The Inheritance Games

An ordinary, struggling teenage girl who lives out of her car and dreams of escaping her hard-luck life is stunned to learn that a fabulously wealthy stranger she never met has left her nearly his entire fortune, on the condition that she move into his sprawling, puzzle-filled mansion alongside his furious, disinherited family, including four handsome, secretive grandsons who are determined to figure out why a nobody was chosen over them, and what game the dead billionaire is still playing from beyond the grave. Barnes writes a fast, twisty young adult mystery packed with riddles, hidden passages, ciphers, and cliffhangers, as the heroine races to solve the elaborate puzzle the old man designed while contending with the dangerous, alluring Hawthorne brothers and the threats that come with a sudden fortune. The pace is breathless, the puzzles central, the romance and intrigue tightly wound. This suits readers who want an addictive, puzzle-driven young adult mystery with a fortune at stake, a twisty plot, and a hint of romance, and anyone who loves codes and secrets. It fits less well anyone wanting deep characterization or literary prose, since the book runs on plot and hooks. The detail that a billionaire leaves his fortune to a stranger and forces her to solve the puzzle of why gives the book its irresistible premise. Fast, twisty, and addictive, it rewards readers who love a puzzle. Those wanting depth may find it plot-first, but its riddles and cliffhangers are exactly what make it so bingeable.

Best for readers who want to be kept on edge: propulsive, twisty, and hard to put down. The prose is accessible: you can read this quickly and it never asks too much of you. It moves quickly: once you're in, it's hard to stop. Readers who prefer character depth over plot drive may find it thin.