Book Review: Killer Instinct by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (The Naturals #2)
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Mystery
*3.75
I definitely feel like each of the books could probably be read as a standalone but I love to see these characters in action! Book two was almost as good as book one, a few things fell short compared to book one, but still very enjoyable. Considering all the characters are the same and writing style and such, this will be a relatively short review.
Continue reading for more details.
Synopsis:
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:
Cassie, is again, just a fine main character. Nothing much to add about her character. Her personality mainly consists of her mother’s murder burdening her, which is understandable, but I wish her character, since she is the main character, developed more than just that one thing, but I do hope she finds peace of mind or who was behind her mother’s death. Though she is a good person and caring and aware of the people around her, which makes her different from the rest of the group. Sloane deserves some more time to shine, she definitely is the odd one out due to her skill and definitely feels it and I just wanna give her a big hug. Hopefully she gets her chance to show off her skills and contribute more significantly to cases in the future. Lia keeps things fun, of course. Her rebellious nature keeps the plot moving. Though, her soft side towards Dean, much different than her usual aggressive, bossy self, is truly nice to see, even though it may be portrayed in a way different to what most people would expect. She really does care about Dean and they truly have that sibling bond.
“When the odds are bad, you change the rules.”
Time for the love triangle discussion. I don’t love love triangles in general, but this really felt short for me. I love both Michael and Dean individually. To me, Michael’s personality feels parallel to Lia’s, but I really like how Michael acts so appropriately based on who he’s dealing with. Lia is always lia, but Michael adapts to the person. I still do think Dean and Cassie have that natural chemistry that just comes with both being profilers who get each other. I feel like Cassie is really good for Dean so I definitely want to see more of them together. Though the point Michael made at the end was really good…
“Maybe, to do what you and I do, we have to have a little bit of the monster in us.”
The plot pacing made this book definitely less enjoyable from the first by a little. It started off quite slow for like the first 75% of the book. Involving Dean’s father definitely kept things a bit more interesting, but overall discussing the details of the case while not actively being allowed to be involved in the case kept the book from moving super fast. Though once things started to unravel it really got me hooked! No but wow the plot twists are really some out of nowhere stuff! The author’s really creative, I genuinely don’t know how she thinks of these things. Though I really need to get my guessing game up because now that I think about it, I totally could’ve possibly guessed one of the twists…I think. Overall, can’t wait to see what the next books bring!
“It's not the bad memories that tear a person apart. It's the good ones.”
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