Bad Blood (The Naturals #4) ((The Naturals #4))
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Bad Blood (The Naturals #4) ((The Naturals #4))

When Cassie Hobbes joined the FBI's Naturals program, she had one goal: uncover the truth about her mother's murder. But now, everything Cassie thought she knew about what happened that night has been called into question. Her mother is alive, and the people holding her captive are more powerful-and dangerous-than anything the Naturals have faced so far. As Cassie and the team work to uncover the secrets of a group that has been killing in secret for generations, they find themselves racing a ticking clock. New victims. New betrayals. New secrets. When the bodies begin piling up, it soon becomes apparent that this time, the Naturals aren't just hunting serial killers. They're being hunted. Praise for Killer Instinct "A welcome addition to the teen-sleuth genre." -Kirkus Reviews "Barnes knows how to keep the reader hooked, and fans will be eagerly reaching for this title and clamoring for the next in the series." -Booklist "This is a definite purchase for libraries...." -School Library Journal "Intricately plotted, this novel will keep teens guessing and leave readers eagerly waiting the next installment in The Naturals series." -VOYA Praise for The Naturals YALSA Best Books for Young Adults, 2014 YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Readers, 2014 "The Naturals is Criminal Minds for the YA world, and I loved every page." -New York Times best-selling author Ally Carter * "[A] tightly paced suspense novel that will keep readers up until the wee hours to finish." -VOYA (starred review) "This savvy thriller grabs readers right away." -Kirkus Reviews "It's a stay-up-late-to-finish kind of book, and it doesn't disappoint." -Publishers Weekly "In this high-adrenaline series opener...even a psychic won't anticipate all the twists and turns." -Booklist
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Reviews

Photo of Salma shafik hassan
Salma shafik hassan@salma6
5 stars
Mar 1, 2025

The word MASTERPIECE is underrated to this book !!!!!!!

What the heck did I just read !!!!

Totally speechless. Like I can't process what I had just finished. This book was SO intense I just had to keep reading, I couldn't put it down. It made me feel all types of emotions. It was the most one of the series that had ALOT of PLOT TWISTS !! In the last 50% of the book, every chapter had a plot twist. I kept saying that's it there's no way there's another plot twist coming I figured it all out, and WHOA here it was coming making me stare at nowhere in my bedroom. I loved every second of this book as much as I was scared to continue it knowing I'd be traumatised after I finished it.

+16
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lexi@lulalihams
3.5 stars
Jan 2, 2025

You know that feeling when the author clearly wants you to feel something about be it the revelations, the characters, the false truths, and yet you don’t. Sums up how I felt for this book. I had a grand time, don’t get me wrong, but nothing in particular about this book landed with me.

+1
Photo of Katie Roberts
Katie Roberts@katie05
3.5 stars
Jan 2, 2025

Not as good as the others :(

+1
Photo of Lauren Dale
Lauren Dale@ljdale
4.5 stars
Dec 12, 2024

The only reason that I marked this down was because it kind of put me to sleep at the beginning but the ending…BOY THE ENDING I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN.

+3
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Brittany Peterson@lardib
4 stars
Nov 13, 2024

This series is so great - as a criminal minds junkie this book series is done soooo well!!!

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Sadie Hoffman@sadieolympia
5 stars
Sep 18, 2024

you know it’s a good series when finishing it and the thought of having to part with it makes you cry 🕚🩸

+1
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Amelia Hruby@ameliajo
4 stars
Sep 2, 2024

Such a propulsive end to the series! And wow too violent for YA!

+2
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taci@anastacia_vitoria
5 stars
Aug 5, 2024

If I could give this book 6 stars I eould have. The storyvwas so exciting and the way that we were able to find out about the characters back stories. And don’t start about the plot twist after plot twist at the end😍😍😍

Photo of anj
anj@angheligaya
4 stars
Jul 25, 2024

gonna miss them your honor ueueue

+5
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anya@anyasrvn
3 stars
Jul 22, 2024

um

+1
Photo of Aimee :)
Aimee :)@aimees_reading
5 stars
Jul 20, 2024

I really enjoyed this. And i’m also really sad to be leaving this world behind. I absolutely love this series and it’ll forever be in my heart. I fell in love with every character and every storyline. I never wanted to put the books down. I got emotional, especially during this one and tears were shed. Everything connected in the end. The novella was really nice, and i’m glad it was there. I only wish we did get more of the whole gang together and not just doing separate things. I also liked how we got to know a little of their past.

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Linta@lintareads
5 stars
May 29, 2024

what just happened

Photo of Priscilla Stanfield
Priscilla Stanfield@priscillas01
5 stars
May 21, 2024

I absolutely love this whole series. It captures you and is thrilling from beginning to end. It was so nice to see how everything tied together since book 1 into this final book. I think all of the characters are incredibly important to this series and is important to understand all of them and what all they add to the plot. Highly recommend this series to anyone and everyone. It’s so much fun and interesting and is easy to understand even when the content would seem complicated.

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matti horckmans@matti444
3.5 stars
Apr 7, 2024

noooo i dont want this series to be over🥲

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cee@duartejude
5 stars
Apr 2, 2024

** spoiler alert ** i liked this one the best. and for me personally this was more entertaining and interesting than the other three (but i still love the 3) cuz the case with cassie’s mom has been going on since book 1 and i rly liked connecting the pieces together in this book. i also liked being “oh my god no way him??” super fun 10/10 the ending was kinda hmm.. got pissed off when the fbi agents arrive 1sec too late to save cassie’s mom but whtvr i also liked seeing cassie and dean’s relationship more here OH AND MICHAEL AND LIA’S TOO. celine and sloan? cherry on top. manifesting spinoff with michael and lia i need a book dedicated to these two.

Photo of Kate B-L
Kate B-L@librarycard
5 stars
Feb 29, 2024

I'm so flipping sad to have finished this series.

This is truly the closest book I've read to criminal minds, and now I have to go back to reading normal things and that makes me mad.

+6
Photo of fris🐝
fris🐝@lfrisbee
4 stars
Feb 8, 2024

I liked this I think it was pretty good, the twist at the end with the identity of the Big Bad Guy was a little disappointing though purely because it felt like this series already used a very similar twist. I was happy with some of the revelations but some of them felt like I could see them coming. I was entertained however and I liked the series overall. the weirdest part for me was that the little girl’s name was laurel lol it’s not a super common name so when the audiobook narrator was talking about the Baddie watching laurel while she sleeps or slicing laurel open I can’t lie I did jump a bit haha

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issa@issaktay
3.5 stars
Jan 19, 2024

it was giving riverdale season 2

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Hel@janeeyre
5 stars
Jan 7, 2024

this was crazy

Photo of lavneet
lavneet@lavneet
4.5 stars
Dec 4, 2023

This series truly has such a special place in my heart. I genuinely think about it so often, and that's how I know it's a 5-star series for me. I absolutely love all of the Naturals (especially Michael). I'm still a bit bummed that Cassie didn't choose Michael because I love him so much but I do still really like her and Dean together. I'm sad to be wrapping up this series but I enjoyed every second of it.

Photo of Jaden Nelson
Jaden Nelson@unojaden
5 stars
Nov 30, 2023

This is a part series, part single book review. I honestly can not think of a way to review this series, and book in particular, so I am just going to say that I absolutely loved this whole series, it has sparked my interest for psychological thrillers and crime books, I can guarantee you cannot count the number or amazing plot twists on 2 hands, and anyone who has been ,or is even remotely interested in crime solving YA books should read this(if you think you can stomach a little...... a lot of word gore and demented killer thoughts. I was sooo impressed with how Jennifer Lynn Barnes wrote these books, and even though I was a little mad at the ending, it was also very fulfilling. Overall, GREAT thriller, mystery, crime, amazing series that I will almost without a doubt be re-reading in the future.

Photo of Haley
Haley@massahc
5 stars
Oct 19, 2023

There were so many plot twists and surprises in this book. The ending was so sad, but I think they wrapped it up in a correct way that can open doors to spin-offs and continuations in the future, hopefully!

This review contains a spoiler
+3
Photo of aleecia 🫧🫖🪻
aleecia 🫧🫖🪻@cheesereads
5 stars
Sep 19, 2023

sobbing crying all the above

Photo of Heather Harrington
Heather Harrington@nerdybynatureblog
4.5 stars
Sep 18, 2023

I've said it after each book, but I'm obsessed with this series. I can't get over how Barnes managed to write such a compelling story. They're so addicting, and I devoured each installment in one sitting because I couldn't put them down. I needed to know what would happen to Cassie and the Naturals. I needed to know what happened to her mom and how it all tied together. There were so many moments when I was on the edge of my seat. I had no clue how it would wrap up, and I thought Barnes nailed it. It's easily my favorite series I've read by her, and I'm now going to harass everyone I know into picking it up.

Highlights

Photo of taci
taci@anastacia_vitoria

“There have to be others." Other young people with incredible gifts. Others with no home and no direction, with ghosts in their pasts and the potential to do so much more. "Other Naturals," Briggs filled in. "To continue the program." Hearing him say the words gave life to something inside of me-a spark, a sense of purpose, a flame. Feeling that, letting mnyself feel it, I held his gaze and nodded. Slowly, the newly minted director of the FBI smiled. Game on.

Page 231
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taci@anastacia_vitoria

"Director." I greeted him with his new title. "You're sure," FBI Director Briggs said, "that this is what you want?"

Page 230

go go briggs

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Photo of taci
taci@anastacia_vitoria

"Celine saw the resemblance between you and your mother, between your mother and Laurel, and between Laurel"-Agent Sterling's expression flickered, just fora momentand me. I thought of Director Sterling telling me that some privileges-such as torturing the Pythia-were reserved for active members of the cult, while others were open to Masters who'd already handed their seat off toa replacement. “She's not just my sister." I met Agent Sterling's eyes. "She's your sister to”

Page 228

não creio

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Photo of taci
taci@anastacia_vitoria

How did you find me?" I did Lia the favor of changing the subject. "We didn't," Sloane said. "Celine did." Celine?

Page 227
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Photo of taci
taci@anastacia_vitoria

I tried to pull back from him, but he held me close. "You've been looking-and looking and looking for some way to make it right. You're not a killer, Cassie. You just finally accepted that sometimes, the biggest sacrifice isn't made by the person who gives up her life." He lowered his forehead to touch mine. “Sometimes, the hardest thing to be is the one who lives." My body was shaking. My hands trembled as they found their way to his chest, his neck, his face, as if touching him, feeling him beneath the pads of my fingers, might make what he was saying true. I love you. I love you. I love you. I heard the sobs before I realized I was sobbing. I dug my fingers into the back of his neck, his T-shirt, his shoulders, holding on for dear life.

Page 227

I love them so much😍

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Photo of taci
taci@anastacia_vitoria

I couldn't look at anything but the body. My mother's red hair was splayed out around her, a halo of fire against the bright white of the sand. Her lips were dry and cracked, her eyes unseeing. "Put down the knife!" Agent Sterling's voice sounded like it was coming from far away

Page 224

they just needed to wait 1 more minute😭

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Photo of taci
taci@anastacia_vitoria

I love you. I love you. I Her grip on my hand tightened. Her body blocking the motion from the Masters, she jerked me forward. My hand on the knife. Her hand on mine. I felt the blade slide into her chest. She gasped, blood blooming around the wound. I wanted to pull the knife out. But for Laurel, I didn't. "Forever and ever," I whispered, holding the knife in place. I held her. I love you. I love you. I love you. I didn't look away. I didn't so much as Not even when I heard Agent Briggs's familiar voice. "Freeze!" She slumped forward, bleeding, the light beginning to drain from her eyes. blink, not even when I heard a door slam open. My mom isnt moving. Her heart isnt beating. Her eyes -they don't see me. I pulled the knife out of her chest, and her body fell to the ground as FBI agents poured into the room. I love you. I love you. I love you. Gone.

Page 223

nooo no no I’m crying

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Photo of taci
taci@anastacia_vitoria

She advanced on me. "We have to fight. Laurel's just a baby, Cassie. She's you, and she's me, and she's ours. Do you understand?" They can make you do anything. "You have to kill me." My mother's words sliced into me, ice-cold and uncompromising. "No," I said.

Page 222
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Photo of taci
taci@anastacia_vitoria

My team will find us." I channeled Lia and willed those words to sound true. Wherever this place is, they won't stop looking. They'll figure out that the director is working against them. We just have to buy them time."

Page 221
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Photo of taci
taci@anastacia_vitoria

I will kill you," Cassandra hissed. "I'll like it." You want me to pick up the knife. You want me to fight. "Forever and ever." I closed my eyes. I waited. Forever and ever. Forever and ever. "No matter what." I wasn't the one who'd spoken those words. I opened my eyes. The woman holding the knife was shaking. “Forever and ever, Cassie. No matter what."

Page 220

YESSS

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Photo of taci
taci@anastacia_vitoria

"I wondered how a person could survive something like that, but that's the thing, She didn't survive it." The blade still against my neck, I pushed down the urge to swallow. "You did." She loosened her grip on my hair. People look at you, and they see her. They love her. But you're the strong one. You're the one who matters. You're the one who deserves to be seen. “Were you born here?" I asked, watching her face for any clue that my words had hit their target. "Or have you been around for much, much longer?" A bit more slack. It wasn't enough. She had the knife. I didn't. "Do you have a name?" I asked. No one has ever asked. No one has ever looked at you and seen. The woman with my mother's face smiled. She closed her eyes. And then, she let me go. "My name," she said, her voice echoing loudly enough for the Masters to hear, “is Cassandra." I scrambled backward

Page 218

credo

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taci@anastacia_vitoria

"Where's the knife?" I choked on the words. “Mom- The hand that had been stroking my haira moment before grasped it tightly now. She jerked my head to the side. "Mom- She raised the knife to the side of my throat. “It isn't personal. It's you, or I'd been warned, over and over again, that my mother might not be the "You don't want to do this," I said, my voice shaking. it's me." woman I remembered. "But that's the thing," she whispered, her eyes lighting on mine. "I do."

Page 217

noo

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Photo of taci
taci@anastacia_vitoria

Her face was hidden by a hood, but as I made my way to my feet and stepped toward her, dràwn like a moth to the flame, she lowered it. Her face had changed in the past six years. She hadn't aged, but she was thinner and pale and her features looked like they'd been carved from stone. Her skin was porcelain, her eyes impossibly large. She was still the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. “Mom." The word escaped my throat. One second, I was stepping hesitantly toward her, and the next, the space between us had disappeared. "Cassie." Her voice was deeper than I remembered, hoarse, and when her arms wrapped around me, I realized that the skin on her face looked smooth in part because of contrast. The rest of her body was covered in twisting, puckered scars.

Page 216

🥺

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taci@anastacia_vitoria

I was locked in. In where?I forced myself to concentrate. I was still indoors, but the ground was covered in sand, almost too hot to bear, like the desert sun had been shining down on it for days. The ceiling overhead was high and domed, made of stone and carved with a symbol I recognized. Seven circles ringing a cross. The room was circular, and recessed into the walls were stone seats, looking down on the sandpit below. Not a pit, I thought. An arena. And that was when I knew. You poisoned me. You healed me. Buried deep in my memory, I could hear the words Nightshade had spoken to me all those weeks ago. He'd told me that we all had our choices. He'd told me that the Pythia chooses to live. Perhaps someday that choice will be yours, Cassandra.

Page 215

fudeu

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taci@anastacia_vitoria

He lowered the knife. I could feel the blood dripping down my neck You killed Nightshade," I said, the truth coming into focus. "Somehow, you got past the guards" "I chose the guards," the director corrected, a light in his eyes. "I arranged the shift changes. I oversaw the prisoner's transfer myself."

Page 212
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taci@anastacia_vitoria

"For some of us," the director said, his voice low and smooth, "this has never been about murder. For some of us, it was always power." There are seven Masters. And one of them is the director of the FB1.

Page 212

fuck

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taci@anastacia_vitoria

"Dean," I said suddenly. "If he knew where I was, if they'd found me..." "He'd be here?" Director Sterling suggested. "Given what I know of Redding's whelp, I tend to agree." I surged upward and winced as something bit into my wrists. I looked down. Handcuffs. Someone had tampered with the tracking software. Someone had cuffed e to this bed. I looked back up at the director. "This isn't a hospital," I said, my heart beating in my throat. "No," he replied. “It's not." There's an antidote to the Masters' poison," I repeated what Director Sterling had told me earlier, my chest tightening. “But the FBI doesn't have it." "No. They don't." The poison the Masters used to kill was one of a kind. It was, I'd been told over and over again, incurable.

Page 211

DIRECTOR STERLING IS WITH THEM?!?!

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taci@anastacia_vitoria

I woke to the sound of beeping. I was lying on something soft. Forcing my eyes open, I remembered The poison. The pain. The sound of footsteps.

Page 210

they saved her?

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Photo of taci
taci@anastacia_vitoria

She dipped her finger into a colorless paste. I thought of Beau, who'd died screaming, and of everything Judd had told me about Nightshade's poison of choice. Incurable. Painful. Fatal. Ree's left hand closed around my chin. She jerked my face to the side, her grip like steel. Too late, I tried to fight. Too late, my hands tried to block hers. She smeared the paste down my neck. Some poisons dont have to be ingested. My heart thudded in my chest. Some poisons can be absorbed through the skin. Ree let go of me and stepped back. At first, I felt nothing. And then, the world exploded into pain.

Page 209

fuck

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Photo of taci
taci@anastacia_vitoria

You're asking yourself how you could have been so wrong about me," Geoffrey said smugly. "I know all about you, Cassandra Hobbes. I know that you were investigating the Daniel Redding case. I know that you helped catch his apprentices." He offered me a twisted smile. «But you didn't catch me." You killed Bryceshe always did get under your skin. Then the Pythia whispered in your ear. Did she play to your ego? ell you who to kill? Was she the abyss, looking at and into you? I took a step forward on legs that weren't as unsteady as they'd been a moment before. You burned those girls."

Page 209
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Photo of taci
taci@anastacia_vitoria

"I told you once," the hooded figure intoned, “that if you gaze long enough into the abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you." "Friedrich Nietzsche."" I recognized the quote-and the haughty, overblown delivery. "TA Geof?" I'd met him on the Redding case, when he'd attempted to pick me up in the wake of a girl's death by sharing his “vast" knowledge of serial killers. I'd spent an evening in an abandoned lecture hall with this guy, Michael, and Bryce. "It's Geoffrey," he corrected tersely, lowering his hood.

Page 208

nooooo

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taci@anastacia_vitoria

You're one of them?" I meant it as a statement, but the words came out a question. "I was retired." Ree obliged me with an answer. "Until my former apprentice got himself killed." She gave me a look. I understand I have you to thank for that." "You recruited Nightshade."

Page 206
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Photo of taci
taci@anastacia_vitoria

Someone caught me under my armpits. “Easy there." Ree's voice came to me from a great distance. I tried to tell her, tried to make my mouth say the word, but I couldn't. Poison. "It's not that I don't appreciate what you did for Melody--or for Sarah." As the world went black, Ree leaned down. "But all must be tested," she whispered. “AII must be found worthy."

Page 205

NO WAYYY

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Photo of taci
taci@anastacia_vitoria

I opened my eyes, and the room swam around me. I thought, at first, that there were tears in my eyes, that thinking of the family I'd found in the program had broken the dam inside of me and let in the grief for my family of blood. But the room didn't stop spinning. It stayed blurred. I opened my mouth to say something, but words wouldn't come. My tongue felt thick. I was dizzy, nauseous. My right hand found its way to the cup of coffee. The coffee, I thought, unable to form the words out loud. Even my thoughts were scrambled. I tried to stand up, but fell. I grabbed for the booth, and my hand hit Celine's thigh instead. She didn't move. She's slumped over: Unconscious. I fought my way to my feet. The world kept spinning, but as I stumbled forward, I realized-the room was silent. No one was talking. No one was coming to help me. Dean and Lia, Michael and Sloanethey were slumped in their booths,

Page 204

no no no no

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