Review: The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

If you liked the Inheritance Games, you’re a fan of true crime, or even psychology, the Naturals is the book for you!

You’ll Love The Naturals If You Love…

Inheritance Games

The Inheritance Games is one of Jennifer Lynn Barnes’s popular book series. The series is filled with puzzles, a love triangle among brothers, and billions of dollars. If you enjoyed the logic and puzzle-solving aspect of the book, as well as the love triangle, you’ll love The Naturals.

Thrillers

Although this book does belong to the young adult genre, it doesn’t take away from the eerie atomsphere that Barnes can create at times throughout the book. With a book about serial killers, cold cases, murders, and the FBI, there’s bound to be some thrilling moments.

True Crime

As someone who likes to occasionally watch true crime documentaries and listen to true crime podcasts, this book emulates the true crime vibes. Jennifer Lynn Barnes has degrees in psychology, psychiatry, and cognitive science. She’s able to put these degrees to use by accurately portraying the thoughts that race through a serial killer’s mind.

Review

Coming off of a reading slump after my first semester in college, this was the perfect book for me to cozy up to during my winter break. There’s nothing like reading about cold cases and serial killers. Just kidding! However, Barnes has a way of captivating the reader with these enthralling plots! The Naturals is the kind of book that begins a little slowly, but you’re drawn in the more you read. There’s information uncovered, characters worth reading for, and relationships being developed. 

There are stakes that are present in the plotline as they’re dealing with a serial killer. There were so many plot twists and times that I was caught off guard when reading this book, especially at the end of it. Although the plot of this book is very well thought out and leaves the plotline resolved, there is still information to be addressed later in the series, which eventually keeps you reading The Naturals series.

Aside from the plot, I found the characters to be well developed and enjoyable to read about, even if they can seem annoying from time to time. The characters all have their distinct personality, which is something that Barnes  does well. She’s able to characterize well through actions, words, and tie in their gifts.

I found the protagonist, Cassie, to be a likeable and real character. Barnes is able to create an interesting backstory for Cassie that is impactful in the way Cassie acts. There are other side characters that include Cassie’s classmates and mentors. Three recurring characters aside from Cassie include Lia, Michael, and Dean, who are all Cassie’s classmates and each have their own ability. 

Cassie’s interactions with her classmates are fun to read. She has a back and forth relationship with Lia, and a little bit of romance between both Dean and Michael, a love triangle that Barnes is starting to develop. Although the relationships are fun to read, they’re not the main driving force of the book, the hunt for the serial killer is. However, something I wish there was more of is more interactions with Cassie’s fourth classmate and roommate, Sloan. She sometimes fades into the background of the story just because she’s shy.

With everything happening in the book, an aspect of it that I found so interesting is there’s a second POV. The Naturals is told from a first person point of view, with Cassie narrating the novel, but there are chapters from time to time with a second POV that adds to the mysteriousness and eeriness tone of the book. I won’t spoil who’s POV it is, but you’ll be able to figure it out pretty quickly after a few times reading those chapters. Barnes’s writing is lighthearted and makes it so easy to fly through the book (I finished it in only a couple of hours). Nonetheless, she’s able to slow down the pace of the book to add to this uncanny feeling that you may get when reading about serial killers and murders.

I found The Naturals to be such an enjoyable read, and a great book to get me out of my reading slump! I would totally recommend this book if you’re a fan of true crime!

TLDR: A story about a gifted teenager who helps the FBI solve crimes is a fantastic one!