Summary via Goodreads:
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 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.
Sarcastic, privileged Michael has a knack for reading emotions, which he uses to get inside Cassie’s head—and under her skin. Brooding Dean shares Cassie’s gift for profiling, but keeps her at arm’s length.
Soon, it becomes clear that no one in the Naturals program is what they seem. And when a new killer strikes, danger looms closer than Cassie could ever have imagined. 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.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13597723-the-naturals
My Review:
So, a lot of people have been hating on this book. I can understand that, but you have to give the book some credit. It has some pretty redeemable points too, so I rated it four stars. Not terrible, and pretty interesting. Barnes had to have a lot of prior knowledge about criminal psychology to write about one that was nearly realistic.
A couple of strong points:
Barnes incorporated the character's abilities with their personalities quite well, and had a murder mystery that kept people guessing. Nowadays, it is becoming increasingly difficult to write a twist that will actually surprise people, and Barnes did that for me. I also enjoyed her little chapters with the serial killer's POV that kept me guessing throughout the whole novel until the end.
Barnes incorporated the character's abilities with their personalities quite well, and had a murder mystery that kept people guessing. Nowadays, it is becoming increasingly difficult to write a twist that will actually surprise people, and Barnes did that for me. I also enjoyed her little chapters with the serial killer's POV that kept me guessing throughout the whole novel until the end.
The weak points:
The love triangle. Ugh. Did she really have to do that? Cassie and Dean would have gone perfectly together, no need for Michael to be in the picture. Next, the trust between the "team" was terrible. Only Cassie actually looked like she had part to play in the novel; none of the side characters got many chapters. I was really disappointed by this because I felt that developing on the other characters' stories would have made the novel a whole lot more interesting. Barnes really should have written about teamwork between the teens, instead of Cassie going solo and saving the day like a Mary-Sue.
The love triangle. Ugh. Did she really have to do that? Cassie and Dean would have gone perfectly together, no need for Michael to be in the picture. Next, the trust between the "team" was terrible. Only Cassie actually looked like she had part to play in the novel; none of the side characters got many chapters. I was really disappointed by this because I felt that developing on the other characters' stories would have made the novel a whole lot more interesting. Barnes really should have written about teamwork between the teens, instead of Cassie going solo and saving the day like a Mary-Sue.
Why this got four chocolates:
Not many people can write a decent criminal/mystery YA novel nowadays, let alone keep me guessing. Just for that, I have to give Barnes four chocolates. Kudos for the fresh and new idea!
Not many people can write a decent criminal/mystery YA novel nowadays, let alone keep me guessing. Just for that, I have to give Barnes four chocolates. Kudos for the fresh and new idea!
Four chocolates!
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