27. The Naturals - Jennifer Lynn Barnes

2013, Hyperion

308 pgs.

YA Mystery

Finished 5/16/14

Goodreads Rating: 3.97

My Rating: 3/Liked it

TPPL

Setting: Contemporary Washington DC

1^st sentence/s: "The hours were bad.  The tips were worse, and the majority of my coworkers definitely left something to be desired, but c'est la vie, que sera sera, insert foreign language cliche of your choice here.  It was a summer job, and that kept Nonna off my back.  It also prevented my various aunts, uncles, and kitchen-sink cousins from feeling like they had to offer me temporary employment in their restaurant/butcher shop/legal practice/boutique."

My comments:  Yes, I liked it. Since this was a YA, I was a teeny, tiny bit surprised at the level of "grizzliness" of the murders that were the centerpieces of the story.  I love that investigations and forensics are available for teens, as well as the mystery/problem solving. However, there wasn't enough character development for me, the times that the main characters were introduced and got to know each other were skimmed over quickly to get directly to the major plot.  Therefore, I had to guess about and fill in my own thoughts about the relationships between Cassie and her peers a bit more than I liked.

Goodreads Review:  Seventeen-year-old Cassie is a natural at reading people. Piecing together the tiniest details, she can tell you who you are and what you want. But it’s not a skill that she’s ever taken seriously. That is, until the FBI come knocking: they’ve begun a classified program that uses exceptional teenagers to crack infamous cold cases, and they need Cassie.

          What Cassie doesn’t realize is that there’s more at risk than a few unsolved homicides—especially when she’s sent to live with a group of teens whose gifts are as unusual as her own. Sarcastic, privileged Michael has a knack for reading emotions, which he uses to get inside Cassie’s head—and under her skin. Brooding Dean shares Cassie’s gift for profiling, but keeps her at arm’s length.
          Soon, it becomes clear that no one in the Naturals program is what they seem. And when a new killer strikes, danger looms closer than Cassie could ever have imagined. Caught in a lethal game of cat and mouse with a killer, the Naturals are going to have to use all of their gifts just to survive.