The Naturals and Lacey Locke know better than anyone else in the novel how much influence a person’s family can have on the person they are, for better or worse. The Naturals’ special skills, which make them attractive to Special Agent Briggs in the first place, have been naturally honed by their traumatic pasts. Dean’s father is a prolific serial killer whom Briggs himself helped catch. Dean is so unable to break the biological connection he shares with his father that he pushes everyone else away to protect them from the monstrous potential he believes he possesses. He has apparently inherited from his father the ability to think like a killer, enough to predict their behavior.

Similarly, Michael’s abusive father is presumably the reason he can read facial expressions and body language so well. His resentment of his cold, wealthy family is clearly visible; he does not bother to hide this as he hides other parts of himself. Meanwhile, Cassie is haunted by memories of her mother, both before and after her murder. She acknowledges how much of Lorelai she has inherited: physical features, learned behaviors, ways of seeing the world. Cassie’s attachment to her mother’s memory is also part of the reason she cannot connect with her father’s family.