Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Killer Instinct

“It's not the bad memories that tear a person apart. It's the good ones.”

➽ I finally managed to read Killer Instinct, the second book in the Naturals series!! I honestly love these books as they are so entertaining and engaging! Once again we follow Cassie, a profiler and the other members of the program. This time, there is a string of murders at a local university that seems to be the work of a copycat. They're copying the style of Dean's father, an incarcerated serial killer who still has a strong hold over him. There was definitely a lot of angst, as Dean has to deal with his father again and can't help but question how much he's like him. I liked learning more about Dean, his past and how it affected his tendency to self-isolate and keep away from others.

➽ I was engaged in the mystery from start to finish, but also loved seeing the dynamics between the Naturals! The mystery was solid and had enough twists to keep me guessing. I also liked the impact it had on Dean and his friends. Lia, Sloane, Michael and Cassie want to help him, as this case is personal, but it's difficult when the killer is always one step ahead. Lia's still a difficult character to understand, but I loved getting a glimpse into her personality and seeing her deep love for Dean. It's so refreshing that there's nothing romantic between them. As the first members of the program, Lia and Dean have simply known each other the longest and looked out for each other! Sloane is still a gem, I love her so much!! She's not good with social situations, but still wants to help in her own way! I'm not too into the Love Triangle between Michael, Cassie and Dean, but I liked learning more about why Michael struggles with Dean. They have always been at each other's throats, so it was interesting to learn that - apart from Cassie - there's another reason Michael struggles so much with the other boy!

➽ I can't wait to read more of the series!! This book also dealt with the dilemma of using the Naturals in active cases and presented different opinions. I still love Briggs, but the new agent in the house - Agent Sterling - sees the program as a huge risk ... especially once things get personal. Sterling is also a profiler and I liked seeing her dynamic with Cassie develop. Cassie's not the best at staying out of things and frustrated with Sterling's decisions, but discovers that there's more to the woman than she expected!

“I take it you’re Michael,” she said. “The emotion reader with the attitude problem who’s continually doing stupid things for girls.” “That’s hardly a fair assessment,” Michael replied. “I do plenty of stupid things that aren’t for girls, too.”

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esterslibrary's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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lydia203's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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xlaurareads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

this one was so good! i feel like i liked it even more than the first in this series. all the twists and turns, the plot points, the misleading evidence, the struggle with dean's father - and even while i found some of the plot points a bit predictable if you're a fan of mystery books, i still wasn't 100% sure of my predicitons until the very end. i also pretty much liked that we got to explore more of lia's backstory as well as dean and cassie's & michael and cassie's relationship with each other. and, obviously, i loved that cassie finally let herself really feel her feelings and articulated them towards the one she loved

finally!! i was waiting for this to happen for what feels almost like an eternity and, while i love michael and am truly sad for him, i was team dean from the start, so yay!

. this was truly an amazing book and I can't wait to read more about the naturals crew.

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samflowerv6's review against another edition

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adventurous dark informative mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

I really love this series. The chapters go by so fast. JLB is a boss at mysterious fast paced stories. I was wrong with who I thought was the unsub and that’s rare for me. I love all the naturals Lia, Sloane, Michael! I LOVE YOU MICHAEL! But Cassie and Dean are just so good together. The slow burn was slow burning and I loved every minute of it. Cassie is such a good main character

“None of us had normal childhoods," Sloane said quietly. "If we had, we wouldn't be Naturals.”

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elliereadsthings's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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lucyford's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Like the first book, I really enjoyed this one. I loved how the Naturals all developed in their own ways and how we found so much out about all of them. The new characters were very interesting, and there were quite a few fun scenes in this book. The only thing that bothered me a bit was how it was sort of dragged out more than it needed to be, and all the twists were kind of clustered close to the end that

changed the whole case so that there were multiple killers, which kind of ruined the fun of trying to find out which of the suspects it actually was

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vj_thompson's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Just as good as the first one. There was something missing for me which was the further development of the romance. Sorry, I’m a romance girly at heart 💜 I still loved the twists and figuring out who the serial killer was.

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