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68 pages 2 hours read

Jennifer Lynn Barnes

The Final Gambit

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2022

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Chapters 31-40Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 31 Summary

Avery tries to crack the riddle that “Luke” gave her, with help from Libby, Eve, and the Hawthorne boys. As they struggle to figure out the riddle, they’re interrupted by a call from Thea. She tells Avery that someone has taken a photo of Eve standing outside Hawthorne House, and that the photo’s been published on the internet’s biggest gossip site. The photo has been published alongside a picture of Emily and an article about rumors that Emily was killed by Grayson and Jameson.

Chapter 32 Summary

Avery texts Alisa, who helps with PR disasters. Xander suggests the Eve photo and Emily article are a “glitter cannon,” designed to make a mess—and distract Avery from solving “Luke’s” riddle. Avery realizes that “Luke” set up the PR fiasco: “‘He wants us distracted.’ He wants to run down the clock. He wants us to lose. Tick tock” (130).

Chapter 33 Summary

The phone timer is at “6 HOURS, 17 MIN, 9 SEC…” (132). Avery and her friends still haven’t figured out what “Luke” wants. Avery calls Max, who suggests “NIV” stands for “New International Version,” as in the bible (133). Max realizes that the number combination used to open the locked box is a reference to a bible verse: “The book of Luke. […] [C]hapter fifteen, verses eleven through thirty-two. It’s a parable. […] The parable of the prodigal son” (134).

Chapter 34 Summary

Avery, Libby, Eve, and the Hawthorne boys stay up all night reading every version of Luke 15:11-32 they can find. When the phone timer counts down to zero, “Luke” calls. Avery puts him on speakerphone and tells him she’s figured out the reference: “The prodigal son demanded his inheritance early. […] He abandoned his family and squandered the fortune he’d been given. But despite all of this, his father embraced him upon his return” (136). “Luke” points out that there’s a third character in the parable. When Eve interjects into the conversation, stating that the third character is the brother who stayed and worked hard for nothing, “Luke” cuts her off, saying: “I will talk only to the heiress. The one Tobias Hawthorne chose” (136). “Luke” tells Avery to consider the three characters—the son who left, the one who stayed, and the father.

Chapter 35 Summary

Avery discusses the parable’s meaning with Libby, Eve, and the Hawthornes. Avery notes, “The prodigal son is a story about inheritance and forgiveness” (137). Avery theorizes that, in “Luke’s” eyes, Toby is the prodigal son, which would make Tobias the father. The question is, who is the other son? Toby has two sisters, Skye and Zara, but no brothers. Xander suggests that the “son who stayed” could refer to Zara’s first husband, who was essentially cut out of the family after his divorce from Zara. Grayson and Avery go to talk to Zara.

Chapter 36 Summary

Grayson and Avery talk to Zara about her first husband, Christopher. Zara reveals that Christopher died in a boating accident shortly after the divorce was finalized. The lead is a dead end. Avery realizes that perhaps it’s not Toby who is the prodigal son—but Tobias.

Chapter 37 Summary

The Hawthorne boys, Eve, and Avery go to talk to Nan, Tobias’s mother-in-law (Tobias’s wife, Alice O’Day, is deceased). They ask Nan about Tobias’s family history. She reveals that Tobias’s parents had him later in life and are both deceased. She adds that Tobias had no siblings. She also says that Tobias had no friends because he was so focused on accumulating wealth, regardless of what he had to do to acquire it: “No man has ever built an empire without doing a thing or two they aren’t proud of” (148). Despite this, she says he was not brutal or ruthless at home and that he loved his family. Avery realizes “Luke” may be seeking revenge on Tobias, not Toby or herself as she first assumed.

Chapter 38 Summary

Oren keeps a record of all potential threats against the Hawthorne family. Avery asks him for the files: There are hundreds. Eve, Avery, and the Hawthorne boys start going through the files, hoping to find someone who could be the mysterious “Luke.” They theorize; Avery suspects that Eve and Grayson have been spending time together. Avery says that whoever they’re looking for, “whatever his history with Tobias Hawthorne, whatever he’s lost—he’s wealthy, powerful, and connected now” (152).

Chapter 39 Summary

Avery is shocked by what she reads in the files: Tobias was a ruthless businessman and hurt a lot of people. One example is the case of Tyler Seaton, a biomedical engineer who lost his job when Tobias downsized a company—as a result, Tyler lost his insurance. Tyler’s daughter, Mariah Seaton, was diagnosed with cancer and died shortly after. Tyler’s file includes a copy of a financial donation Tobias made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Avery notes: “This was Tobias Hawthorne, billionaire, balancing his ledger. That’s not balance” (154). The Hawthorne grandsons are likewise stunned to learn of their grandfather’s checkered past. Grayson asks Nash, the oldest of the brothers, “Is that why you always had one foot out the door? Why you couldn’t stand to be under the old man’s roof?” to which Nash replies, “I knew who he was” (155).

Chapter 40 Summary

The group finds no answers and receive no further contact from “Luke.” Frustrated, Avery continues going through the file folders of people who may have had a grudge against Tobias. She finds a folder about a PhD student who was fired from a Hawthorne lab, Isaiah Alexander, and realizes this must be Xander’s father. When she asks Xander if Isaiah is his father, he confirms it and admits that he's scared to reach out, in case Isaiah was fired because of Xander’s conception. Xander also reveals Tobias’s final words to him before he died: “By the time this is over, you’ll know what kind of man I was—and what kind of man you want to be” (159).

Chapters 31-40 Analysis

The Dangers of Wealth and Power are teased out more concretely in these chapters. The pivotal moment comes when the group visits Nan, who openly confirms that Tobias was ruthless and brutal while building his empire. This then leads to Avery looking through the file folders of people considered “threats” to Tobias—individuals who Tobias fired, took advantage of, and so on. Avery highlights one heart-wrenching example (which also serves as a red herring): Tyler Seaton, who was fired when Tobias downsized a company, lost his insurance coverage, and then had a daughter die from cancer shortly after. Tyler’s file includes a document showing that Tobias donated money to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, known for cancer research. Avery points out the twisted nature of this “exchange,” noting that Tobias did not actually care about Tyler’s daughter, or anyone else he trampled on as he rose to power; he was simply “balancing his ledger” (154) and improving his public image. Through Tobias, the author argues that no one can become exceedingly wealthy without harming others; through Avery and the Hawthornes, who are all disturbed by this discovery, the author critiques such a ruthless mentality.

For the Hawthorne boys, Tobias’s heartlessness is a hard fact to stomach. Despite Tobias’s penchant for manipulative games, several of the boys were close to their grandfather. Nash, the eldest Hawthorne brother, is the least surprised by the revelations about Tobias. He does not directly confirm whether he knew the details of Tobias’s actions; however, he admits that he knew what kind of person Tobias was. For the brothers, this puts into context Nash’s tendency to “save” others, and his absence from Hawthorne House. Nash knew that Tobias, the famous philanthropist, was not a “good guy,” no matter how many charities he may have given money to. Avery and the others do not yet know that “Luke” is Vincent Blake, nor do they know that Tobias was an accomplice to the murder of Vincent’s son, but they are on the right path in assuming that Toby’s abductor is someone Tobias once cheated.

These chapters also explore The Tricky Nature of Inheritance through the Bible verses Vincent, as “Luke,” provides as a clue. The book—and the entire Inheritance Games trilogy—examines and critiques inheritance, particularly the way it tends to come with strings attached.

Avery’s inheritance is a prime example. Not only was she dragged out of her safe, if impoverished, regular life and thrust into dangerous circumstances, Avery remains under Tobias’s control, lest she risk breaking his terms and losing his fortune. She is beholden to his riddles and clues, and his enemies go after her and her loved ones because Tobias is no longer around for them to seek revenge against. The dangerous nature of inheritance will also be seen in the Blake family, when it’s revealed that Vincent uses the promise of inheritance to manipulate his family members and keep them in line.

Vincent—as “Luke”—makes direct references to inheritance through biblical allusions. He describes Avery as “[t]he one Tobias Hawthorne chose” (136), refusing to engage with Eve or anyone else. (Later chapters will reveal the depth of this slight, as Eve is working for Vincent). In some iterations of the bible, Jesus Christ is “the chosen one,” as he is considered to have saved all of humanity from sin. In literature, the “chosen one” is typically a character who is predestined to do a heroic accomplishment, like saving the world. Avery’s anointment as “the chosen one” is apt, as she will ultimately save the Hawthorne family by freeing them from Tobias’s corrupt fortune and all the strings that are attached to it.

The direct reference to the parable of Luke, “The parable of the prodigal son” (134), is also a nod toward inheritance in addition to being a clue for Avery and the others. Initially, the parable functions as a red herring. As described in the book, the verses cover the story of a son who squandered his inheritance early, but was nonetheless welcomed back by his father. Avery is left questioning “who’s who?” in “Luke’s” real-world version of the parable: the benevolent father, the greedy son who strayed, and the hardworking but overlooked son who stayed. This first leads Avery in the wrong direction when she assumes that one of the sons referenced in the parable is Zara’s ex-husband; Avery’s struggle to find the truth increases narrative tension.

These chapters also explore how familial inheritance in particular can be problematic, because it often involves some sort of identity inheritance. This is an issue that Grayson struggles with significantly. Grayson seems most troubled by the unsavory revelations made about Tobias and his dirty business dealings. This is in part because Grayson was supposed to become his grandfather. Before Avery was named Tobias’s heir, Grayson was the logical choice to take over Tobias’s empire and manage it; in previous books in the trilogy, Grayson is referred to as the “heir apparent.” It’s thus implied that Grayson would have had to follow in his grandfather’s morally corrupt footsteps if he was to carry that mantle.

Finally, The Complexity of Love is briefly touched on these chapters. Grayson’s connection to Eve continues to deepen; however, these chapters primarily explore familial relations. Nan does not try to sugarcoat what kind of person Tobias was—but she makes a point of emphasizing that Tobias loved and cared for his family, showing that people are multifaceted. The Hawthorne grandsons struggle to match the image of the (relatively) loving grandfather they knew with the cruel businessman they uncover. Additionally, Avery discovers the identity of Xander’s father; though Xander admitted he’d found Isaiah early in the book, he has yet to contact him. Xander has grown up feeling out-of-place; further rejection would hurt him, and rob him of the possibility of finally finding a place to belong.

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