Avery and the Hawthorne brothers solve one last mystery that could change everything.
by Gianna Liantonio
Barnes was inspired to write this series during her senior year in college when her father was designing their dream house. She’d requested for a secret passage to be included in the house and soon after, imagined the twisty mansion from “The Inheritance Games.”
Jennifer Lynn Barnes has finally released the epic conclusion of her “Inheritance Games” series: “The Final Gambit”, which tells the story of 16-year-old Avery Grambs, whose world turns upside down when she finds out she has inherited millions of dollars from one of the richest men in the world.
The series began with Avery and her sister, Libby, traveling to Texas, where they stay with the Hawthornes and meet four brothers: Nash, Grayson, Jameson, and Xander. The brothers are greatly suspicious of her and ultimately determined to solve the mystery of why Avery, a complete stranger, received the inheritance over their grandfather’s own family.
Each of them received a letter, which included the grandfather’s will and mysterious clues; they realized he’d given them one final game to solve together.
As they continue to uncover the house’s various secrets, they start to decipher the meaning behind the grandfather’s clues and put together the missing pieces of the puzzle—all while discovering secrets about themselves, too. Avery soon figures out that she wasn’t just picked randomly, but rather, she has a bigger part in this mystery than she previously believed.
“The Final Gambit” perfectly concludes the series, as it pieces together every clue to resolve the last of the grandfather’s games.
Avery’s year in Hawthorne house is almost up, meaning the inheritance will soon be hers and she can go wherever she wants. They just need to play this one final game before the time is up.
The Hawthornes get an unexpected visitor that adds new obstacles and riddles to the game they were already playing. As they stumble across more secrets and unforeseen connections in the house, everything starts to come together and they eventually crack the mystery once and for all.
Avery and the Hawthornes have faced many obstacles before, and now an unknown player is thrown into the mix, with a connection to everything since the first mystery in “The Inheritance Games.” Racing against a running clock, they have to work together and solve the clues they find.
They even get a message from someone they never thought would help them, which brings their goal closer to their reach.
Since Barnes’ chapters are short, the novel is very fast-paced and suspenseful.
Along with the mystery, we also see a love triangle happening, as the two Hawthorne brothers, Grayson and Jameson, try to prove they are worthy of Avery. By the end of this book, we see what choice Avery makes and how it affects the events that follow soon after she finally gets her inheritance.
Despite the major success of the series, it was not always clear that it would do well. In an interview with Teen Vogue, Barnes explains that in her initial uncertainty, she had written each one as a standalone.
“I didn’t know when I wrote book one, if my publisher was going to buy book two. I didn’t know when I wrote book two, if my publisher was gonna buy book three,” explained Barnes. “I had to write the book so that each one worked as a standalone or at least the last book in the series, but simultaneously I also knew what would happen next and planted everything I needed.”
Little did she know, these books would become successful New York Times bestsellers and a resounding favorite among many readers.
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