The Naturals

The Naturals (2013) is a Young Adult suspense novel by American author Jennifer Lynn Barnes. It is the first novel in the Naturals series, which follows Cassie, a teenager with a natural talent for profiling people based on a careful study of their behavior. Cassie meets other teenagers with similar abilities when she joins a special FBI program meant to use their skills to solve murders. Throughout the series, Cassie must also work to solve the mystery of her mother’s disappearance five years ago, which left behind a bloody crime scene that still haunts her.

Barnes is also known for the Inheritance Games series, which includes The Inheritance Games (2020), The Hawthorne Legacy (2021), The Final Gambit (2022), and The Brothers Hawthorne (2023).

Plot Summary

At the Colorado diner where she works, Cassie is approached by a teenage boy close to her age. He leaves her an FBI business card with the contact information for Special Agent Tanner Briggs. Cassie wonders if the FBI could have any new information about her mother, who disappeared five years ago and is presumed dead. Cassie is haunted by the memory of finding the bloody crime scene, though her mother’s body was never found. She has been living with her father’s family while he is away on military duty. Although her grandmother is protective and kind, Cassie feels out of place. She recalls growing up with her single mother, a con artist who studied people and convinced them she was psychic. Cassie learned this skill from her and is proficient at reading people based on their behavior, personality, and environment.

Cassie meets with Briggs, who offers her a place in an FBI program for “Naturals,” teens who have advanced skills at reading people. Cassie learns that the mysterious boy from the diner, Michael, is a Natural who can read people’s emotions from their gestures and expressions. The program is meant to hone Natural skills to help the FBI solve cold cases. Cassie agrees to join the program and flies to Quantico, Virginia, where she meets the other Naturals, including Lia, a human lie detector, and Sloane, a Natural who is skilled with numbers and patterns. Cassie also meets Special Agent Lacey Locke, an FBI profiler who will train Cassie and the other Natural profiler, Dean. Michael and Dean are not friendly with each other, and Dean appears to resent Cassie’s presence in the program.

Over the next few weeks, Locke has Cassie and Dean practice their profiling instincts on already-solved cases. Locke and Briggs are also working on an ongoing case: A serial killer is at large in the area, and the Naturals want to help. However, they are not allowed to get involved.

As the Naturals get to know each other, Cassie learns about the on-off romantic relationship between Michael and Lia, and the brotherly-sisterly relationship between Lia and Dean. Cassie also learns that when Dean was 12 years old, before the program was officially established, he unofficially consulted on cases with Briggs. During a game of Truth or Dare, Lia dares Cassie to kiss Dean, which upsets Michael. Later, Michael kisses Cassie himself, leaving Cassie confused about her feelings. She distracts herself by reading old prison interviews, and she discovers that Dean’s father was a serial killer named Daniel Redding who tortured and killed 12 women. When Cassie confronts Dean about hiding this information, he angrily reveals that he feels like a dangerous psychopath himself and tells her to leave him alone.

Later, Sloane steals a USB drive from Locke’s briefcase containing files from the case she and Briggs are currently investigating. Cassie reads the files and discovers that the UNSUB (“unknown subject”) is murdering women who have red hair, like Cassie and her mother, and who are also psychics. Although Cassie’s mother’s body was never found, the method of killing is similar. Noticing these similarities, Cassie tries to convince Briggs to let her work on the case, but he threatens to remove her from the program. When the UNSUB sends Cassie a giftbox containing a lock of red hair, the FBI believes she could be the UNSUB’s next target, so they assign Cassie a heavy protection detail. This angers the UNSUB, causing them to abduct a senator’s daughter and send another “gift” to Cassie: a photo of the girl bloodied but still alive.

The Naturals find more clues that lead them to another body in a staged version of Cassie’s mother’s crime scene. They soon learn that this is the work of a new UNSUB obsessed with Cassie’s mother’s case. Eventually, Cassie discovers that the UNSUB may be within the FBI and in the house with the Naturals. She contacts Locke, who instructs her to get Dean and escape to a safe house. After they arrive, they find Michael has followed them and has a gun. He explains that he believed Dean to be the killer when he found both him and Cassie missing, so he followed them to protect Cassie. Michael is suddenly shot, and Cassie turns to find Locke holding the gun.

After rendering Dean unconscious, Locke reveals herself to be the UNSUB—and Cassie’s aunt. After growing up in an abusive household with Cassie’s mother, she felt abandoned when her sister got pregnant with Cassie and left. Locke later planned to kill her sister herself but found that someone had beaten her to it, so she joined the FBI to track the killer down. There, she found Cassie and decided to shape her into a killer as well. She presents Cassie with the senator’s daughter, instructing her to kill the girl. Michael regains consciousness, grabs his gun, and kills Locke.

Two weeks later, the Naturals must all grapple with the aftermath of these events. Michael and Dean are left to recover physically, while Cassie is left without closure in her mother’s murder and with the knowledge that her aunt was a serial killer. Although unsure about what comes next, Cassie chooses to stay in the program to help her find the answers she is looking for.