The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes Book Analysis (Free Essay Sample)

At 17-years-old, Cassie Hobbes had a difficult childhood, which led her to a difficult life.  Her mother was murdered when she was younger and Cassie found her in a pool of blood. Lorelei’s (Cassie’s mother) murder was used as bait for Cassie to join the FBI Naturals program. This led Cassie to make a difficult decision, should she join because it had something to do with her mother’s case, or was it a joke and/or something weird was happening. In the novel, The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Cassie, the protagonist, figures out why she cannot trust Locke and many others the way she thought she could, by joining the FBI Naturals program, in order to find out who killed her mother and who the UNSUB was, ultimately proving that Cassie cannot trust Locke. 

Cassie had major trust issues with people in the Naturals program. Michael had Cassie try to figure out his background. Micheal uses his ability to read people’s emotions to try and get inside  Cassie’s head, not only to manipulate her but to use it against her. Michael used his emotions to get inside of Cassie’s head when he picked her up from her house. Cassie wanted to know more about him, but he was not telling her anything and just gave her short answers on how and what was happening in his life when she wanted to know more. Cassie had faith, trust, and love for Locke from the beginning. Cassie thought Locke was the only one that could train her to help the FBI. Cassie was extremely wrong. From the beginning, Cassie described Locke as “A woman with bright red hair strode in with black sunglasses and a gray suit and she walked as she had somewhere to be.” (Barnes 55).  Cassie thought Locke looked familiar. Cassie picked Lia as a different person. At the beginning of the book, Lia seemed okay but as Cassie was there longer she progressed to becoming rude. After Lia had Cassie kiss Dean and Michael, she was annoyed with her. Cassie said, “The next day I could barely look at Lia.” (Barnes 75).  Cassie thought she was able to trust her, but after Lia made Cassie kill them both Cassie knew what Lia was trying to do. Just as when she thought she would be able to trust her to not eavesdrop, Lia still did. Trust issues develop from childhood trauma. According to Brené Brown, “Trust is choosing to make something important to you vulnerable to the actions of someone else.” Cassie chose to make herself stick out to Briggs and Locke. She wanted to show them what she could do to show how her profiling can help in real cases. Cassie did not trust anyone going into the program and also did not trust Michael or Briggs, who set her up the way they did when Michael left a card for her to come to meet him. Cassie did not trust Locke once she shot Michael. She knew it was Locke. The reason for her trust issues may have formed from the loss of her mother at a very young age. She was lonely and had to live with her grandparents because her father was in the armed forces. No one in the Natural is who they seem to be. Although she had a good time in the Naturals program and had a little bit of trust for some people, she had major trust issues leading to childhood trauma. Especially after Locke, since Cassie found out Locke was the UNSUB. 

Cassie is trying to figure out who the UNSUB is and if this relates to her mother’s murder. In the beginning, Cassie did not know about being an UNSUB. The longer Briggs and Locke were working on the case, the longer it was to find the UNSUB the more it became everyone's problem. According to Ann Aguirre, ”Cassie has always relied on her ability to read people since her mother’s disappearance.” This is true because since she lost her mother she has been reading people more efficiently. Now, she can see if they are involved with her mother’s murder. When Cassie first heard about this she described it as a “fresh body.” As the case went on, everyone was determined to figure out who the UNSUB was. Briggs tells Cassie “we have 3 bodies and the killer is escalating.” (Barnes 134). Solane then begins to explain to everyone in the room “Ninety-Nine percent of all serial killers are male.” (Barnes 138). This made everyone in the room be on the lookout for a male, not a woman. The UNSUB was killing women with no pattern so far. Locke was Cassie’s leader. She was the one training Cassie with Dean on how to catch a killer and how to think like a killer. No one, including Cassie, would have thought Locke would be the one to be the UNSUB. Cassie stated, “She practically told me she was the UNSUB, and it had gone over my head because I’d trust her.”(Barnes 284). Locke practically told her she was the killer but Cassie did not catch on because she thought Locke was a good person. Cassie did find out that Locke did not kill her mother, but Locke wanted to. Cassie found out she was the UNSUB when she shot Michael and Dean. Locke brought Genevieve who had been missing and Cassie knew all along it was her. Cassie found out Locke was her Aunt and things started to make more sense to her. Her love and trust for her mother within Locke, in some way, made her attached to her as a leader. She never trusted any of her friendships while in the program, but she did think Locke was going to lead her in the right direction because of the connection they had. 

Cassie had many different experiences and friendships from joining and while in the Naturals program. Locke knew about Cassie’s mother before Cassie knew she knew. Locke dangled Loriani’s case in Cassie’s face for her to join the program. As the Author Barnes explained, “The only reason Cassie join is that she thought this had something to do with her mother’s murder.” (Barnes 205). Locke knew she was a profiler. Her experience with Locke and the other agents was good until the end. She went to Locke for advice many times. She trusted all of them until the end.  Cassie struggles at the beginning because she did not grow up with friends in her life. She was not close with anyone because of her mother’s death. She did not want to get close to someone because she was worried she would get close to them and they would die like her mother. As she gets more comfortable in the program, she grows closer to more people and meets new friends. Her first friend was Michael. She wanted to know everything about him because he was the one who left the card for her to call Briggs.  Lia is a lying dictator so Cassie always had to tell the truth around her or she could tell. Lia wasn’t one of Cassie’s favorites but she did help her when she had her lipstick. Lia told Cassie her lipstick was, “Rose-red lipstick, I know who else had that, my mother when she was killed.” (Barnes 69). Cassie was suspicious and worried because that was her mother’s favorite lipstick, so the killer must have known who Loriani was and that Cassie was in the program. Dean wasn’t too happy with Cassie when she first came. They were both profilers and Dean did not think they needed another. As time progressed Dean and Cassie became very close when Cassie found out what happened to Deans’ dad. Dean and Cassie were in a love triangle with Micahel as well. Micahel and Cassie had a brother and sister type of relationship. Micahel felt something for Cassie after kissing her. Michael would manipulate her with all of Cassie's questions and his ability to read emotions. Micahel and Cassie were very close as well. When something was wrong Cassie always ended up telling Micahel. Solane was Cassie’s roommate. They were not close but they weren’t strangers. Solane was a human google. She would be able to give any information.  They were roommates who never had a problem with one another. Cassie would tell Solane things and Solane would help and give advice. Cassie never lost any relationships while in the program but towards the end, she became distant with some members, which led to her suspicion for her. Cassie had a good relationship with everyone inside of the Naturals program until the end when she only had a problem with Locke and realized that Micahel and Dean were her closest friends. 

Cassie has trust issues due to childhood trauma. Cassie has not stopped looking for the person who killed her mother. When the UNSUB case came she thought it was an ordinary case. As time progressed, she realized this killer has a pattern of killing women with red hair, a psychic, and a knife. These are all the things her mother looked like and was stabbed to death with a knife. Cassie is not the type of person to just walk away from a challenge. That is why she joined the Naturals program. She never gives up until she finds an answer. She has great relationships with others in the program until she doesn’t. She's learned from experience and experiences within the program to not trust people, as in Locke, Briggs, and Lia. Michael explained she never gave up asking him questions. Cassie never gave up trying to figure out what happened to Dean’s dad. She was determined to find who the UNSUB was. When Cassie has a goal she does everything until she finds answers. She did not expect the killer to be Locke. She trusted her. That is why she called her when Cassie and Dean knew there was a breach in the program. Locke sent them to the safe house so she knew where they were to kill them. There she told Cassie Loriani (Cassie’s mother) was her sister which meant Locke was her aunt.