第1章
When Murder Becomes a Game of Minds
Imagine having the ability to read people so well you can predict their next move before they make it. For seventeen-year-old Cassie Hobbes, this isn't a superpower-it's an inheritance from her mother, a supposed psychic who disappeared five years ago, leaving behind only a blood-soaked dressing room. What Cassie doesn't know is that her natural profiling ability has caught the attention of the FBI, who want to recruit her into a specialized program for teens with similar gifts. "The Naturals" by Jennifer Lynn Barnes has been praised by bestselling author Ally Carter as "Criminal Minds for the YA world," and has developed a cult following among psychology students and true crime enthusiasts alike. The novel's exploration of the thin line between understanding killers and becoming one has made it a staple in discussions about nature versus nurture in criminal psychology classes across universities. With its blend of psychological thriller and coming-of-age drama, Barnes-who holds a PhD in psychology-crafts a story that asks: what happens when you can see inside the minds of killers, but can't escape the darkness that comes with that gift?
第2章
The Gift That Marks You as Prey
Cassie Hobbes has always had an uncanny ability to read people - a talent that manifests in countless small ways throughout her daily life. Working at Romano's, a small Italian diner tucked between a laundromat and a convenience store, she can predict exactly how customers like their eggs, whether they'll want extra napkins, and what they'll order before they even open the menu. She notices the businessman who taps his wedding ring when he's anxious about time, the mother who positions herself between her children and the door, the teenager who orders coffee but really wants hot chocolate. This talent isn't supernatural - it's observation, pattern recognition, and intuition working in perfect harmony, like a complex dance she's known all her life.
These abilities are also a painful reminder of her mother, Lorelei, who built a career claiming psychic abilities while actually possessing the same natural profiling skills as her daughter. Cassie remembers watching her mother work, understanding even as a child that it wasn't crystal balls and tarot cards that gave her insight, but rather an exceptional ability to read micro-expressions, body language, and behavioral patterns.
One unremarkable Tuesday morning, a well-dressed teenage boy with carefully styled hair and expensive shoes leaves her a twenty-dollar tip alongside an FBI business card after she correctly guesses not just his breakfast preference, but also that he's left-handed and recently started playing tennis. The card belongs to Agent Tanner Briggs, and when Cassie reaches out - hoping against hope for news about her mother's unsolved murder - she discovers he has something else entirely in mind. He wants to recruit her for a specialized program because she's what he calls a "Natural" - someone with an innate ability to read people that peaks during the teenage years, before adult logic and learned skepticism begin to dull these instincts.
The program's dual purpose becomes clear during their initial meeting: to educate participants while honing their natural skills, and to use those abilities to assist the FBI with cold cases, particularly serial crimes. For Cassie, whose mother was brutally stabbed to death five years earlier - her body never found, leaving only a blood-soaked crime scene behind - the opportunity resonates on a deeply personal level. Her Italian grandmother, Nonna, reacts explosively to the idea, unleashing a torrent of rapid-fire Italian mixed with English curses. A family intervention follows, with relatives arguing late into the night about safety, responsibility, and the weight of the past.
"I need to do this," Cassie finally tells her grandmother in a rare moment of vulnerability, their hands clasped over the kitchen table where she's spent countless hours learning to make proper risotto. "For her. For all the other mothers and daughters who might never get to make memories like we did."
As Cassie prepares to leave her familiar world behind - packing away her waitress uniform and her grandmother's carefully prepared care packages - she's unaware that someone is watching her movements with calculated interest. This observer sees her abilities not as a gift but as a challenge to be conquered, marking her as their next target. In the shadows of her new life, a predator waits patiently, believing that despite her perceptive abilities, she won't see them coming until it's too late - because sometimes the most dangerous threats are the ones hiding in plain sight.
第3章
A House of Extraordinary Teenagers and Hidden Dangers
Cassie's new home is a Victorian mansion in Quantico with a staircase lined with portraits of serial killers-a chilling reminder of the work they'll be doing. Here, she meets her fellow Naturals, each with their own remarkable abilities. Michael can read emotions through facial expressions and body language with uncanny accuracy. Lia detects lies and tells them with equal skill, shifting between personas like changing clothes. Sloane possesses extraordinary numerical abilities and statistical recall, rattling off random facts like "redheads need more anesthesia" while calculating complex probabilities in her head.
Then there's Dean-brooding, intense, and mysteriously uncomfortable around Cassie. Like her, he's a natural profiler with an intuitive understanding of criminal psychology. When Michael reveals that Dean "knows more about the way killers think than just about anyone," Dean storms off, leaving Cassie wondering what darkness lurks in his past.
The house itself is designed for "full immersion" training. The basement contains elaborate crime scene simulations-bathrooms, bedrooms, and outdoor scenes ready to be staged with evidence. The swimming pool reveals fluorescent outlines of blood spatter under black light, recreating a real murder where a girl named Amanda was stabbed and drowned. Every inch of the property serves to teach these teenagers how to think like predators in order to catch them.
Their training begins immediately. Agent Lacey Locke, a non-Natural profiler assigned to mentor Cassie, takes her and Dean to a mall to practice profiling strangers. Locke teaches Cassie a crucial technique: to truly profile, she must either use "I" to put herself in the subject's place or "you" if she doesn't want to fully identify with them. This seemingly small grammatical distinction becomes a powerful tool-and later, a warning sign of how deeply one can sink into a killer's mindset.
As Cassie settles into this strange new world, the boundaries between training and reality begin to blur. During a late-night swim, Dean warns her ominously: "This program will ruin you." His words carry weight she doesn't yet understand, foreshadowing the dangers of immersing oneself too deeply in the minds of killers. What began as an opportunity to use her natural abilities for good increasingly feels like stepping into a trap from which she might never escape.
第4章
Secrets That Cut Like Knives
As Cassie's training intensifies, the house reveals its secrets one by one. During a game of Truth or Dare initiated by the manipulative Lia, Cassie learns that Dean was the first Natural recruited to the program, working with Agent Briggs when he was just twelve years old. But the most shocking revelation comes when Cassie discovers through FBI interview transcripts that Dean's father is Daniel Redding-a notorious serial killer.
When confronted, Dean responds with bitter sarcasm: "What, you thought I was just naturally good at getting inside killers' heads?" His harsh confession reveals the terrible burden he carries-not just being the son of a murderer, but fearing he might have inherited his father's dark impulses. "I should have known," he tells Cassie. "I should have recognized the signs."
Meanwhile, Cassie's training with Agent Locke takes a disturbing turn when they begin examining photos of seven murdered women. The victims fall into two categories: redheads and people with psychic connections-women who bear striking similarities to Cassie's mother. When a fresh victim is discovered-a palm reader from Dupont Circle with her hair dyed red post-mortem-Cassie begins to suspect a connection to her mother's unsolved case.
Despite being forbidden from working on active investigations, Cassie and her fellow Naturals secretly obtain the case files. Studying the photos, Cassie realizes with growing horror that the current killer might be targeting women who resemble her mother-redheaded psychics murdered with knife attacks and facial mutilation. The pattern suggests someone who has been refining their technique over five years, potentially beginning with Lorelai Hobbes herself.
"He's escalating," Cassie tells Dean when he agrees to help her. "If we don't stop him, more people are going to die."
The house of Naturals becomes a pressure cooker of tension-romantic triangles form between Cassie, Dean, and Michael, while the shadow of an active serial killer looms over them all. When Cassie receives a black box containing a lock of red hair with a note reading "From me, to you," the danger becomes undeniable. The killer knows who she is, where she lives, and has made her the focus of his obsession. What began as training exercises with cold cases has become a deadly game where Cassie herself is both detective and potential victim.
第5章
The Hunter Becomes the Hunted
As the FBI scrambles to identify the UNSUB (unknown subject) targeting Cassie, the killer escalates dramatically by abducting fifteen-year-old Genevieve Ridgerton, a senator's daughter. The message is clear: "CASSIE-WON'T IT LOOK BETTER RED?" The killer is punishing others because Cassie is being protected, forcing her to choose between her safety and innocent lives.
Despite Agent Briggs' objections, Director Sterling approves using Cassie as bait by taking her to crime scenes, hoping to lure the killer into revealing himself. At Club Muse where Genevieve was abducted, Cassie discovers graffiti in the killer's distinctive handwriting: "FOR A GOOD TIME CALL 567-3524. GUARANTEED PLUS ONE. KOLA AND THORN." With Sloane's help, they decode the message-the numbers spell "Lorelai" (Cassie's mother's name), while "KOLA AND THORN" is an anagram for "North Oakland," pointing to a theater connected to Lorelai's profession as an actress.
When they arrive at a theater in Arlington, they discover a murder scene meticulously staged to recreate Cassie's mother's death-from blood smeared on light switches to knife marks on the floor. The victim, a small red-haired woman, wasn't killed there but positioned to force Cassie to relive discovering her mother's body. The killer's obsession has reached a terrifying new level.
"He's making me relive it," Cassie realizes with horror. "He's making me find her all over again."
Back at the house under increased protection, Cassie and Dean make a crucial discovery-the blood smear on the light switch in her mother's original crime scene came from Cassie turning the light on, not the killer turning it off. This reveals the UNSUB couldn't have been her mother's killer, as they wouldn't have known this detail. The team realizes someone with access to FBI files recreated the scene perfectly-the killer is likely someone within law enforcement.
When Cassie learns Lia received Rose Red lipstick-her mother's signature shade-as an anonymous gift left on her bed, panic sets in. The killer has been inside their house, possibly part of their protection detail. Agent Locke calls with urgent instructions: find Dean, retrieve a gun from Briggs's safe, and escape to a safe house without being noticed.
As Cassie and Dean flee through a hidden staircase, the hunter becomes the hunted. But in this deadly game of cat and mouse, they're running straight into the killer's trap-a trap set by someone they trusted implicitly.
第6章
The Face Behind the Mask
The safe house becomes a stage for the final act of deception. When Michael unexpectedly arrives, a tense standoff ensues between him and Dean, each pointing weapons at the other. As Cassie pleads with them to lower their guns, shots ring out-Michael is hit twice, in the shoulder and leg. The shooter steps forward: Agent Lacey Locke.
"You should have listened to me," Locke says coldly, training her gun on Cassie while Dean lies unconscious nearby.
In the basement of the safe house, Locke's mask finally slips completely. She holds Cassie at gunpoint, berating her for disobedience before revealing a severely beaten Genevieve Ridgerton. In a twisted "gift" to Cassie, Locke offers her a knife and urges her to kill the girl. When Cassie hesitates and Genevieve begs for a quick death, Locke flies into a rage, taking back the knife and stabbing Genevieve herself.
"I did everything for you!" Locke screams. "I found you! I brought you here! I made you special!"
The final revelation comes as Locke confesses her true identity: Lacey Hobbes, Cassie's maternal aunt. In a disturbing monologue, she explains how Cassie's mother Lorelai abandoned her at age twelve with their abusive father. Consumed by both love and hatred for her sister, Lacey joined the FBI to find Lorelai's killer-but her motivation was twisted: she wanted to have been the one to murder her sister herself.
"She left me," Lacey sobs, knife in hand. "She left me with him, and she never looked back."
For years, Lacey had been killing women who reminded her of Lorelai, working her way toward Cassie-not to kill her, but to mold her into her own image. She engineered Cassie's recruitment to the program, manipulating every aspect of her life to create a bond between them.
In a desperate attempt to survive, Cassie pretends she actually killed her own mother, claiming they're more alike than Lacey realized. The distraction works just long enough for Michael, injured but conscious, to reach his gun and fire multiple times, killing Lacey as she prepares to attack Cassie.
The mask falls away completely, revealing not just a killer, but a broken woman whose childhood trauma twisted into murderous obsession-a dark mirror of what Cassie herself might have become without her natural empathy and moral compass.
第7章
The Price of Seeing Too Clearly
Two weeks after the confrontation, the physical and emotional wounds are still raw. Michael faces months of rehabilitation but stubbornly uses crutches despite having been shot in both his leg and shoulder. Dean struggles with the aftermath of violence that echoes his own traumatic past. Sloane and Lia process the betrayal in their own ways, their trust in authority fundamentally shaken.
For Cassie, the revelations about her family history create a complex web of emotions. Her mother wasn't just murdered-she had abandoned her own sister to abuse, setting in motion a cycle of trauma that eventually claimed her life. The aunt Cassie never knew existed had killed multiple women in a twisted expression of love and hate, all while grooming Cassie to follow in her footsteps.
"I thought I was looking for a killer," Cassie reflects. "I didn't realize the killer was looking for me."
The romantic triangle between Cassie, Dean, and Michael remains unresolved. When Michael finds Cassie alone, he confronts her about their unfinished business. "I know there's something between you and Dean," he tells her with characteristic directness. "But I'm patient. I can wait." With bold confidence, he promises that the next time they kiss, she'll only be thinking about him.
Despite the trauma they've endured, the Naturals program continues. Their abilities are too valuable to discard, even after they've seen the dangerous edge where understanding killers becomes becoming them. Dean's warning that "this program will ruin you" hangs in the air-a recognition that seeing too clearly into darkness leaves permanent marks on the soul.
Yet Cassie chooses to stay. Her mother's case, while partially resolved, still holds unanswered questions. The man who actually killed Lorelai Hobbes remains unknown. More importantly, Cassie has found something she never expected: a place where her unusual abilities are not just accepted but valued, and people who understand what it means to see the world through different eyes.
"We were all freaks," she acknowledges. "But we were freaks together."
In the end, The Naturals explores the double-edged sword of exceptional perception-how the same abilities that help catch killers can also make one vulnerable to manipulation and darkness. For Cassie and her fellow Naturals, their gifts come with a price: the burden of seeing what others cannot, and the responsibility of using that sight to protect rather than harm. As they move forward, they carry both the scars of their experiences and the knowledge that sometimes, the most dangerous minds are the ones that most closely resemble our own.
第8章
When Gifts Become Burdens
The aftermath of Agent Locke's betrayal leaves the Naturals program in a precarious position. Despite the trauma they've experienced, these gifted teenagers represent a valuable resource the FBI isn't willing to abandon. Their abilities-Cassie and Dean's natural profiling, Michael's emotional intelligence, Lia's lie detection, and Sloane's statistical genius-form a uniquely effective team for solving cases that have stymied conventional investigators.
Yet the price of these gifts becomes increasingly apparent. Dean carries the double burden of his father's murderous legacy and his own uncomfortable facility with understanding killers. "Sometimes I think like them without even trying," he confesses to Cassie in a rare moment of vulnerability. "What does that make me?"
Michael's charm and emotional perception mask his own troubled past-wealth, privilege, and violence that led him to hospitalize someone in a fight he refuses to discuss. Lia's ability to detect and tell lies has made authentic connection nearly impossible, leading to her constantly shifting personas and manipulative behavior. Even Sloane's mathematical brilliance comes with social challenges and anxiety that manifest in her caffeine addiction and stream-of-consciousness factoids.
For Cassie, the burden is perhaps heaviest of all. Her natural profiling ability connects her not just to her murdered mother but to her murderous aunt. The genetic link raises uncomfortable questions about nature versus nurture-if her mother and aunt both possessed similar natural abilities that took them down radically different paths, what does that mean for Cassie's own future?
"We're not defined by what we can do," Briggs tells them during a rare moment of mentorship. "We're defined by what we choose to do with it."
As the Naturals program continues under increased scrutiny and new supervision, these teenagers must navigate not just external dangers but internal ones. Their gifts have marked them as both valuable assets and potential liabilities. The line between using their abilities and being used because of them grows increasingly blurred.
Yet within this complicated reality, they've formed bonds that transcend their unusual circumstances. They've become a family of sorts-dysfunctional, damaged, but fiercely protective of one another. In a world where they've all been treated as freaks or tools, they've found acceptance and understanding among themselves.
"Normal is overrated," Sloane announces with characteristic bluntness. "Statistically speaking, normal people solve approximately zero percent of serial murder cases."
As they move forward, the Naturals carry both the weight of their gifts and the strength of their connections. The program that threatened to ruin them has also given them purpose and belonging. In the dangerous game of minds they've entered, they've learned that their greatest protection isn't isolation but trust in each other-a lesson that may prove crucial as new threats emerge from the shadows.
第9章
The Thin Line Between Hunter and Prey
The Naturals program exists in a moral gray area that becomes increasingly apparent to Cassie and her fellow recruits. They're teenagers being trained to think like killers-to understand, anticipate, and ultimately catch those who prey on others. Yet this training comes with profound psychological risks that none of them fully appreciated when they joined.
"There's a thin line," Dean explains during one of their late-night conversations by the pool, "between understanding killers and becoming them."
This thin line is embodied in the program's teaching methods. Agent Locke instructs Cassie to use either "I" or "you" when profiling-a seemingly minor grammatical distinction that represents the psychological distance between observer and subject. When Cassie uses "I" to describe a killer's thought process, she's not just analyzing behavior but temporarily inhabiting a murderous mindset.
The program's physical environment reinforces this immersion. The house contains meticulous recreations of crime scenes, complete with fluorescent blood spatter under black lights. The staircase is lined with portraits of serial killers, a daily reminder of the minds they're learning to understand. Even their leisure activities become opportunities for honing their skills-Michael analyzing emotional cues during television shows, Sloane calculating probabilities during card games, Lia shifting personas like trying on clothes.
What none of them realized was that their mentor, Agent Locke, had already crossed that thin line years ago. Her ability to profile killers stemmed not from academic study but from her own murderous impulses. The program designed to catch predators had inadvertently empowered one, giving Lacey Hobbes the perfect cover for her crimes and access to vulnerable teenagers she could manipulate.
"She was hiding in plain sight," Michael observes after her death. "Using the very system designed to catch people like her to protect herself."
This revelation forces each of the Naturals to confront uncomfortable questions about themselves. If someone as experienced and respected as Agent Locke could be a killer, how can they trust their own minds? How can they be certain that in learning to think like predators, they aren't awakening something dangerous within themselves?
For Dean, whose father was a serial killer, this question has particular resonance. The nature-versus-nurture debate isn't academic for him-it's existential. Despite his efforts to use his understanding of killers to save lives, he can never entirely escape the fear that his father's darkness might be his genetic inheritance.
As the program continues under new supervision, this thin line between hunter and prey remains a central concern. Their gifts make them effective at catching killers, but also potentially vulnerable to becoming what they hunt. Their training teaches them to see patterns others miss, but also exposes them to psychological contamination that could change them forever.
Yet within this danger lies their unique strength. Unlike Lacey Hobbes, who embraced her darkest impulses, the Naturals choose to use their abilities to protect rather than harm. Their awareness of the thin line helps them maintain the vigilance needed to stay on the right side of it. In understanding the minds of killers, they've gained not just investigative skills but a profound appreciation for the choices that separate darkness from light.
