Young Adult Book Reviews

Genre:  Mystery

# of Pages:  375

RAC:  Yes

In this sequel to The Naturals, all the main characters are back and still reeling from the very scary encounter Cassie had with a serial killer in the first book.  It isn’t long before another case draws in the naturals even though the FBI has sworn to leave them out of any active cases in the future.  A young college student’s body appears on the lawn of the campus, but the method mimics that of Dean’s father and that immediately complicates things.  Dean’s father will only answer questions for Dean so he has to come face to face with his dad for the first time since he was arrested for heinous crimes.  Meanwhile, Cassie, Michael, Lia, and Sloane all try to help but everything they try seems to get them in more and more trouble with the FBI.  On top of all that, a new FBI agent has been brought in to oversee the naturals programs and she seems determined to end the program one way or another.  Can they find out who is copying Dean’s father and how that person is getting information?  Can Cassie and her friends prove how valuable the program is so that it doesn’t get cut by the FBI?  Will Cassie ever choose between Dean and Michael?

This is a solid followup to the first book.  The mystery itself is engaging and is more complicated than most readers will think at first which will keep them guessing until the end.  The characters grow and develop more in this book and makes the naturals program seem more useful and interesting than before.  The love triangle between Dean, Michael, and Cassie finally gets resolved, but will most likely be revisited in the next installment.  Fans looking for a fun mystery series will enjoy this.