Killer Instinct by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Series: The Naturals #2
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Young Adult
Pages: 378
Published By: Little, Brown Books on 4th November, 2014
Format: Paperback
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Book Synopsis:
Cassie Hobbes has a gift for profiling people. Her talent has landed her a spot in an elite FBI programme. 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 one of their incarcerated fathers – 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 his brutal mind games before he twists them into his web for good?
Born smart. Born tough. Born FBI.
Book Review
After reading the first book in this series, I knew I had to continue! This review will probably mention similar things from my review of the first book so bear that in mind in case it seems a little repetitive.
Iโll start by saying that this is like Criminal Minds but with teenagers and I am still very much here for it! This YA mystery/thriller also weaves in a touch of romance through a love triangle! Iโve always been apprehensive with love triangles but Barnes did this so well! I think after reading this book, I am swaying more towards Team Dean.
Overall, I do really like the characters and their unique powers supports the storyline well and I mention in my previous review that I hope as the series continues we get more character development… I can safely say that Barnes delivered on this. She was able to flesh out more of the characters and give them more depth. This helped with getting more of a connection with the characters whilst reading.
This book is a fast-paced and very bingeable read (short chapters yay)! I love fast-paced mysteries and thrillers, and this one delivered. The beginning of this book did not grab me as much as the first one did but the pace definitely picked up the more I was reading. I loved the tension and the suspense that was growing throughout, and the twists. Although some twists seemed a little predictable, they were still fun. I much preferred this plot line in comparison to book one’s plot.
The romance was done a lot better in this book. I complained that it was moving too fast in the first book but in this one it was fine. The romance blossoming between Cassie and Dean felt more natural in this book. Whereas the ‘whatever’ is happening between Cassie and Michael feels forced. I just don’t think they suit well romantically in comparison to Cassie and Dean.
This book reads clearly as YA, and the writing style makes it easy to follow. I read this book in 3 days and once you get into it… it’s really difficult to put down! Iโm excited to continue the seriesโitโs a well-done mix of YA and mystery/thriller.
If you are like me and enjoy the same type of books then I would definitely suggest giving this series a try. Itโs a fast-paced palate cleanser to have between heavier, denser reads.
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