The Naturals

I love how this book pulls you in almost immediately and does not really give you a chance to get bored. It took me a couple of days to read, but honestly it felt like I flew through it because every chapter ends in a way that makes you want to keep going just to see what happens next.

The main character, Cassie, is really interesting because her ability is not flashy like super strength or mind reading in a dramatic way. Instead, she is just incredibly good at reading people, noticing tiny details, and figuring out what others are thinking. I liked that the book treats this as something powerful but also grounded in observation and psychology rather than magic.

What really makes the story stand out is the FBI program. The idea of teenagers being recruited to help solve cold cases already gives it a strong hook, but the tension gets even better when Cassie moves in with the other Naturals. Everyone has their own skill set, and at first it feels like they are a team, but very quickly you start to realize that trust is not simple in this group. That uncertainty keeps the whole story on edge.

I also liked how the book mixes mystery with psychological tension. It is not just about solving cases, it is about reading people who might be hiding things or even lying within the group itself. That makes everything feel more personal and more dangerous at the same time, especially when a new killer enters the picture and things start to escalate.

The atmosphere is what really stuck with me. It has that constant feeling that something is off, even during calmer moments. You are always questioning who is trustworthy, and that makes the reading experience really engaging because you end up second-guessing your own assumptions along with Cassie.

Overall, I found The Naturals to be a really strong start to a series. It is suspenseful, character-driven, and easy to get hooked on without feeling confusing or overly complicated.

Okay but not mindblowing.
This book was alright. I’ve read a few books by this author and this one fell a little flat for me in comparison. I didn’t find the story to be all that compelling and the characters were just okay. I didn’t want to keep going with the series which is usually indicative of whether a book is good to me. YMMV.

This book was way beyond my normal reading zone, and I am SO glad I read it. Seriously. It was creep-tastic!

It will be hard for me to review The Naturals without giving away the goods, but I'm going to do my best to tell you what I loved the most about it. In one word: surprises.

Yep, it actually surprised me. I think that's a very big deal because I usually figure out the plot of books in the first 75 pages or so. With that said, I did know where The Naturals was headed but it still ended up being a surprise. I was in the ball park, but my glove was not on. Obviously the big reveal at the end left me saying "holy crap" but it wasn't the only surprise along the way. There were several little twists that made me stop and think for a second before continuing the story.

I absolutely loved being inside of Cassie's head. The whole concept of being a profiler working for the FBI (but being like the alpha-profiler) was very interesting and fresh for me. Maybe there are books like that out there, but I don't know about them.

My only complaint was the weird "You" chapters throughout. They were kind of weird for me. I understand the purpose behind them, but they still felt off. It just gave me the impression that they (the chapters) were trying to hard to fit in. Maybe that was just me. They did help move the plot along and give insight into what was happening on the serial killer's end of things without making the story too long.

In a nutshell, I'm glad this one made it to the Teen Read's 2014 list. It's pretty suspenseful. In fact, it kept this girl from wanting to go out to eat because I wanted to finish the book in one sitting... and to keep me from food AND my favorite restaurant is pretty huge.

If you are looking for a true page-turner, pick this up. Pronto.

MY THOUGHTS
I really enjoyed reading this book, which surprised me since I wasn't actually planning on reading this book in the first place. I was actually invested in the story and breezed quickly through the book. But, I've read books like this before. There are a lot of mystery books that have either the same or very similar story line as The Naturals (the first one that comes to mind is The Body Finder series). And while I did enjoy reading this book, I can't give it a higher rating due to how the plot of the book is so common and the fact that there was a few things that were very predictable. (view spoiler)

I also have to say a few things on the romance.
You tried, romance, but you failed.
The romance of this book basically an attempt at romance, and you could tell that there was supposed to be romance, but we didn't get any romance. Sure, there was some strange kissing scenes, but there was no hint of any feelings from Cassie for either of the boys (yes, there's two, but I would not consider it a love triangle. Mostly since I don't even consider it as romance.). I also had no idea what the two guys were feeling, so the entire romance was basically a few awkward-ish kisses. That's all.
I'm glad that this book did not go the route of plot taking the back seat, while romance takes the front, but I also don't particularly like it when romance is thrown into a book for seemingly no reason. Maybe there's more to it in the next book? I don't know, but it's possible.

I know it seems that I was not a fan of this book, based on the fact that all I'm doing is complaining, but I actually did enjoy reading this book. While the romance was kind of stupid, it was only a very small part of the book. And the fact that the plot of this book is a common one did not mean that I didn't like it. There is a reason as to why I have read enough of these books that I recognize how common the plot is.
I mentioned earlier that the book was a bit predictable, and yes, that's true, but only in some ways. As with most mystery books, there is something that is, well, a mystery. In this book the mystery surround the serial killer. I had no idea who the killer was. None. When the killer was revealed I was taken completely by surprise! And I loved this! This was not a case of "oh, the killer is actually this person", but there are absolutely no clues or hints that would lead up to that person. No, there were many hints throughout the book, very subtle ones that are not obvious until you know who the killer is. Looking back, I could the genius in this and, of course, I loved the fact that the book took me by surprise.

IN CONCLUSION
This is a very quick read, barely 300 pages, and the story is when that you can quickly breeze through. It's a bit of a common serial killer mystery, which I have seen many times before, but while predictable at times, the book will take you by surprise. The "romance" is kind of unnecessary. In fact, I hesitate to call it a romance.
But, all in all. I did like this book. It was very entertaining and I definitely plan on reading the next book in the series!

I’ve always found the ability to profile and read body language, manerisms, and nonverbal clues interesting. So interesting, in fact, that I took a class in nonverbal communications. After that class, I never particularly felt that being a “Natural” would be that great–I don’t know, being a human lie detector sounds great at first, but I’m not sure I would actually like the way that could play out in life. All this made me incredibly interested in reading The Naturals, and I’m glad I did.

On the whole, I thought The Naturals was an engaging story. It was basically a murder mystery, but the way Barnes approaches crime-solving is really what makes this one stand out a bit. The plot itself wasn’t anything new, in my opinion, and nor were the characters. I did have some problems with the characterization, which I’ll get to, but it didn’t hamper my enjoyment of the story too much.

The Naturals was one of those books that made me catch my breath and want to figure out the “Who’s the murderer?” question as soon as possible. The book isn’t exceptionally gory or scary, but it did get pretty up-close and personal to some crime scenes, which I sometimes have trouble with. It wasn’t always easy to read, but it wasn’t too bloody or gory. I might have caught my breath a few times, but I never felt the need to put the book down or walk away.

The one thing that set The Naturals apart from just another murder mystery is definitely the addition of the “Naturals”–the teenagers who have exceptional affinities for being able to read people. It was so interesting to read about these teenagers, and I thought Barnes did a pretty good job of getting inside their heads and how they viewed the people around them. The one thing I did have trouble with, though, as far as these natural abilities go, as that they’re all so. . . separate, from each other. Let me try to explain.

So one of the boys who is part of the Naturals program is a natural “mood reader”. He can tell how people are feeling based upon their stance, their gestures, and their facial expressions. Okay, fair enough. But then there’s another character, Lia. She’s the ever-popular “mean” girl character personified(with, you know, bits of humanity strewn in), and is a natural lie-detector. People are complex, and I have trouble believing someone who is a natural at moods & expressions wouldn’t also be able to deal with, say, liars. Also, if Lia is able to detect when people is lying, there should be things that tip her off–most likely the same things that tip the human mood reader off. And that was part of the book I could never quite buy in to.

The other main thing that made The Naturals move down in the ratings was way each of the teenagers were characterized. I thought Cassie’s story was nothing out of the box, which weakened the story quite a bit because I couldn’t feel any depth to her emotions. Everything was clinical, but The Naturals wasn’t written in a way that made me believe it was SUPPOSE to be clinical, so it ended up feeling like an accident. And Michael and Dean are decent enough characters, but they don’t really add anything new. They’re just kind of. . . there.

That being said, I did enjoy the book for it’s fast-paced action. I did NOT see the plot twist coming, which always gets a thumbs-up from me. I like being surprised and I feel like it rarely happens, so it’s always fun when a book manages to do just that. I think readers who like crime mysteries and teenagers with abilities will enjoy The Naturals.

Final Impression: I had some problems with The Naturals as far as some of the logic presented in the book as well as some of the characterization–it just never felt very deep to me–but I did enjoy the story. Taking away the naturals program would make this book just another murder mystery, but the addition of the naturals made it different from anything I’d ever read.