Dean Redding: Character Analysis.

The Naturals:

Dean Redding

Dean Redding is the son of a famous serial killer named Daniel Redding who tortured and killed several women. He has been apart of the program the longest, having been recruited by Tanner Briggs when he was 12 after his father was arrested for the murders.  It is obvious that this is something that Dean doesn’t like talking about, considering Cassie didn’t find out until she had been reading through the interviews. His father may be the reason that he was so closed-off and guarded in the beginning of the first book. As the books progressed, Dean became more relaxed around the others especially Cassie He tends to keep his feelings bottled, something that may end up hurting someone in the long run. This fact is one of the reasons that Michael Townsend doesn’t agree with him, considering his past with anger. His father being a serial killer is a big part of who Dean is. A lot of people in the book have considered him to be end up just like his father, something mentioned by Agent Locke at the end of the first book. The second book seems to focus primarily on him, considering the killer is mimicking his father’s kills. While Dean was never targeted by the killer, he did have to go to the jail several times to speak to his father regarding letters he may have gotten. Cassie is forced to watch one and it is clear that Daniel Redding sees Dean as a prize not as his son. This is most likely a big contributing factor in who Dean is.

Significant Character Relations:

Cassie Hobbes: Dean is a profiler just like Cassie, they initially meet in the garage of the house where he is working out. At the beginning, he is cold towards her but as the story continues they get closer. He gains romantic feelings for her as well and ends up dating her by the end of the second book.

Michael Townsend: Michael and Dean have a complicated relationship, while they do care about each other there are aspects that they don’t like about the other. For instance, Michael doesn’t like that Dean keeps all of his anger pent up.

Lia Zhang: Lia was the second one to be added to the Naturals program, therefore she and Dean have lived together for several years and have developed a brother-sister relationship where both are equally protective over the other.

Agent Briggs: It is likely that Dean and Briggs share a close relationship, although it is never touched on in the series.

Agent Stirling: Agent Stirling was the last woman to be kidnapped by Daniel Redding (undercover) and received help from Dean who helped her escape. This led to the arrest of Daniel Redding.