“The Final Gambit” by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (“The Naturals”) is the third book in “The Inheritance Games” series. The book follows Avery Grambs almost one year after the first book takes place. She is close to having full access to her inheritance when she gets a visit from someone who can put everything at risk.

Tension rises in the Hawthorne House with the news that this guest brings. “The Final Gambit” is a thrilling end to the series with one final game from the billionaire who turned Avery’s life upside down in the first book. 

Overall, “The Inheritance Games”  series is a trilogy full of puzzles and mysteries that may leave readers wondering how Barnes comes up with it. The first two books take place immediately after each other and show things progressing quickly in Avery’s life after inheriting around $48 billion.

While “The Final Gambit” is equally exciting and mysterious as the first two novels, it takes on a different tone than the rest of the series. Readers finally get to see Avery happy and in a solid relationship. We also see the Hawthorne brothers fully accepting her as one of their own and as someone they are friends with. 

Barnes takes a different approach with this novel by bringing in a threat we have never heard of. By bringing in an outsider, it makes it even harder for readers to figure out the mystery before it is solved. You will be on the edge of your seat trying to find out who is playing these games with Avery and the Hawthornes. 

At the end of the second novel in the series, “The Hawthorne Legacy,” readers were left feeling incomplete. “The Final Gambit” was definitely needed to finish off the series, however there are some things that do not seem to fit with the rest of the series. It seems at times that Barnes was trying to have a huge finale to the series, but it fell a bit short. It would have been nice to see more of Avery getting to relax and enjoy her inheritance and seeing her relationship with the Hawthornes grow. 

The ending of “The Final Gambit” is written well, but it is predictable. With the amount of mystery Barnes put into all three novels, it would have been more of a big reveal if she had not alluded to what was going to happen so much leading up to it. Readers would have never seen the ending coming if Barnes had only a little bit of foreshadowing.

That being said, this novel was a great way to end the series. It lets readers see more of their favorite characters and it finally gives them the Hawthorne romance they have been waiting for. It provides closure for the characters and it leaves readers with a sense of peace and relaxation that the rest of the series did not have.

The ending is unexpected until the last few chapters and may leave readers shocked. Barnes took a different approach than most would have expected, but it worked. The epilogue shows Avery happy and finally able to enjoy her inheritance along with her partner, which will make readers very happy.

Image from Jennifer Lynn Barnes via jenniferlynnbarnes.com