"I want to be clear that what I am about to write is not hyperbole. I have never been left so enraged by a book as I have by James Whitfield Thomson's A Better Ending. I am enraged because it is badly put together. I am enraged because Thomson besmirches the name of multiple people who are not alive to defend themselves (and quite a few of them are his family members). But most importantly, I am enraged that a book about a woman's suicide turns her into an object.

Eileen was Thomson's sister. She is reported to have committed suicide after an argument with her husband. Years later, Thomson decides to reopen the case. Why? Well, Thomson himself admits multiple times that he was trying to write a crime novel and decided to write about this instead. He then starts to convince himself that he has been repressing doubts for years and that this is now his mission.

This story is badly paced and written. Recreated dialogue sounds either stilted or heavily dramatized to make the exact points Thomson wants to make. Many chapters and characters are filler. It felt like a TV episode where they stretched out everything to meet a time requirement. You ultimately find out the climactic confrontation is anything but satisfying and much of the narrative before it was extraneous information. Would you like to know that information? Well, Thomson's father was an abusive drunk as was his brother. Thomson is no peach either and I have a feeling many readers will put this book down and never return to it after he admits something about his own past. Thomson's father, brother, and mother are all dead and can't defend themselves or try to repair their reputations. I read these sections hoping that Thomson had a good reason to air his family's dirty laundry. He does not.

None of this helps the reader better understand Eileen. In fact, I am disgusted about how she is treated. Who she was as a person is an afterthought. Was she feisty? Maybe. Some people said yes while others said no. Do you know what I am sure of? She was busty. I know this because her brother, the author, comments on her chest size twice in the narrative. No, her chest size does not in any way affect the story.

But do you know what Thomson thinks does NOT affect the story? Eileen's two miscarriages. You see, Thomson TWICE shuts down women in this book and tells them the miscarriages Eileen suffered have nothing to do with the possibility of Eileen's suicide. It is because this book is all about going after Eileen's husband. This is about Thomson the crusader. It is not about Eileen. I know this as a reader because at NO POINT does Thomson stop and reflect on a simple question. "If Eileen did kill herself, why did she do it?" Answering that question would require Eileen to be front and center. She would be a full character. She would be someone with hopes, dreams, struggles, and a marriage that went horribly wrong. Thomson himself admits that she kept things from him before her death. His book doesn't attempt to answer what happened to his sister that day. It is entirely focused on if Thomson can make a true crime case against her husband.

I cannot under any circumstances recommend this book to anyone.

(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Avid Reader Press.)"