The Brothers Hawthorne

In the present day, Grayson Hawthorne practices knife fighting at Hawthorne House while Xander Hawthorne chides him, “I just think you could do with a little more balance in your life [...] An actual hobby? Down time?” (8). Grayson and Xander receive a text message from Nash that reads “Nine-one-one” (9).

Jameson Hawthorne and Avery Grambs are visiting Iguazu Falls when Jameson receives the 911 text from Nash. Each Hawthorne brother may use a 911 call once a year: “The code didn’t mean emergency so much as I want you all here, but if one brother texted, the others came, no questions asked” (11). Nine seconds after the text, Jameson gets a follow-up call from Grayson to confirm that Jameson received Nash’s text and will be meeting them in London.

On the plane to London, Avery encourages Jameson to talk about how restless he’s felt over the past year, specifically since a trip they took to Prague when Jameson came home smelling like smoke with a cut on his face. Jameson chooses not to tell Avery the secret he learned in Prague but does confess that he wants “To do great things” (14) quoting his grandfather. Though Jameson is helping Avery set up the foundation, that project doesn’t satisfy his desire to achieve, to win. Avery could use her and Jameson’s codeword for complete honesty, Tahiti, to ask that he explain what happened in Prague, but instead, she lets him keep his secret.

Grayson, Jameson, and Xander meet Nash at the Hawthorne London flat where he reveals that he’s proposed to his girlfriend Libby, who is Avery’s sister. Nash had been given their grandmother Alice’s ring, but he decided to purchase one of his own. Jameson, Xander, and Grayson plan a wild bachelor party for Nash, and Nash insists that they not break any laws.

The boys wrap up the party around three in the morning, and Nash gives Grayson their grandmother’s ring, asking him, “Someday, with someone—why not you?” (20). Grayson wakes up the next day still thinking about the ring and whether he will find someone to give the ring to one day. Avery and Grayson talk about Jameson’s behavior, and then Grayson steps away to take an important phone call.

Grayson leaves town abruptly on personal business, and Avery goes to her meetings for the foundation, so Jameson is left by himself in the townhouse. A porter arrives with a calling card for him that reads, “Ian Johnstone-Jameson. 9 King’s Gate Terrace. […] 2 pm” (24). Jameson assumes that because this man’s last name is his first name—his mother’s pattern for naming her sons—this man must be his father.

Jameson arrives at the correct address to find an incredibly elite set of apartments, more luxurious than the Hawthorne townhouse. Inside, he meets his father for the first time. Ian Johnstone-Jameson, who is “mid-forties with thick brown hair” has “something achingly familiar about his features [...] the shape and color of his eyes, the curl of his lips” (26). He is a professional gambler and met Jameson’s mother in Las Vegas after he won “a particularly sought-after international title” (27). Ian offers to answer three questions for Jameson in exchange for an answer for one of his. Ian’s question for Jameson is a favor: He asks Jameson to win back Vantage, the Johnstone-Jameson ancestral home, through a game at the Devil’s Mercy, an exclusive, secretive, powerful club. When Jameson asks why Ian thinks Jameson would do anything for him, Ian says, “Because you love a challenge. You love to play. You love to win. And no matter what you win [...] you always need more” (31).

Initially, Jameson refuses his father’s request, but that evening when he tells Avery about the conversation, she points out that he “didn’t mean it” (34). Jameson admits that meeting his father, though he’s avoided it, does matter to him and that he wants to gain access to the Devil’s Mercy and the Game for himself. He and Avery decide to do it together.

Grayson arrives from London to Phoenix, Arizona, where Zabrowski, the lawyer Grayson keeps on retainer, has alerted him that Juliet Grayson has been detained in a local jail. Juliet and Savannah Grayson are Grayson’s twin half-sisters who have no idea that they are related to Grayson Hawthorne and assume that their father, Sheffield Grayson is missing, not dead. Grayson assumes that because Juliet, who goes by Gigi, has not been officially booked, someone in her father’s company has bribed the police staff on her behalf. Grayson pretends to be someone working for this company so that he can retrieve Gigi.

In the police interrogation room, Grayson meets Gigi for the first time. She assumes that Mr. Trowbridge, a friend of the family, sent Grayson to pick her up, so she agrees to leave with Grayson. Gigi tells Grayson that she found a hidden key to a safe-deposit box under a different name and that she’s convinced whatever is in that box could help prove that her dad is innocent. Grayson fears that whatever is in the box could reveal that Sheffield Grayson attempted to kill Avery Grambs and that he was killed by the Hawthornes. Grayson tells Gigi to stop looking into the safe-deposit box, but she refuses, “eyes bright and clear and full of steel” (44). Grayson realizes that he’ll have to find another way to keep her from the box.

Grayson checks into a hotel with plans only to stay the night and fly back to London the next day. Xander calls, and Grayson explains what happened to Gigi and the threat of the safe-deposit box. Grayson decides to stay for the week so that he can keep Gigi from opening the box, despite Xander’s warning that Grayson will have to “lie to her [...] sabotage her. Gain her trust and betray her” (49).

The day before Grayson’s ninth birthday, and two days before Jameson’s eighth, the boys are in the tree house discussing their birthday challenges. Each year, Tobias Hawthorne gave his grandsons $10,000 to invest, a challenge to complete before the next year, and a talent to cultivate. For this year, Grayson’s challenge was to write a perfect haiku that hurt: “When the words are real enough, when they’re the exact right words, when what you’re saying matters, when it’s beautiful and perfect and true—it hurts” (52). Jameson’s challenge was to build an impossible house of 500 cards and take pictures both when the house of cards was going well and each time it collapsed. They both chose martial arts for their talent, and they know their grandfather will make them fight each other to prove what they’ve learned. As Jameson leaves the tree house, he tells Grayson that he’s going to work on rock climbing for the next year, “because unlike certain other people in this tree house, I’m not afraid to fall” (54).

Jameson and Avery meet with Ian to learn more about Vantage and the Devil’s Mercy. Ian is not surprised that Jameson brought Avery and reveals that he expected Avery to join Jameson and that she is much more likely to gain access to the Devil’s Mercy because of her wealth and status. Jameson doesn’t want Ian to use Avery, but Avery insists that she wants to try to win the Game with Jameson. The two decide they’ll ask around at Avery’s social appointments to try and get the Proprietor—the owner of the Devil’s Mercy—to notice them.

Avery calls her lawyer and publicist Alisa to accept a social invitation so that she and Jameson can begin their hunt for the Devil’s Mercy. Nash confronts Jameson about how affected he is by Ian, but Jameson shrugs off his concern. Based on Avery’s attire, including a fascinator, Jameson realizes that the social event Alisa secured for them is the horse races.

At the races, Jameson and Avery drop hints in every conversation about the Devil’s Mercy, waiting for one of the attendees to know the club and make a move.

Jameson and Avery attend the after-party of the horse race and continue to drop hints about the Devil’s Mercy, including asking attendees to tag them in photos online with the hashtag TDM. After no success, Avery suggests they split up to see if a member of the Mercy will approach one of them alone. Jameson goes outside and starts a conversation with a server, who turns out to be a messenger for the Devil’s Mercy. The messenger tells Jameson to stop looking, but when Avery meets them both outside, the messenger suggests that the Proprietor, the head of the Mercy, may be interested in inviting Avery.

When Jameson and Avery arrive back at the flat, they decode a series of sticky notes left by Xander that tells them he and Nash are headed back to the United States. Oren, Avery’s bodyguard, alerts her and Jameson to a visitor on their balcony: the messenger from the Devil’s Mercy. The messenger, Rohan, says they’ve got the attention of the Proprietor’s second in command, the Factorum. The Factorum is extending Avery an invitation to the Mercy for one week, in exchange for her losing £200,000 at the gambling tables over three nights. If Avery insists on Jameson joining, the price will increase to £500,000 in three nights. Avery and Jameson agree and sign Rohan’s nondisclosure agreement.

Back in Phoenix, Grayson decides the best way to sabotage Gigi’s search for the safe-deposit box will be to steal the key she carries. He reaches out to her on a social media site, asking, “Have you heard from Kent Trowbridge?” (80). Gigi responds with enthusiasm and a string of messages, inviting Grayson to come to her house as part of his search for her father. Grayson, determined to keep his distance and put boundaries in place, lies to Gigi, telling her he has a girlfriend. Gigi responds with “thirteen pictures of cats” and a question: “Do you want to be Sherlock or Watson?” (82).