Joint Review: The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

by:  Jennifer Lynn Barnes
published by:  Disney-Hyperion
publish date:  November 5, 2013

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.

Cassie was raised by her fortune-teller mother to read people.  She
got to be so good at it that the FBI came knocking on her door for help with cold cases.  Because her mother had been murdered, and Cassie still needed clues she jumped at the chance to work on her case. 

I really liked this book.  It was kinda like a YA version of the television show Criminal Minds.  It was nice to have a different YA story that wasn't post-apocalyptic, dytopian, or contemporary romance.  I think fans of The Game by Barry Lyga would like this book or Boy Nobody by Allen Zadoff.

I'm with Autumn on this one.  I enjoyed the book as well.  It really sucked me right in and kept up my interest all the way through.  For me it was kind of like Criminal Minds mixed in with a little bit of Alphas. Each teen contributed a certain kind of gift that they were natural at.  My only problem was I had a little bit of an issue with the reality that the FBI would recruit kids under 18 for this type of work. At any rate, I did like the mystery and was surprised at the ending.

I don't know if this one is planned as a series or not.  I kind of hope it is because I would love to read more about the team.  I just hope there is no love triangle.  I saw the potential for one and it would ruin it for me.