Book Review: All In (The Naturals #3)

Release Date: November 3, 2015
Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Length: 378 pages
Source: Library Book

Three casinos. Three bodies. Three days.

After a string of brutal murders in Las Vegas, Cassie Hobbes and the Naturals are called in to investigate. But even with the team's unique profiling talents, these murders seem baffling: unlike many serial killers, this one uses different methods every time. All of the victims were killed in public, yet the killer does not show up on any tape. And each victim has a string of numbers tattooed on their wrist. Hidden in the numbers is a code—and the closer the Naturals come to unraveling the mystery, the more perilous the case becomes.

Meanwhile, Cassie is dealing with an equally dangerous and much more painful mystery. For the first time in years, there's been a break in her mother's case. As personal issues and tensions between the team mount, Cassie and the Naturals will be faced with impossible odds—and impossible choices.

    

Review:

Protagonist: Cassie, after enjoying a holiday break with her family, is excited to get back to the Naturals program, a place where she feels she belongs, where she's useful, and surrounded by people who feel like home. However before she goes back she learns there's been a break in her mother's case which throws her for a loop. On top of that, she and the other Naturals are recruited to check out a string of murders that seem to have no real connection other than a seemingly random string of numbers on their bodies. In this book Cassie begins to accept her role withing the Naturals group more. She's the heart of the group, the one with the capability and allowance to feel things whenever she wants. She keeps the group together, helps them through their personal tragedies and feels for them when needs be. She's a great character who doesn't really need to get better or really develop more in terms of becoming more the perfect self aware character. She grows more complex, but it's she owns her strengths and flaws and does her best to keep her flaws in check.

Romance: There is actually surprisingly little romance in this book. I almost feel like this section is unnecessary, but I do ahve a few things I want to address. First off I love that the author wasn't compelled to make a lot of drama for Cassie and Dean's romance, at least not yet. The love triangle's over and Cassie's made her choice, or well, Cassie knows where her heart belongs. Cassie and Dean are there for each other, supporting each other through tough times and not really racing for new milestones or shaking up their romance at all, and I have to say while some may think a nice calm romance is boring, it really works here. We do see a little bit of fall out over Cassie's choice, that type of thing doesn't go away, but even that's a rather small plot point. Overall, the romance is just done very well, and very tastefully.

World Building: Ha! I was right! During the previous installment in this series I theorized that each book will have a focus on a different Natural member, looking into their background and some of what makes them tick. What I didn't correctly theorize though, is which Natural this would focus on. I won't say which even though it's fairly easy to pick up on early in the story. I will say though that I really liked this story line, even if it had its frustrating moments. It really bring about this character's background, who they are, why they sometimes do the things they do, and while this isn't exactly the main plot or storyline, more just twisted up into it, it's one of the best parts about this book. Then there's Cassie's mom's case. I don't want to say too much and spoil it, but there are some interesting developments, some that feel a bit like a roller coaster. There are a lot of threads connected to this story and I was just shocked at the tapestry they wove.

Predictability: Barnes, judging by this series at least, is one of the best authors when it comes to surprising the reader. Besides fantastic foreshadowing, the author also employs misdirection, and vague moments to leave even the most perceptive reader unsure of what's going to happen. I had so many conspiracy theories for this book, about the murderer, about certain peoples' motives, even about Cassie's mom's case, and even the ones that were proven true were twisted in a way I couldn't have guessed. As for the other ones, I was either way off the mark, or pretty close to nothing significant.

Ending: *Speechless Gaping* If you thought that the twist at the end of the previous book was a game changer, you ain't seen nothing yet! In an effort to avoid spoilers, even though I just want to rant and theorize about this ending all day, I'm going to give you as vague a rundown as I can. I'm going to first say that how this killer is apprehended, if they even are apprehended, was done in a very different way than the other books. However that's not quite the end. There are a lot of loose ends to tie up, and that's just for this installment, not the series over all. Things get more complex, a little crazy, and there's a definite shift. I won't say what kind, but what I will say is that I seriously can't wait what the next book has to bring.

Rating:

Gah! This series is fantastic and hasn't let me down yet. Each book is gripping and I can hardly put it down for any significant period of time. There's still so much left to tell, and if my theory is correct, and I hope it is, we have two books left, and two more characters' backstories that I'm chomping at the bit to understand deeper.

Book Review: Killer Instinct (The Naturals #2)

Release Date: November 4, 2014
Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Length: 375 pages
Source: eGalley via NetGalley

Seventeen-year-old Cassie Hobbes has a gift for profiling people. Her talent has landed her a spot in an elite FBI program for teens with innate crime-solving abilities, and into some harrowing situations. After barely escaping a confrontation with an unbalanced killer obsessed with her mother’s murder, Cassie hopes she and the rest of the team can stick to solving cold cases from a distance.

But when victims of a brutal new serial killer start turning up, the Naturals are pulled into an active case that strikes too close to home: the killer is a perfect copycat of Dean’s incarcerated father—a man he’d do anything to forget. Forced deeper into a murderer’s psyche than ever before, will the Naturals be able to outsmart the enigmatic killer’s brutal mind games before this copycat twists them into his web for good?

With her trademark wit, brilliant plotting, and twists that no one will see coming, Jennifer Lynn Barnes will keep readers on the edge of their seats (and looking over their shoulders) as they race through the pages of this thrilling novel.

    

Review:

Protagonist: Cassie went through a horrible ordeal in the previous book when she discovered that her mentor turned out to not only be her aunt, but the serial killer she and the other Naturals had been tracking. When we first see her in this book, she's not over that experience, but she's trying to move past it making the most out of her life as one of the Naturals and helping to solve cold cases. However once again the Naturals are sucked into an active serial murder case, and like the last time this case hits home with one of their own. Since it had been so long since I read the first installment I wondered if I would have the same connection I had with Cassie, if she would seem different and somehow less after so long a time. In fact, she may have been better than before. There's a lot to love about Cassie, she's flawed sure, but not egregiously so, she cares almost too much and that can get her into trouble, she's impulsive and strong and wants so badly to be there for the people she's come to love. Her development in this fairly subtle, there are moments when it's easily seen, but there's even more going on between the lines on the page and it'll be hard to recognize it until it's already happened.

Romance: I don't remember all that much from the first installment, in fact I felt the need to read a recap of the book before starting this one, but one the thing I did remember was that there wasn't all that much emphasis on the romance and that the love triangle was written very well. While there may be a bit more attention on the romance this time around it still doesn't distract from the main plot of the story, nor does it overshadow it. I'm still not completely sure how to feel about the love triangle, while I still felt it was handled well, there were some moments that bothered me. During the course of this book it becomes clearer where Cassie's heart lies, and that makes her other love interest do and say some douchey things, it's nothing to terrible, more pet peeves of mine, and it's not necessarily because Cassie has feelings for someone else, more about the existing relationship between the two boys.

World-Building: I'm a huge fan of procedural dramas and I love how in many ways these books take inspiration from them. I get the same whodunnit feeling when I'm reading these books as I do when I'm watching shows like Bones and Criminal Minds. My favorite chapters are the "You" chapters where we go into the mind of the killer and learn small things about them, what their doing, and a bit about their mindset. There's actually quite a bit introduced in this book. Obviously we learn more about Dean and his past with his father. We learn about the horrors of his childhood and the things he had to do to survive. We are introduced to key new characters that expand this world and open up new doors we haven't seen before. I cannot stress enough how much I loved seeing these characters interact, learning about them, and watching their development through Cassie's eyes.

Predictability: The big twist in this story of course is about the UNSUB, the person who is committing these gruesome murders and I'll get to them in a bit. First however, I want to talk about the other surprises this book has in store. With all the information we learn comes a great slew of twists. Some of them there is foreshadowing for, however it's no where near enough to actually grasp what the twist is. There are also things that come out of the blue, things that there is no preparation for and seem added for shock value in addition to their other purpose in the story. Finally, there's the killer. I won't say too much but I have to say that I had trouble not trying to psychoanalyze and profile them as I read more about them in the story.

Ending: The ending for this book is a game changer in many ways. As the book comes to a close there is a crazy and tension filled final climax followed by and interesting cooling down period where everything for this case is wrapped up nice and neat. However, there are quite a few cliffhangers. It's nothing that would make readers wait in agony until they got their hands on the next installment, and actually most things have come to a sort of plateaued period. There are still many questions to be answered, and like I said there are game changing things in the end, none of which are all that shocking.

Rating:

Like I said before I was unsure if I would still love this series after so long away from the series. I know my tastes in books has changed and I've become more discerning in what I like and don't like in stories, plus there's also the dreaded sophomore slump where the second book doesn't measure up to the first, but I ended up loving this book and can't wait for the next heart pounding and intense installment.