J's Musings

Book Review by Janhavi

The Naturals: Book 2

The second book in the Naturals series and probably the one least imprinted in my memory per se. In the sense that, if you stopped me in the street and asked me about killer instinct, I can’t tell you much that stood out to me. It wasn’t pale, but not anything memorable either.

If you haven’t read book 1 yet, I would tread carefully from here on. The story for this goes that Cassie is still trying to figure out about her mother when an active killer comes up again. They feel like an almost exact copycat of Dean’s father who was notorious for his over the top ways.

For me, in particular, this book didn’t stand out much. Of all the books, I can’t tell this one apart in any sense. The first one is iconic for the twist. The last two have their own place in my mind, but Killer Instinct fails to stand out to me. Maybe it’s a me thing, with the second book in a series because the first ones are always amazing and the second ones just don’t hit the same.

Either way, I still enjoyed it a lot. Barnes’ has this unique writing that makes every book so much easier to get through, even when you are not invested in the story as such. 

There were moments I found memorable, but thinking back, I couldn’t place them in the right book. What I found the most remarkable here was the violence and the gore. I can easily say that this is the most violent book overall, even if it isn’t the scariest in my opinion.

The you chapters actually had me searching up trigger warnings. 

I would recommend this for anyone who likes gore driven mystery or trauma driven mystery. Primarily because a lot of this book is connected to Dean and his trauma. 

If I keep the plot aside, I enjoyed the writing for the even pacing and the clear writing. JLB changed her writing a lot with The Inheritance Games, it had more riddles, more complexity, in dialogue and prose, compared to the simple, clear writing in The Naturals series. I say this because I believe that her ability to capture attention, pace the plot, and develop characters in both styles is what helps differentiate the series and their unique plots. 

Back to killer instinct, I think the writing style makes the story really easy to follow and understand. 

As for the characters, they all have very strong arcs, but Cassie indulges in her little love triangle here, which pissed me off a bit. Otherwise, they follow up soldily and I really like how their relations develop over time. 

Overall, this was a pretty solid read. I think of it as the perfect bridge between the introduction and the central plot of the series. This book is like a layover in my mind, so that is also part of the reason I dont find it memorable. 

It may be different for you, because a friend of mine says it’s their favourite in the series. 

So, read on and look out for my review of the next book!

Rating: 3/5

Love,

Janhavi