By Ava Grippo – Staff Reporter

“The Naturals” is a book series written by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, who is well known for writing “The Inheritance Games” series. The Naturals series consists of four books, “The Naturals,” “’Killer Instincts,” “All In,” and “Bad Blood.” “The Naturals” was released on November 5, 2013. The cover was designed by Abby Kuperstock. 

“The Naturals” follows Cassie Hobbes, a seventeen year old girl who was recruited into a special FBI program for her expert profiler ability, meaning she can figure out a great amount about someone, and their likely actions and decisions just by looking at them. Cassie meets the other members of the special program, Michael Townsend, who can cleverly read emotions, Lia Zhang, a human lie detector, Sloane Tavish, who specializes in numbers and statistics, and Dean Redding, an expert profiler, just like Cassie. Together, the 5 of them assist the FBI with criminal cases. 

Barnes does a great job with the development and lore of the characters, giving each one a distinct personality and reasonable trauma to what influenced them to be who they are. The characters are deep, and complex, making them each highly interesting and compelling. The book also does a great job with keeping you on your toes with the mystery and the question ‘What will happen next?’, causing you to be very engaged in the story. 

The Goodreads reviews of The Naturals are excellent, but the book is much overshadowed by the author’s other book series, “The Inheritance Games.” The Naturals is a book that should be recommended to every book lover, especially if you enjoy crime, mystery or young adult books. 

“The Naturals” does a much better job in developing characters and complex emotions than “The Inheritance Games” does. The mystery is much more enticing and interesting. The plot and development seems to be done with more thought and planning. The book’s characters and mystery surpass other popular young adult mystery books such as “A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder,” with the characters’ personalities and influences, making it feel much deeper than “A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder.”

“The Naturals” is packed with heartfelt scenes. Barnes writes, “Sloane slipped an arm around my waist, ‘There are fourteen varieties of hugs’ she said, ‘This is one of them’”. The book is also filled with humor. Barnes jokes, “‘My inner Boy Scout had to try’, If this guy had an inner Boy Scout, I had an inner flamingo”. 

This is a book that anyone will be sure to enjoy. When going to the bookstore, instead of picking up the more well known ‘The Inheritance Games’, take a look at the “The Naturals” and give it a read. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars