Book Review: The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

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I am the exact target audience for a puzzle-box book. I was raised on A Series of Unfortunate Events, I peaked early as my sixth-grade spelling bee runner-up, and my inner twelve-year-old will always, always show up for a mansion full of riddles. So I wanted The Inheritance Games to become my new obsession. The concept earned the obsession. The execution kept us at like.

The spoiler-free setup: Avery Grambs is a broke Texas teenager running on grit and a scholarship plan when billionaire Tobias Hawthorne, a complete stranger, dies and leaves her nearly everything. The catch: she has to move into Hawthorne House, a mansion honeycombed with secret passages and puzzles, alongside the family he just disinherited — including four grandsons with four very different reactions to the girl who took their fortune.

What I Loved About The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

The concept and the puzzle elements, which are the whole show. Riddles nested inside wordplay nested inside a dead man’s long game: when the book leans into its own gimmick, it’s fascinating, and you can feel how much fun Barnes had designing Hawthorne House. The chapters where Avery and the brothers actually sit down and solve things have real Knives Out energy, and I inhaled them. Whatever else I’m about to say, I finished this book fast and without resentment, which is its own data point.

What I Didn’t Love About The Inheritance Games

The characters and the plotting between puzzles are thinner than that premise deserves. The people never fully come alive between solve scenes, the emotional stakes stay theoretical, and several of the big twists could be seen coming from a mile away — the one thing a puzzle book truly cannot afford. It left me admiring the machine without ever feeling the ghost in it.

Final Thoughts on The Inheritance Games

A clever concept that plays its puzzle cards well and its character cards less well: fun, fast, and less inspired than its own premise. If you’re a YA mystery reader, it absolutely earns its spot on the list. If what you’re actually chasing is the twist that knocks you sideways, Gone Girl is still the champion and accepting challengers.

My final score: 3 out of 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Do I recommend this book? 👍 Yes — for YA mystery fans and puzzle lovers with calibrated twist expectations.

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