The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
⭐ 5/5 STARS: The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes — YA Crime Thriller That Completely Blew Me Away!
📚 Buy The Naturals on Amazon (affiliate link)
⚠️ Trigger Warnings
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Violence and murder (serial killer themes)
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Child abduction
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Blood and graphic crime scenes
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Mentions of parental death
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Psychological trauma
💬 First Impressions
Confession time: I did not expect to love this book as much as I did.
It’s marketed as YA, and sometimes YA thrillers can feel a little watered down — but this one? Nope. Jennifer Lynn Barnes went full-on Criminal Minds: Teen Edition, and it works so well.
The premise is gold: a group of teens with extraordinary abilities (profiling, lie detection, emotion reading, etc.) are recruited by the FBI to help solve murders. It’s got just a sprinkle of sci-fi flavor, but it’s grounded enough to feel completely plausible.
Also — the pacing? Chef’s kiss. It moves fast, the tension builds naturally, and by the halfway point, I couldn’t stop flipping pages because I had to know who the killer was. When the reveal came, it wasn’t jaw-dropping, but it also didn’t fall flat. Just a perfectly satisfying “ohhh wow” moment.
🧠 Overview
The Naturals (2013) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes is the first in a four-book series that mixes psychology, mystery, and FBI procedural vibes — but with teenagers.
It follows Cassie Hobbes, a girl with a “natural” ability to read people — think Sherlock Holmes, but 17 and snarkier. She joins an experimental FBI program that uses gifted teens to crack cold cases.
Meanwhile, Cassie’s still haunted by her mother’s unsolved murder — a brutal, bloody scene with no body ever found.
🚨 Spoiler Warning: Full Plot Summary Below! 🚨
(If you haven’t read it yet, stop here, click that Amazon link above, and come back later!)
🔍 Full Plot Summary (With Ending)
Cassie works at a diner in Colorado, trying to move past the trauma of her mom’s disappearance five years earlier. Her mom was a psychic (well, a con artist posing as one), and Cassie inherited her uncanny ability to “read” people.
One day, a mysterious boy named Michael shows up, leaves her an FBI business card, and disappears. The card leads to Agent Tanner Briggs, who invites Cassie to join a secret FBI training program for Naturals — teens with exceptional instincts.
Intrigued (and secretly hoping for clues about her mom), Cassie agrees.
She travels to Quantico and meets the squad:
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Michael, the emotion-reader who’s charming and cocky.
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Dean, the brooding profiler who gives off serious tragic backstory vibes.
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Lia, a walking lie detector with attitude for days.
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Sloane, a stats-and-numbers genius who’s basically a caffeine-powered computer in human form.
They’re trained by Agent Lacey Locke (remember that name 👀) and live together in a fancy FBI safehouse. Cassie’s natural profiling skills quickly set her apart — and also put her in danger.
💔 The Case That Hits Too Close to Home
While Cassie and Dean practice profiling on old case files, Locke and Briggs work a live case involving a serial killer targeting red-haired women — just like Cassie’s mom.
The FBI forbids the teens from getting involved, but of course they do anyway (because teenagers). When a lock of red hair arrives at Cassie’s doorstep, it becomes clear the killer is taunting her — and may even be connected to her mother’s murder.
The team digs into stolen case files (thanks to Sloane’s hacking magic) and learns that the killer’s victims are all women pretending to be psychics. Coincidence? Definitely not.
Cassie’s obsession grows as she realizes the killer knows personal details about her past.
💣 Secrets, Betrayal, and Blood
Cassie finds out the biggest bombshell yet:
Dean — quiet, brooding Dean — is the son of Daniel Redding, one of the most infamous serial killers in FBI history. 😱
Dean believes he’s destined to turn into his father, and Cassie’s curiosity both terrifies and intrigues him. Cue the slow-burn tension (and a love triangle with Michael, of course).
When a senator’s daughter is kidnapped, the killer sends Cassie a photo of her — bloodied but alive — along with another creepy “gift.” The FBI tightens security, but Cassie refuses to sit idle.
Then the Naturals uncover something chilling:
The killer is copying Cassie’s mother’s murder scene — right down to the details.
And the trail leads right back… inside the FBI.
🩸 The Big Reveal
Cassie contacts Locke for help, who instructs her to take Dean and hide. They’re soon joined by Michael, who’s bleeding and panicked. He thinks Dean’s the killer (thanks to some misdirection), but before anyone can clear the air —
💥 Michael gets shot.
And standing there with the gun is…
Agent Lacey Locke.
She’s the killer.
And not just any killer — she’s Cassie’s aunt.
Locke confesses that she grew up abused alongside Cassie’s mom, who later abandoned her to start a new life. Locke became obsessed, planning revenge for years. She even joined the FBI to get closer to her sister’s case — and to Cassie.
Now, she wants Cassie to “finish the work” and kill the kidnapped girl herself, as a kind of initiation.
Cassie refuses. Michael regains consciousness just long enough to shoot Locke dead.
🌅 Aftermath
Two weeks later, the team is reeling.
Michael and Dean are recovering physically; Cassie is trying to process the fact that her aunt was a serial killer, and her mother’s body is still missing.
Even so, Cassie chooses to stay in the Naturals program, determined to find out what really happened to her mom — and to keep using her gift for good.
🕵️♀️ My Thoughts
I love when a YA thriller doesn’t talk down to its readers. The characters are intelligent, the relationships feel real, and the crime scenes have actual stakes.
Cassie’s inner monologue — analytical but emotional — feels authentic, and the moral gray areas (especially with Dean’s background) give it depth.
It’s part Criminal Minds, part X-Men, and part Pretty Little Liars, but somehow it all fits together beautifully.
Verdict: A smart, fast-paced thriller with characters worth rooting for. The Naturals hooked me from page one and didn’t let go.
⭐ 5 out of 5 stars ⭐
🧩 Read This If You Liked:
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One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus
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A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
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The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (same author, different vibe)
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Criminal Minds or Mindhunter (for the profiling junkies among us)
💬 Final Thoughts
This book is everything I love about YA done right — gripping mystery, great character chemistry, and a heroine who’s actually smart.
Also, huge bonus points for not ending on a soul-crushing cliffhanger, but still leaving enough intrigue to dive straight into the next book (Killer Instinct).
If you like psychological thrillers, FBI intrigue, and dark secrets buried in family history, The Naturals is absolutely worth your time.
🔎💀🧠
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