A teen with a special ability and a tragic past is recruited by the FBI to join a group of young profilers. Seventeen-year-old Cassie Hobbes has lived with her paternal grandmother since her mother's presumed murder five years ago. Lorelai Hobbes was never found, but the horrific scene at the site of her disappearance pointed toward her death. Cassie has never quite fit in with her family, haunted by memories and her uncanny ability to "read" people. Her mother had helped develop that skill so she could be helpful in Lorelai's "profession" as a psychic. When Cassie is approached by the FBI to join a special unit of young profilers, she sees an opportunity to do some good. Cassie moves into an unusual group home in Quantico, Va., with other teens who have gifts useful to the FBI. In addition to her training, Cassie has to navigate the group dynamic, as each of her cohorts has a back story. A series of killings like Lorelai's in nearby Washington, D.C., makes it impossible for Cassie to remain on the sidelines despite the efforts of her superiors. This savvy thriller grabs readers right away. Cassie's outsider feelings are convincing and give credence to her actions throughout the story. There is enough violence, grisly description and plot surprises to keep crime-show devotees reading. Unanswered questions will have those readers on tenterhooks for the next in the series. (Mystery. 14 & up)

Seventeen-year-old Cassie, an exceptional people-reader, is the newest recruit for the FBI's program for teens with singular crime-solving talents. Cassie and her fellow prodigies get to know one another while honing their forensic skills. Then Cassie discovers an open case that might explain her missing mother's whereabouts. Smart and well paced, this mystery has all the addictive appeal of a TV crime procedural.

In an intense CSI-type thriller, Barnes (Nobody) lets readers inside the mind of 17-year-old Cassie Hobbes, a -Natural- profiler with the uncanny ability to piece together an individual-s motives, backgrounds, and patterns of behavior. After her mother-s gruesome abduction, and with her father overseas, Cassie is recruited for a special FBI program for teens like her to help solve cold cases. Cassie immediately realizes that being a Natural may be more than she bargained for, and her fellow gifted teens take getting used to, including Michael, an emotional expert who seems fascinated with Cassie-s, and Dean, who just looks pissed off-mostly at her. Barnes is in her wheelhouse with this story of keenly powered teens and covert ops, and she provides an enticing inside look at the world of crime-solving through Cassie-s hyperaware eyes. Cassie-s pursuit by an unknown serial killer keeps things tense, as do creepy narratives from the killer. Barnes shows every card at just the right moment, catching readers off-guard at the final reveal. It-s a stay-up-late-to-finish kind of book, and it doesn-t disappoint. Ages 12-up. Agent: Elizabeth Harding, Curtis Brown. (Nov.)

Seventeen-year-old Cassie Hobbes has always had a gift for getting into people's minds. Maybe she inherited it from her psychic mother, and maybe she would ask her mother about it she hadn't disappeared five years ago, leaving only a bloody crime scene behind. So when tapped by the FBI to join an elite, secret team that solves cold cases related to serial killers, Cassie doesn't hesitate. Relocated to the D.C. suburbs, she meets a team of "Naturals," teens with gifts ranging from reading emotions to detecting deception, and becomes the FBI's newest profiler. In this high-adrenaline series opener, the latest spree of serial killings turns personal for Cassie when they grow increasingly more related to her mother's presumed death. And when it's obvious someone in the FBI may be involved, how can she trust or hide her emotions among the professionally trained Naturals? Grisly details and intermittent glimpses from the killer's point of view sustain the high level of suspense. Even a psychic won't anticipate all the twists and turns.

Gr 9 Up-The FBI recruits Cassie Hobbes, 17, to be one of the Naturals, a group of teens with innate crime-solving abilities. Cassie learned how to read people from her mother, a performing psychic who disappeared five years ago and is presumed to be dead. With her father overseas in the military and her large extended Italian family in Colorado, Cassie sets out on her own to Washington, DC, to hone her skills under the tutelage of Special Agent Lacey Locke. The four other teens living in her house possess extraordinary skills as well. Mysterious Dean can read people on sight, handsome and mischievous Michael can understand people's emotions, intense and brainy Sloane can quickly analyze facts and numbers, and catty and pushy Lia can instantly detect a lie. Cassie begins her training with cold cases but is quickly swept into an ongoing investigation. Despite the best efforts of their mentors to keep them off the case, the investigation, which is personal for Cassie, requires the talents of all the teens to solve. This fast-paced series starter introduces the characters and background without losing the intensity of the plot. The murder scenes have just enough blood and gore for forensics fans. The love triangle among Cassie, Dean, and Michael will keep romance readers entertained, and the FBI cases will lure in mystery enthusiasts. The ending is resolved with just enough left open for readers to look forward to the next installment. Lynn Rashid, Marriotts Ridge High School, Marriottsville, MD