Killer Instinct by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Genres: Thriller, Crimes, Mystery, YA
Pages: 375
Cover: Paperback
Age rating: 12+
Buy on: Amazon, Barnes and Noble
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Cassie Hobbes, 17, has a talent for analyzing people's personalities. Her talent has gotten her into some terrifying circumstances and into an elite FBI program for teenagers with natural crime-solving skills. Cassie thinks she and the rest of the team can continue working on cold case investigations from a distance after narrowly avoiding a run-in with an unstable killer who is fascinated with her mother's murder.
However, the Naturals are drawn into an ongoing investigation that hits too close to home as victims of a vicious new serial killer begin to surface. The killer is an exact replica of Dean's father, who is incarcerated and whom he would do anything to forget. Will the Naturals be able to defeat the mysterious killer's vicious mind games before this imitator permanently ensnares them in his web, forced deeper into a murderer's head than ever before?
Jennifer Lynn Barnes will have readers on the edge of their seats (and looking over their shoulders) as they turn the pages of this exciting book with her signature wit, clever planning, and unexpected turns.
General Opinion
I love this book. The suspense, the plot, the backstory of the characters, the relationship development—everything was executed well. In my opinion, Killer Instinct was better than the Naturals.
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Characters
In this book, Dean's backstory is revealed. His dad is a notorious serial killer, a psychopath to the core, and that affects Dean as he grows up. We also get to see more Dean and Cassie moments—all are adorable, of course. What really stood out to me was how Dean's father really gets to you, even though he is not talking to you. The way he manipulates everyone he talks to, saying the most disturbing things with a smirk on his face, really gets to you.
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We also get more Cassie and Lia moments, which I love. They radiate sisters mode, especially Lia, the one that is constantly annoying you but somehow still makes your days better. I like Lia more in this book, as we get to see her more, how she truly cares for everyone, yet hides it with her half-mean half-tolerable remarks.
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Michael was Michael... I liked him until the way he behaved towards Cassie at the end, came off as too bitter, I understand that his father abuse him, but it still rubbed me the wrong way. Now Sloanne is a sweet girl, I love how everyone have a soft spot for her, no one can ever get mad at her, and i found her statistic to be really interesting.
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I like the growing dynamic between Cassie and Agent Sterling, how they were at odd at first, but by the end of the book, they became close buddies.
Plot
What made me enjoy this book more was how we get more glimpse of each character, but also how the serial kill was caught and how they manage to cover up their crime at first. The method of which the serial killers use here was pure genius, my jaw dropped when I found out they managed to have an alibi when a victim was found. It also proves how the YOU character is an unreliable narrator, who manipulates everyone and the readers, and a true psychopath to the end. The tension and suspense I felt when I read, how I was so eager to find out who the killer was but couldn't dare spoil myself.
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Overall, I am having a great time with The Naturals series so far, and am very excited to read the next book.