A Better Ending: A BrotherS TwentyYear Quest To Uncover The Truth About His SisterS Death

Haunting And Heartfelt...Meticulously Recounted With Powerful Suspense And HardEarned Wisdom. Robert Kolker, Author Of Hidden Valley Roada Propulsive And Deeply Human (The Minnesota Star Tribune) Memoir About A BrotherS DecadesLong Investigation Into The Circumstances Surrounding His SisterS Tragic DeathAnd 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 His Brother, Keith, The Loss Was Unexpected And Devastating. Only TwentySeven Years Old, Eileen Had Been Living In California With Her High School Sweetheart, Vic, A Cop, Surrounded By A Circle Of Close Friends And Working At A Job She Loved. It Seemed Unfathomable That She Would Kill Herself, But As The Family Gathered In Pittsburgh To Say Goodbye, More Details Emerged That Seemed To Explain The Tragedy: Eileen Had Confided In Her Parents That She Had Been Suffering From Depression, And Her Storybook Marriage Had Been Plagued By Bitter Fights, Infidelity, And Guilt. When Jim Eventually Sat Down With His BrotherInLaw To Talk About The Final Hours Of EileenS Life, Vic Looked Him In The Eye And Explained That He Had Stormed Out Of The Room During A Volatile Argument. Moments Later, A Gunshot Went Off. Sensing No Lies Or Evasion, Jim Believed Him. He Recounted The Story To The Rest Of The Family, And They Got On With Their Lives As Best They Could.TwentySeven Years Later, With All Of His Family Passed Away, EileenS Death Began To Nag At Jim. Now A Writer, He Wanted To Fill In The Blanks Of Her Story And Answer The Questions That Were Plaguing Him. What Had The Final Months Of EileenS Life Been Like? Why Had She Not Told Him About Her Troubles? How Had The Infidelity In Her Marriage Brought Her And Vic To That Fateful Day, And Who Else Had Been A Part Of It? What Other Demons Had She Been Battling?Determined To Uncover The Truth, Jim Hired A Private Investigator To Help Him. Together, They Tracked Down EileenS Old Friends And Clandestinely Obtained Copies Of Police Reports, Which Revealed That Vic And EileenS RelationshipAnd The SheriffS Investigation That Followed Her DeathWas Much Darker And More Complicated Than They Had Imagined. Torn By Doubt, Jim Began A TwoDecade Journey That Took Him From The Streets Of Pittsburgh To The Hills Of San Bernardino, Leading Him Into A Tangled Web Of Secrecy, Deception, And Shifting Stories That Forced Him To Reconsider Everything He Thought He Knew About Vic, Eileen, And HimselfAnd To Confront The Chilling Question Of Whether His Sister Had Really Taken Her Own Life.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.