The Naturals is the first book in Jennifer Lynn Barnes’ popular The Naturals series. Barnes is also the #1 bestselling author of The Inheritance Games, and this series brings together mystery, suspense, unusual talents, and a dangerous game of cat and mouse.
Since I didn’t get a chance to read this one yet, I’m sharing it today as a book spotlight rather than a review. But the premise definitely sounds like one that mystery and thriller readers may want to check out!
🔎 About The Naturals
Seventeen-year-old Cassie has a talent most people don’t have—she can read people.
By noticing the smallest details, Cassie can often figure out who someone is, what they want, and what might be motivating them. It’s an ability she’s never thought much about until the FBI comes calling.
The FBI has created a classified program that recruits exceptionally gifted teenagers and uses their unique abilities to help investigate infamous cold cases. Cassie’s natural profiling skills make her exactly the kind of person they’re looking for.
But joining the program means Cassie is suddenly surrounded by other teens whose talents are just as unusual as hers. And it quickly becomes clear that everyone in the Naturals program is carrying secrets of their own.
Then a new killer strikes.
What begins as an opportunity to help solve old crimes becomes something much more dangerous when the investigation starts hitting close to home. Cassie and the other Naturals find themselves caught in a deadly situation where understanding the killer may be the only thing that keeps them alive.
🧠 Why It Might Catch Your Attention
The setup of The Naturals combines several elements that mystery readers tend to love: criminal profiling, cold cases, secret government programs, gifted teenagers, and a killer who may be closer than anyone realizes.
The book has been compared to Criminal Minds and A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, which gives you a pretty good idea of the kind of suspenseful atmosphere to expect.
There’s also a romantic element mixed into the mystery, so readers who enjoy a little relationship drama alongside their murder investigations may find plenty to keep them turning the pages.
📚 Series Information
The Naturals kicks off a multi-book series, so if you enjoy stories where you can continue following the same characters and investigations, there’s more waiting after book one.
The series includes:
The Naturals
Killer Instinct
All In
Bad Blood
Dangerous Impulses
That makes this a fun option for readers looking for a YA mystery series they can binge rather than a standalone story.
⚠️ Content Warnings
Readers may want to be aware that The Naturals contains or discusses some heavier material, including:
Death, blood, violence, gore, torture, abduction, mental illness, and psychopathy.
Because of the serial-killer and crime-investigation elements, this one may be darker than some other YA mysteries.
📖 Book Details
Title: The Naturals
Series: The Naturals #1
Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Genre: YA Mystery
Publication Date: January 6, 2026
🔗 Find the Book
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop.org
💭 Final Thoughts
While I didn’t get a chance to rate or review this one, the concept certainly sounds intriguing. A group of unusually talented teens helping the FBI solve cold cases already makes for an interesting setup, and adding a new killer who puts the Naturals themselves in danger raises the stakes even more.
If you enjoy YA mysteries, criminal profiling, serial-killer investigations, secret programs, gifted characters, and high-stakes suspense, The Naturals may be worth adding to your reading list.
Have you read The Naturals or any of the other books in the series? Let me know what you thought!
Meet the Author:
Jennifer Lynn Barnes (who mostly goes by Jen) is the author of more than a dozen critically acclaimed young adult novels. She has advanced degrees in psychology, psychiatry, and cognitive science, including graduate degrees from Cambridge University, where she was a Fulbright Scholar, and Yale University, where she received her Ph.D. in 2012. Jen wrote her first published novel when she was nineteen-years-old and sold her first five books while still in college. In additional to writing YA novels, Jen has also written original pilot scripts for television networks like USA and MTV, and she is one of the world’s leading experts on the psychology of fandom and the cognitive science of fiction and the imagination more broadly. Jen is an Associate Professor at the University of Oklahoma, where she holds a dual appointment in Psychology and Professional Writing.