Bad Blood

spoilers (kind of)

This was the last book in the Naturals series (beside the following novella) and although I do think the story came to a satisfying end, I feel it was a little rushed. A few characters who’d been referenced in earlier books reappeared which was an interesting way to add to the plot twist at the end of the story.

Speaking of, the big reveal at the end of the series was really shocking to me, however it felt overcrowded with people, and at times I did find it a little more difficult to keep track of what was going on. Despite all of this, I definitely believe this was the best way for the series to end, and it certainly did not go below my expectations.

Initially, the team are working on a missing persons case, which distracts them from the matter of finding the cult from the last book. However, the girl that was missing was an old friend of Michael’s, who turned out to be quite useful towards the solving of the other case. This part of the book did seem a somewhat unnecessary and I would have preferred it if the focus had been on the original crime the group had to investigate.

When searching for answers on the cult case, they found that Beau, from the last book, had grown up in a town called Gaither, Oklahoma. They visit the town, only to discover that Cassie had spent a large chunk of her childhood there as well. As they spoke to more people, they all told her about how well they remembered her and her mother.

Gaither was a strange town, there was a local cult, which Lia, infiltrated. I found this intriguing because it gave us more backstory to her character as she reveals that she grew up in a cult, until she escaped after killing one of the members. When this subject is explored, darker themes begin to be introduced to the story, setting the tone for the rest of the book. Once she had entered the cult, she began to search for secrets that could aid the team in finding the location of the other one, the one that was murdering people. Lia found out a considerable amount, including some long-kept secrets hidden in a basement downstairs.

Not long after the group had discovered more information about the cult case they were working on, Cassie was taken, leading to the big reveal. She woke up thinking she was in an FBI hospital, as there was a high up official present by her bedside. Soon, once realising she was handcuffed to it, she figured out that this official was part of the cult. This shock is furthered when she is taken to a pit and released into it. She looks around, and she discovers the teaching assistant who was a suspect for the crimes committed in book two of the series; he is part of the cult as well, as is the owner of a coffee shop from the small town of Gaither.

In the end, they force her to fight her mother to the death. Neither want this, and Lorelai (her mother) keeps switching between the mindset of herself, and that of the ‘Pythia’. Eventually, Lorelai tells Cassie to kill her so she can save herself. So, she does, and once Cassie has killed her mother, Agent Sterling kills her father, who was the high up official Cassie believed she was safe with. Finally, the cult members are all caught and dealt with, leaving Cassie and the team to continue with life as normally as possible.

To be completely honest, this was probably my least favourite book in the series. There was so much plot, and as it moved at such a fast pace, I found myself getting confused quite often. As I’ve already mentioned, characters just seemed to be piling up and it was sometimes difficult to figure out what exactly was going on. However, this is not to say that the book was bad, it was just not as good as the others. I enjoyed the ending, but it didn’t leave me wanting more.

★★★