the whole reading!
I LOVED this book and the rest of the series so far!! I couldn’t put this book down!
This book is the first book in the most incredible series I have ever read in my whole life. I recommend it to anyone who loves a good page-turner, and who won’t mind being up half the night reading it. I own the series, and have read it in its entirety six times.
I really liked this book. So many of these teen team books lately have centered around paranormal abilities of the members. Even though I like that kind of book, this was a breath of fresh air because the team members all have natural crime detection abilities that aren’t paranormal. I’m anxious to read the next book in the series to see where the characters go as they pursue the limits of what they can do.
Did not enjoy this style of writing.
Holy Cow this book was fantastic! I’m a huge fan of FBI crime drama on TV (Criminals Minds, etc) but I don’t often read it. Sometimes though, it’s good to climb out of your comfort zone and try something a little different.
What I really liked about the book is that, although it’s about serial killers it’s still a YA book at heart and I just love reading anything and everything YA.
When I first started The Naturals I found I was completely hooked from literally page one and ended up reading well into the night trying to figure out who the serial killer was. Surprisingly, I couldn’t work it out (and I’m usually pretty good at that) and was really surprised with the ending (pleasantly so) which was left pretty open, in readiness for the sequel I guess. I definitely want to read more about Cassie and the other Naturals.
These books are amazing! I think Jennifer Lynn Barnes is a fantastic author. Since she understands psychology, I feel like she’s able to write in an extremely realistic way. I like that the emotions last in her books like they do I’m real life. And that she has so many conflicting feelings that the characters feel. I’ve read this whole series and loved them. I’ve also started other series by her and think they’re great!
This book was amazing! I finished it in less than a day, and I was freaking out at the end. That reveal completely blindsided me. I am normally pretty good at guessing who the bad guy/killer is, but this time I. Was. Completely. Wrong. I so recommend this book, it was fantastic.
This book was fantastic. I work in a Public Library and frequently talk to the librarian at the local middle school. We trade book titles of what is popular with our kids. She recommended this series. I try to read as many as I can so i know content. I picked up the first book and LOVED it. I just started book 2 last night. So glad to have found a new great series..
This was actually a great book! Good writing also.
This was a blend of The Mentalist and Scorpion.
I loved the characters and their quirks. Learning the ability of each “Natural” was entertaining and their chemistry was comedic.
There was plenty of suspense as clues, the past and skeletons come marching out of everyones closet.
I loved the Naturals! The teen characters were entertaining and smart. I enjoyed the storyline about using their natural talents to help investigate crimes.
My son loved it!
I was disappointed with this book. I really wanted to like it but it just didn’t meet my expectations. I saw great reviews from readers and critics alike and expected to love it and read the whole series but I won’t be reading any more. I feel like the story wasn’t very good. I didn’t solve the mystery per se but I narrowed it down to two people and was right in my guessing. I feel like the “action” was muted and the story was a little tiring. I liked one character but never fell in love with the characters, never felt like I really connected with the main character either. I felt like the (mild) romance was added in a weird way; like it was rushed. The character felt like she *knew* these people on her team when really she just had a crush or had been working with them for a matter of days or weeks. There wasn’t anything to make me feel like we as the reader *knew* anyone so “surprises” didn’t surprise me at all. If some of these things had been revealed in say, a book 3 of the series, I might feel differently but it’s hard to feel that way when I’ve known the characters so little and had so little interaction with them. Lastly, the plot just felt flat. Like at the end I caught myself thinking, “that’s it???”
Overall the book isn’t bad, it’s a cute YA mystery, but I just didn’t enjoy it very much. It wasn’t a page turner and definitely didn’t keep me up reading late into the night. So I’m not telling you to steer clear but I don’t really recommend it either.
Best of the last 50 or so books I’ve read! Though I knew where the author was going, but NO, I was totally wrong!
Like does that not sound like the most interesting thing ever?! Like if you love Criminal Minds I have no doubt that you will love this book. It’s so amazing and Oh my god I think I’m in the gushing stage right now! Either way, who cares, I am going to gush about this book. No spoilers will be said though because you need to read this. If you haven’t read this don’t read my review it’s much better if you read it without knowing anything before going in. That said still read my review.
Cassie, I love her character just her personality as a whole and then her whole profiler mind it was just so interesting to be in a mind like that, where something could come that easy and could be used to help people and that’s exactly what Cassie uses it for. Even with the trauma of losing her mother she still tries to help people and do the right thing. Her relationship with her family is very rocky in some respects and they all try to take care of her and include her but she doesn’t always feel included and that is understandable.
Dean, he was brilliant he is one of the other profilers at this programme and at first he is cold hearted and very distant. As we find out more about his character and the real reason why he was recruited to this programme, as a reader and from Cassie’s point of view everything becomes a lot more understanding and we see why. We know why he tried to warn her not to do and in his own way tried to protect her as much as possible and he did. I liked their connection it was something different and something the other characters did not see coming. It was a very good connection and the way they worked together it was like both of them had connected. They did share a kiss which was totally cute.
Michael, he is the first person from the programme who actually interacts with Cassie and she manages to read him to some extent and for the first part of the book it becomes a back and forwards between them both. Which becomes a little game for them and it’s cute, we don’t get to see these two working together as much but we do see them kiss like 2 times in this book. I like his character there is a part in the book I was like no it’s not him. Then it’s like false alarm bro. False alarm. We do see his protective side come out when Cassie is in danger and that is sweet.
Lia, she’s dodgy, I didn’t like her very much I understood that she wanted to protect Dean and keep Cassie from discovering her secrets but the way she acted was just so bitchy and I hated it. She was good with her part of being in this programme although irritating.
Sloane, oh my god she is so funny. There is part in this book where she takes something from Agent Locke and her reply just makes me laugh, I feel like she’s there to add a little bit of comic relief but she is also very present in the programme. I loved the character and she was definitely one of my favourites.
Agent Locke, I can’t say much about this. I really can’t. Just she an asshole.
Agent Briggs, he seems very dodgy at first but then we find out that it’s not actually dodgy at all. He is just trying to protect all the people in The Naturals programme and we see this more and more as Cassie is getting in danger and I think it’s really sweet that although he wants the programme to work he is not willing to risk their lives to get it working which I think is awesome.
I loved this book it was perfect, I want to go into so much more detail about the twists and turns but I do think you should read this for yourself and rather not know a huge lot about the plot and stuff because it really does ruin it all.
I loved this book! I am anxiously watching for more work from this Author! A whole new perspective!