Get our latest book recommendations, author news, competitions, offers, and other information right to your inbox.
A Better Ending
A Brother's Twenty-Year Quest to Uncover the Truth About His Sister's Death
Table of Contents
About The Book
For fans of We Keep the Dead Close and The Night of the Gun, a propulsive and moving memoir about a brother’s decades-long investigation into the circumstances surrounding his sister’s tragic death—and his own journey to forgiveness and closure.
On a summer evening in 1974, Jim Thomson arrived home from a baseball game to the news that his younger sister, Eileen, had taken her own life. To Jim, his parents, and brother, the loss was unexpected and devastating. Only twenty-seven, Eileen had been living in California with her high school sweetheart, Vic, a cop. She had a circle of close friends and a job she loved. But details soon emerged that Eileen had been depressed, her storybook marriage plagued by infidelity and guilt. On the day of her death, Vic later explained, he stormed out of the room in the midst of a bitter argument. Moments later, a gunshot went off. The revelations were deeply troubling, but Jim and his family believed him. The police ended the investigation and the Thomsons moved on as best they could.
In 2001, his parents and brother all dead, Jim often found himself thinking about Eileen. What had the final months of her life been like? Why had she not told him about her troubled marriage? What other demons had she been battling? Frustrated by how little he knew, Jim hired a private investigator to help track down Eileen’s old friends and the police reports from that fateful afternoon, beginning a two-decade journey through a tangled web of secrecy, deception, and shifting stories that would force him to consider the unthinkable: Had Eileen really committed suicide?
Told with the precision and pace of a whodunit and the searing emotion of a family saga, A Better Ending is an unforgettable tale about the love between siblings, the murkiness of truth and memory, and the path to acceptance.
On a summer evening in 1974, Jim Thomson arrived home from a baseball game to the news that his younger sister, Eileen, had taken her own life. To Jim, his parents, and brother, the loss was unexpected and devastating. Only twenty-seven, Eileen had been living in California with her high school sweetheart, Vic, a cop. She had a circle of close friends and a job she loved. But details soon emerged that Eileen had been depressed, her storybook marriage plagued by infidelity and guilt. On the day of her death, Vic later explained, he stormed out of the room in the midst of a bitter argument. Moments later, a gunshot went off. The revelations were deeply troubling, but Jim and his family believed him. The police ended the investigation and the Thomsons moved on as best they could.
In 2001, his parents and brother all dead, Jim often found himself thinking about Eileen. What had the final months of her life been like? Why had she not told him about her troubled marriage? What other demons had she been battling? Frustrated by how little he knew, Jim hired a private investigator to help track down Eileen’s old friends and the police reports from that fateful afternoon, beginning a two-decade journey through a tangled web of secrecy, deception, and shifting stories that would force him to consider the unthinkable: Had Eileen really committed suicide?
Told with the precision and pace of a whodunit and the searing emotion of a family saga, A Better Ending is an unforgettable tale about the love between siblings, the murkiness of truth and memory, and the path to acceptance.
Product Details
- Publisher: Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster (March 25, 2025)
- Length: 304 pages
- ISBN13: 9781668062883
Browse Related Books
Raves and Reviews
“A haunting and heartfelt meditation on personal loss, James Thomson’s memoir is meticulously recounted with powerful suspense and hard-earned wisdom.” —Robert Kolker, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Hidden Valley Road
“Gutting. A Better Ending is a heartbreaking work that examines how grief and tragedy ripple across decades. I cannot imagine the courage James Whitfield Thomson had to summon in order to face the brutality and ultimately the truth of his sister’s sudden death. His book does the seemingly impossible: for the briefest of moments, he brings her back to life.” —Rachel Louise Snyder, author of Women We Buried, Women We Burned and NBCC Finalist No Visible Bruises
"Toggling artfully between past and present, Thomson’s account of his belated search for the truth of his younger sister’s death is both adrenaline-boosting whodunit and tender family memoir. But what impressed me most about A Better Ending was its author’s honesty as he followed the twists and turns wherever they led and learned along the way, not only about his sister’s death but also about himself." —George Howe Colt, bestselling author of Brothers and The Big House
"James Thomson’s chronicle of his dogged search for answers that may or may not be findable lays bare a family’s evasions, intimacies, and impenetrable mysteries. A heartbreaking and mesmerizing book." —Joan Wickersham, author of the National Book Award finalist The Suicide Index
"James Thomson’s masterful and meticulous storytelling—part mystery, part elegy—is a gift for us all. This brave and unflinchingly honest book grabs you from the first page and does not let you go until the very last word." —Meg Kissinger, author of While You Were Out
Resources and Downloads
High Resolution Images
- Book Cover Image (jpg): A Better Ending eBook 9781668062883
