The Naturals

HAPPY RELEASE DAY! Once in a while you get to see intelligent thrillers like this. Forgive me the review might sound disjointed, i'm still heart-broken with Allegiant and on top of that writing the review for an amazing book like this is hard enough as it is..... Presenting The naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes.

Here is the summary of the book:

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.

Honestly the only other book of Jennifer Lynn Barnes I had read was 'Every Other Day' and I didn't like it that much..... But this is definitely an amazing read. An intelligent, descriptive YA thriller and I know it just released 'today' but i'm already scrambling for the sequel.

Cassie Hobbes was the perfect protagonist. She is far from perfect, naive yes but she knows at first glance who she can trust and who she can't/ Her ability of 'natural' profiler. Now that is an interesting ability, just looking at the person she can dictate their life history. Made me remember Sherlock Holmes a lot..... It was impressive enough but I daresay regular people may find it insulting if their personnel history is being recited by a stranger.

Then there were the other inmates of the house. Michael, Dean, Lia and Sloanne. All of them have their own 'natural' abilities. Michael can read emotions, Lia is a lie detector, Dean is a profiler like Cassie and Sloanne is a walking encyclopedia..... Just saying, living in a house with them, things can definitely never be boring.

And then there were two. The two love interests. Michael is the sarcastic emotions reader and he knows how best to use his abilities to the full. Dean, the broody who keeps her at arms length. But it were the interactions that mattered. The interactions of Cassie, Michael and Dean totally made the highlight of the book. It is a love triangle, i know and i hate their kind but here they played a very subtle role and the main focus was the murder mystery..... so yes the build-up was very well set.

The naturals was definitely a well written book. the crime, the cold cases, the human emotions, and the mystery of the homicides and coupled together with great characters, each in their messed up way bringing something new to this book. It takes great skill to write a criminal mystery like this and put in enough detail to make it seem real. Kudos Jennifer Lynn Barnes..... And i'll repeat i'm totally eager for the sequel.

"Incredibly magnificent and an intelligently descriptive YA mystery/thriller"

Genre :      Young Adult, Criminal Mystery, Thriller, Romance, Contemporary

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Release Date: 5th November, 2013

My Copy: publisher & netgalley

Rate:              5/5 (It was Amazing)

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