The Naturals series is a true crime series written by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. You may recognize her as the author of the Inheritance Games series. I read her series The Naturals and I have some thoughts. With four books and a short story the Naturals series will keep you busy for a while. The book follows four incredibly gifted teens as they use their special abilities to solve crime for the FBI. Right away I found the series a bit cliche and hokey. The series is shallow and has a formulaic feeling to it when it came to romance. Compared to authors like Bardugo the author of Six of Crows Barnes does not have the linguistic skill. Now I could be biased compared to some of the recent authors I’ve read, the Naturals is not comparable. However the story did have a good mystery, the ending’s were really hard to guess. This is a bit of a double edge sword as in the last two books had absolutely ridiculous endings.
The layout of the book was unique: it followed the main character Cassie Hobes, at the end of every couple of chapters the perspective changes to the inside of the serial killer's head. I found this very intriguing and it did make the first two books very interesting. Being in the killer's perspective was creepy and captivating, it sent a chill down my spine every time. However I felt Barnes got a bit lazy with it, the concept was one of a kind and could have been an eerie window into the horrors of a killer's mind, yet by the last book it felt flat. The delicately made and terrifying mind of a killer concept, replaced by a formulaic monologue. Despite all of my critiques of the book it was still an overall good read. The series was light and fast paced, perfect for a person with a short attention span and not a lot of time and the classic Lynn Barnes love triangle had all the teenage drama and angst one could need. Although this book is not a profound, literary masterpieces a metaphor for human existence, it is a good read and the over dramatized serial killings make for an intriguing book. All in all I would recommend this book if you're into fast past light and enjoyable reads.