Overall, I found this book to be as entertaining as the rest of the series. I still wanted more, but in looking back I can admit I enjoyed it for what it is
First, the mystery.
It wasn't surprising that a new element was added to the story to form the mystery. I kind of liked that there were two puzzles going at once, except pretty early on they dismiss one as unsolvable and, like the reader throughout the series, the characters have to wait for the mystery to be revealed rather than paying attention to clues and trying to solve anything on their own. I never really trusted Eve, but I think that was the point, to constantly cast her in a shadow of doubt so even when you thought maybe you could trust her you still didn't trust that impulse. So, I guess I will admit it was pretty satisfying to have the mistrust confirmed.
I expected early on that their adversary was a wronged business person from the past. And low and behold… I didn't expect the key to their antagonism to be William's death. But, unlike the first two books, this was at least partly a mystery I could solve because it followed expected (dare I say cliche) lines: Wrong business partner. Don't trust the new player. Except others to trust the new player and think you're jealous. Mystery father is connected to antagonist. Everyone thinks the patriarch killed him but really he's covering for a weaker, more innocent person.
But the climax.
Kind of underwhelming. The big end is a chess game? I guess this falls in line with how quickly and easily so many things are introduced and resolved in this series. But once again there's so much potential in this world that Barnes has constructed with puzzles and mysteries and business ventures and the secrets and revelations and… it comes down to Avery hustling an old man in a chess game? There's not even any tension in the game because we know she's hustling him. We can't see the game and even if we could, the reader would have to know chess to follow how the game is going. So, no tension, no suspense.
What I wanted was that moment when the final revelation was the thing that turned the tide. The answer to the riddle, the key to the puzzle, in this series all about mysteries and puzzles, revealed in the moment that she's facing the antagonist and it gives her the edge and wins the day.
I wanted a payoff to the entire series that left the reader SATISFIED. And I think Barnes was going for that in giving away all the money and Avery's annual game. But I didn't find that satisfying. This is a mystery series, full of puzzles and riddles. It's good… enough. But I wanted it to be great. And maybe that isn't fair. If I simply let it be mildly entertaining fun without hoping for satisfaction or something fantastic then I wouldn't have been disappointed. Also, if she's giving away all the money - why not give some of it to the boys? A billion each. A hundred million dollars. Maybe they wouldn't have wanted it because of the things their grandfather did but she could have at least offered.
Then the players.
The Hawthorne boys are still the draw of the series. But Grayson and Avery were a bit emotionally illogical for me. He's thrown into this turmoil of thinking his grandfather wasn't proud of him. Why? Where did this come from since it wasn't even hinted in the earlier books. But he's all torn up about it, probably just so they can have the moment in the wine cellar. And then in the chapel there's these “big” moments that are described as cataclysmic to their relationship and not only did I not feel anything, I didn't entirely understand what Avery was feeling.
A dam broke inside me, and all of the hurt I hadn't let myself feel came flooding out, and with it, everything else I felt—and had ever felt—for Grayson Hawthorne.
Like, what hurt? Hurting from not having him? Hurt from wanting him but choosing Jameson? Hurt from these experiences they've shared which haven't seemed to hurt her much at all? And it's so big and deep it comes flooding out? Everything else she'd ever felt? What? Lust? Love? Brotherly affection? Anger? Longing? What? It's supposed to be this big moment and it's totally generic and I couldn't understand at all, let alone connect with it. But that's the thing with this series, right? It's not emotionally engaging and the third book is no exception.
Barnes also starts repeating herself again. I guess to lead up to the moment when the repetition actually works and she needed to make sure the reader was following her through to it.
I think overall the books are entertaining enough, mostly as a result of the Hawthorne brothers. I wanted them to be something more which isn't entirely fair. I wanted them to live up to the potential of this fictional world and they never quite managed that. But they were good enough for what they were.