The Naturals
Book Review
by Claudia Lozano Carrillo
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The Naturals is a thriller/murder mystery book series written by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, and has been popular for a little while now. The story is about a girl named Cassie, who joins a ‘secret’ part of the FBI, mostly comprised of teens that were all on the street in one way or another, that solves murder cold cases. She has the ability to profile people, which is when using a few facts about a person, like what they are wearing or how they move, she guesses or learns more about that person to the point where they can get into that person's head, and think like them. The other kids on the team are Dean (another profiler), Michael (an emotion reader), Lia (a lie detector) and finally Sloane (a human calculator with perfect memory). These 5 kids solve multiple mysteries throughout the book series that each time hit closer and closer to home.
Image sourced from hachette.co.uk
The cases that these books cover force each of the kids to confront their troubled past, and in turn are forced to rely on the rest of the team, strengthening their bonds. This makes them understand each other better, learn each other's strengths and weaknesses, and have some amazing, feel-good moments where they simply understand each other.
I really loved reading these books as I found myself caught in the mysteries that they were trying to solve, and also euphoriatic when Cassie chose the person that she did, but also, I kind of saw it coming. There were fun moments, like when the group plays truth-or-dare, or two truths and a lie (until it became serious, but that's a whole other story with the insane lore drop from Lia), protective moments, like when the third body shows up in the fourth book and Michal and Dean try to protect Cassie, and quirky moments, like some interactions between Sloane and Celine.
SPOILER!!! IF YOU PLAN ON READING THE BOOKS SKIP UNTIL I SAY YOU CAN START READING AGAIN
I find Lia an interesting character, with her cult background and the reason that she learned to lie and detect lies being that the cult leader lied a lot, and the reason that she can shed personalities that easily is so that her brainwashed mum couldn’t hurt her. Her relationship with Michael is complicated, with the fact that he can always tell what she's feeling and she can always tell when he's lying, which he uses against her in Celine’s room. She seemed really cold to Cassie at first, but later, when we find out how much she cares about Cassie, it was really cute.
Michael is an interesting character, with an abusive father that he can also manipulate. Him and Celine could have had a love life, had she not been lesbian and figured out that they were siblings and stopped it. Her little hints at Sloane are really cute, and who knows if Sloane caught on or she didn’t :P. His ability to read emotions is really interesting, and the fact that he can know what you are feeling without necessarily having to look at your face is really powerful. His love for Cassie was obvious from the start, but maybe the fact that he kept going on and off with Lia might have put her off a bit.
Dean has a troubled past, you know with his dad being a killer and all, but he moves past that and actually uses it to help him profile killers. He says UNSUB but also I a lot, and eventually he can predict UNSUB's moves.
Sloane is sloane. SHe is insane with numbers, can not understand social cues except for once or twice, can recall anything she reads and will absolutely tell you wombat facts to help you fall asleep. She is the most protected of the group because she is the way she is. The will beat up people (Like Michael’s dad) if they attack her.
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The series has romance, mystery and crime, as well as a bit of teen drama. The murders are interesting and the series has a good amount of plot twists throughout. It makes you think a bit about how family drama and your upbringing can change a person, and whether you can really change after you have been taught to behave a certain way. If this type of book sounds like your cup of tea, then I would highly recommend it to you.