59 pages 1-hour read

Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Bad Blood

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2016

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Character List

Meet the key characters, with insights into their roles, motivations, and relationships—spoiler-free.

Major Characters

A 17-year-old profiler for the FBI's Naturals program. Driven by the unresolved disappearance of her mother, Cassie uses her innate ability to read people and reconstruct crime scenes. Her intense focus on the secret society known as the Masters pushes her to make questionable moral choices in her pursuit of the truth.

Key Relationships

Romantic partner of Dean Redding

Daughter of Lorelai Hobbes

Older half-sister of Laurel Hobbes

Interrogator of Daniel Redding

Teammate of Michael Townsend

A profiler for the Naturals who specializes in understanding the perspectives of violent offenders. Dean is fiercely protective of his chosen family and actively fights against the genetic legacy of his serial killer father. He channels his anger and trauma into his work for the FBI.

Key Relationships

Romantic partner of Cassie Hobbes

Longtime friend of Lia Zhang

Teammate of Michael Townsend

A Natural who reads the subtle emotions of others, a skill he developed as a survival mechanism while enduring extreme physical and emotional abuse. He masks his vulnerabilities with sarcasm and calculated provocations. He struggles to balance his loyalty to the team with the inescapable pull of his toxic family ties.

Key Relationships

Romantic interest of Lia Zhang

Childhood friend of Celine Delacroix

Protective friend of Sloane Tavish

Teammate of Dean Redding

The team's human lie detector, capable of reading deception with uncanny accuracy. Having survived a childhood in a highly controlling religious cult, Lia constructs various personas to protect her true self. She uses manipulation and strategic deception as tools to keep her chosen family safe.

Key Relationships

Romantic interest of Michael Townsend

Longtime friend of Dean Redding

Protective friend of Sloane Tavish

A teenage statistics and data prodigy who processes the chaotic world around her through numbers and patterns. Sloane struggles with social cues and literal interpretations of language but provides crucial analytical support for the Naturals' investigations.

Key Relationships

Friend of Lia Zhang

Friend of Cassie Hobbes

Friend of Laurel Hobbes

An incarcerated, highly intelligent serial killer. Despite his imprisonment, he continues to exert psychological control over those around him, taking sadistic pleasure in manipulating FBI agents and his own son. He uses his knowledge of the Masters to orchestrate verbal games with Cassie.

Key Relationships

Father of Dean Redding

Manipulator of Cassie Hobbes

Michael's wealthy and influential father. He presents a polished, charismatic facade to the public but is privately a violent tyrant who demands absolute obedience. He views his legacy and control over his family as paramount.

Key Relationships

Supporting Characters

Cassie's missing mother, presumed dead for years but recently discovered to be alive and held captive by a secret society of serial killers known as the Masters. Her situation is the central mystery that drives Cassie's involvement in the FBI program.

Key Relationships

Mother of Cassie Hobbes

Mother of Laurel Hobbes

Former romantic interest of Kane Darby

A logical and protective FBI handler for the Naturals program. She operates with strict protocols and carries the guilt of past operational failures. She attempts to impose order on the highly unpredictable teenage profilers under her care.

Key Relationships

Professional partner of Agent Tanner Briggs

Daughter of Director Sterling

Handler of Cassie Hobbes

The ambitious and driven FBI agent who runs the Naturals program. Briggs is willing to take risks to close cases, which occasionally puts him at odds with the more cautious members of his team.

Key Relationships

Professional partner of Agent Veronica Sterling

Colleague of Judd Hawkins

A former Marine sniper who serves as the quiet, steadfast guardian of the Naturals' safe house. Having lost his own daughter to the Masters, he brings a deeply personal investment to keeping the teenage profilers safe.

Key Relationships

Colleague of Agent Tanner Briggs

Guardian of Cassie Hobbes

A 19-year-old Yale student and artist. Her sudden disappearance triggers the team's latest investigation and forces members of the Naturals to confront difficult truths about their pasts. She processes the world visually, relying on an exceptional memory for facial bone structure.

Key Relationships

Childhood friend of Michael Townsend

Daughter of Remy Delacroix

Daughter of Elise Delacroix

Cassie's four-year-old half-sister, recently rescued from the Masters. Raised entirely in captivity, she exhibits signs of severe trauma and speaks in cryptic references to games and numbers, reflecting her indoctrination.

Key Relationships

Younger half-sister of Cassie Hobbes

Daughter of Lorelai Hobbes

Friend of Sloane Tavish

The FBI Director and Agent Veronica Sterling's father. He exercises significant institutional power over the Naturals program, making decisions that dictate the team's resources and case assignments.

Key Relationships

Father of Agent Veronica Sterling

A local diner owner in Gaither, Oklahoma. She recognizes Cassie from years ago and provides the FBI team with information regarding the town's history and the local cult.

Key Relationships

Mother of Sarah Simon

Grandmother of Shane

The charismatic and manipulative leader of Serenity Ranch, a cult based in Gaither, Oklahoma. He maintains tight control over his followers and is highly suspicious of the FBI's presence in his town.

Key Relationships

Father of Kane Darby

The son of cult leader Holland Darby. He grew up in Gaither and was a childhood friend of Mason Kyle. He attempts to warn Cassie about the dangers of investigating the town's buried history.

Key Relationships

Son of Holland Darby

Former romantic interest of Lorelai Hobbes

Childhood friend of Mason Kyle

A man from Gaither, Oklahoma, whose parents were murdered when he was a child. The team investigates his past to understand the current threat to the Naturals.

Key Relationships

Grandson of Malcolm Lowell

Son of Anna Kyle

Adoptive son of Walter Thanes

Mason Kyle's grandfather, an elderly man living in Gaither. He is interviewed by the FBI regarding the historic murder of his family and the subsequent direction of his grandson's life.

Key Relationships

Grandfather of Mason Kyle

An elderly curator of an apothecary museum in Gaither, Oklahoma. He and his late wife adopted a young boy in the community after a horrific crime left the child orphaned.

Key Relationships

Adoptive father of Mason Kyle

Celine's father. He is questioned by the FBI following his daughter's sudden disappearance from her art studio.

Key Relationships

Husband of Elise Delacroix

Celine's mother. She navigates the investigation into her daughter's kidnapping while maintaining the social appearances expected of her affluent family.

Key Relationships

Wife of Remy Delacroix

Ree Simon's daughter who disappeared years ago. The town generally believes she ran off to join the local Serenity Ranch cult.

Key Relationships

Daughter of Ree Simon

Ree Simon's grandson and a resident of Gaither. He lives in the blue house that Cassie recognizes from her early childhood.

Key Relationships

Grandson of Ree Simon

Brother of Melody

Shane's sister, who now goes by the name Echo. She has joined the Serenity Ranch cult, causing significant friction within her family.

Key Relationships

Sister of Shane

Mason Kyle's mother. Her brutal murder decades ago remains a dark, defining legend in the town of Gaither.

Key Relationships

Mother of Mason Kyle