suspense – my manuscript & me

KILLER INSTINCT byJennifer L. Barnes

Synopsis: Sequel to THE NATURALS. Cassie is a profiler and she is recruited into the FBI’s “Naturals” program along with other kids who are “naturally” gifted; an emotion’s reader, a stats freak and a human lie detector. Together, they solve the FBI’s cold cases. But when a murder hits close to home again, the Naturals crew must come together to protect one of their own.

First line:

The majority of children who are kidnapped are dead within three hours of the abduction.

Favorite Lines:

I tried to catch Sloane’s eye, telegraphing that she should not, under any circumstances, tell her what Dean had told us about his father. Sloane met my eyes and nodded. I relaxed slightly, then Sloane turned back to Agent Sterling. “Dean told us this case looks a lot like his father’s.” – page 80

“We snuck out of the house to go to a frat party,” I said. “And I’m pretty sure this isn’t a dress.” – page 104

Sterling turned to Michael. I expected her to ask him something but instead she just held out her hand. “Keys.”
“Spatula,” Michael replied. She narrowed her eyes at him. “We aren’t just saying random nouns?” he asked. – page 256

Maybe this was a mistake. Maybe when the smoke cleared, things would look different. But I couldn’t stop it, couldn’t keep living my life on maybes if I wanted to live. – page 358

Review (My thoughts):

So first of all if you don’t like Criminal Minds or any kind of crime novels then do not pick this book up. Mystery/thrillers are like food and water to me. I need it. With that being said, this book makes me want to eat it. There were plenty of times I had to put it down because I was reading too fast and didn’t want it to end. I literally closed the book and just hugged it because it’s YA crime writing done right. Done beautifully.

All of the characters from THE NATURALS float seamlessly into KILLER INSTINCT. My favorite being Sloane. I have a soft spot for people who are fact-based and emotionless. They want to understand people with emotions, but they just can’t. Anyway, the relationship between all of the “Naturals” are complicated to say the least. Everyone has one goal in mind: to solve the case. They love each other, but there is this sibling rivalry that happens at the same time.

Barnes is an amazing writer. I really thought I had the killer pegged. (I was half right) As more things in the plot got revealed it definitely kept me guessing, which I love, because I can usually figure out a book in the first couple of chapters. I appreciate the time Barnes put into writing KILLER INSTINCT. It was better than the first, most definitely. No sophomore slump to you, Jen Barnes! Bravo!