The Naturals is the perfect fall book for those who want to slip into that autumn feeling even though it still feels like summer half the time. Fall is the spooky season where gloomy, gray weather makes you look over your shoulder when you hear the crunch of dry leaves. That’s why The Naturals is the book to start off the season. The story is perfect for lovers of Criminal Mind. Take the BAU and make them teenagers with love triangles, secrets, and pasts that make you question who they’re really helping.
The story starts off with our main protagonist Cassie Hobbs who gets recruited to join the Naturals and becomes the newest member of the group. At first the team is just supposed to solve cold cases, but when a new killer strikes that begins to show more and more connections to a member of the team, these untrained kids have to go into the field. Now it’s not cold cases the Naturals solve from the safety of their homes; rather, it’s cases that can’t be solved without putting their lives on the line. But as the newcomer, how does Cassie really know who to trust? After all, they’re naturals at murder.
Cassie is a naturally gifted profiler whose skills were refined with her mother’s help. Then on the complete other side of the spectrum, there’s Dean Redding who is just as gifted with profiling, but his skill was developed despite his father who did whatever he could to prevent Dean from maturing as a profiler. Lia, a human lie detector who can call anyone’s bluff and lie unflinchingly back, is particularly useful against suspects and games of two truths and a lie. Then, when it comes to reading people’s body language, Michael reads people’s emotions like a book. He sees and immediately understands people’s micro expressions. So pair a body language expert with a profiler and even the best criminals won’t be able to hide their true natures. Then removing all human emotion from the equation is Sloane, a calculator in the form of a human girl. She has the fastest mathematical mind in the modern century. The characters are teenagers which makes them relatable and adds an interesting dynamic of how mature they have to be paired with their youth and inexperience. The bond that the kids make over the course of the series feels real and genuine seeing as how it builds over time.
Another overarching element is the main mystery: while each book focuses on a particular unknown subject or UNSUB there is an underlying mystery you uncover while following along with the Naturals. Though they all have vastly different personalities, beliefs, and worldviews, that diverse array of perspectives is what makes them the Naturals.
If you’re looking for a starter book to get you into thriller or mystery this is the perfect gateway for you. As the air turns colder and crisp and leaves fall, it’s a must-read to set the mood for the rest of autumn!
