My Sister's Grave
Written by Robert Dugoni
4/5
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About this audiobook
The first book in the series that has garnered millions of readers across the globe, from New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni.
Tracy Crosswhite has spent twenty years questioning the facts surrounding her sister Sarah’s disappearance and the murder trial that followed. She doesn’t believe that Edmund House—a convicted rapist and the man condemned for Sarah’s murder—is the guilty party. Motivated by the opportunity to obtain real justice, Tracy became a homicide detective with the Seattle PD and dedicated her life to tracking down killers.
When Sarah’s remains are finally discovered near their hometown in the northern Cascade mountains of Washington State, Tracy is determined to get the answers she’s been seeking. As she searches for the real killer, she unearths dark, long-kept secrets that will forever change her relationship to her past—and open the door to deadly danger.
Robert Dugoni
Robert Dugoni is the critically acclaimed New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Amazon bestselling author of the Tracy Crosswhite series, which has sold more than four million books worldwide. He is also the author of the bestselling David Sloane series; the Charles Jenkins series including The Eighth Sister, the stand-alone novels The 7th Canon, Damage Control, and The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell, for which he won an AudioFile Earphones Award for the narration; and the nonfiction exposé The Cyanide Canary, a Washington Post best book of the year. He is the recipient of the Nancy Pearl Book Award for fiction and the Friends of Mystery Spotted Owl award for best novel set in the Pacific Northwest. He is a two-time finalist for the International Thriller Award, the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction, the Silver Falchion Award for mystery, and the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award. His books are sold in more than twenty-five countries and have been translated into more than two dozen languages. Visit his website at www.robertdugoni.com.
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In the Clearing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Sister's Grave Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Her Final Breath Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Trapped Girl Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Steep Price Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In Her Tracks Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Close to Home Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What She Found Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Cold Trail Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
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Reviews for My Sister's Grave
659 ratings47 reviews
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I am confused about the love for this book. It is boring, predictable, boring, cliche. Don't bother, move on to something more exciting. I assumed it was going to get better but it never did. I should have stopped when I wanted to.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Such a great story with twists and turns even tho subject matter sad.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent book, characters so real and a very good story. Kept you going right to the end. Didn’t want it to finish
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Interesting book, a few twist and turns, however, cannot give it five stars because of technical issues. A Glock does not use a clip but a magazine. Tracy could not grip the handle of Glock and cold hard steel at the same time, the Glock lower receiver ie. handle is a polymer and not steel. Other than a few glitches like that excellent book…SLT
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5The book skips back and forth in without telling you, which at times is confusing. It doesn’t add to the suspense or story in the least.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great story line, thoughtful character development, page turner, on to next book in series.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is a new author for me. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, which was engrossing and kept me engaged with the plot and characters right up until the end. I'm looking forward to reading/listening to more by Robert Dugoni. The focus of the story is on the murder mystery and any romance takes a back seat - which is how I like it, while there is a budding romance as well. The author does an excellent job of giving depth to the main characters and making the reader feel invested in their lives.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It was just a little long but a good story
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tracy Crosswhite has been looking for answers about her younger sister Sarah abduction for twenty years. Her determination, or obsession, had cost her a marriage and had forged her career as a homicide detective in Seattle. She sees too many inconsistencies in the trial and the evidence to believe that the convicted murder Edmund House actually committed the crime.Now, a grave has been found and Sarah is drawn back to her small town to bury her sister. There she runs into childhood friend Dan O'Leary who has returned to town as a "recovering" lawyer after his marriage crumbled. She also runs into Sheriff Roy Calloway who is still not eager for Tracy to stir up the old issues long buried. Tracy convinces Dan to look at all the evidence that she has collected over the years. Dan agrees that things were not done well. He and Tracy go to see Edmund in prison and convince him to go to court again. This stirs up all sorts of things in Tracy's hometown and also causes issues with her at her work in Seattle. She is under pressure from a jealous superior who doesn't want her to be a part of homicide. Digging into the past isn't easy for Tracy and being back home stirs up all sorts of emotions that she had repressed. The story, complete with flashbacks of her memories with her little sister, was an emotionally intense one. I wasn't ready for the revelation of the villain.I couldn't put this story down. It has made me eager to look for other work by this author.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A good mystery with a lot of twists and turns. Couldn't put it down!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I had audio book. Took a bit for me to get into it but it was more the audio than story. I think It would have kept my interest in the beginning better had I been reading it. My first book by this author, will definitely check out others.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5First book by this author. Enjoyed it as an audiobook. Captivating. Interesting. Suspenseful. Human. Would make a great movie.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good story, lots of plot twists and you really don’t know what’s going on until near the end. I don’t wanna say too much about that but I find it hard to believe that the sheriff wouldn’t have told her sister when things started to get real in the court
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'd go 3.5 if I could but rounded up because it was better than 3.
Not perfect but very enjoyable and twisty. I had a tough time putting it down! - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This has been on my to read list for a lifetime and I finally got around to it and now I'm hooked. I stayed up all night reading. That said, while this is good and I did enjoy it - it is extremely long. The mystery was fascinating but there's a lot of mundane detective work. It's not a thriller as such. Which will undoubtedly make it not for everyone. Frame of reference it's more like Cold Case than Law and Order SVU or Criminal Minds. Tracy was an interesting character. She was stubborn and resilient but she was surprisingly vulnerable. I thought it was actually addressed really well - her grief and sadness and fears - but it's also never the main focus of the novel. The case itself was riveting. I didn't see the twist coming (although maybe I should have). I didn't like the final motive at the end. He was always after her? Are you freaking kidding me? That kind of ruined it for me. Not completely - because for 95% of this book I was hooked but the last 5% certainly made me disappointed. I've already read and finished the second book. And I'll definitely pick up the rest.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Sister’s Grave. (Tracy Crosswhite Book 1)Robert Dugoni. 2014. This is the second Robert Gugoni novel I have read and I like him. This is not great literature, but it is a suspenseful plot. This book reminds me of the early Karin Slaughter books. Tracy is a police officer in Seattle. The body of her missing sister is found and Tracy returns home to find out what really happened to her sister. She has never believed the man convicted of the murder is the real murderer. She shows an old friend, now a lawyer her notes on the trial, and he agrees to try for a new trial. The results are a near disaster.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tracy and Sarah Crosswhite are extremely close sisters. They compete at shooting championships. After the 1993 state championship, Tracy begs Sarah to drive safely home, but Sarah never makes it. A recently released rapist is convicted of the murder but a body is not found and Tracy is suspicious of the evidence.Fast forward 20 years, and Sarah’s body has just been found. Tracy, now a Seattle homicide detective, continues to question the evidence that convicted Edmund House and convinces her childhood friend, Dan, an attorney, to review the case. Tracy is suspicious that the sheriff and others planted evidence. This is a gritty legal / psychological thriller with a surprising conclusion. Tracy is a flawed character with a guilt over her sister’s death that she hasn’t been able to get over. I love her as a heroine and I am very excited to read more about her in future books. This is the first Robert Dugoni book I have read, and it definitely will not be the last. I really like his writing style. The book was easy to read, and the pages flew by. #MySistersGrave #RobertDugoni
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good book. Kept me interested. Well written book but I guess I thought it will be about missing sister...it wasn't. Good characters and the bad guy didn't show nasty until near the end. A fun book about going back home to where you grew up; practical ending. The Killer's Identity--The jury's still out on this one.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book has been on my TBR shelf for awhile and I am so glad I finally got to it. I will not have to read the rest in this series. Tracy Crosswhite has been living with guilt for the last 20 years. After a shooting competitions, Tracy went with her boyfriend to dinner and Sarah drove Tracy's truck to go home. She was never seen again and everyone believes she is dead, however, her body has never been found. A paroled rapist in the area was arrested and convicted of killing Sarah, but the evidence never measured up for Tracy. She just wants to know what happened to her sister and where her body lies.
Tracy, who had married and become a high school teacher, gave up teaching to become a homicide detective in Seattle. She wanted the tools and knowledge to investigate and find new evidence. When Sarah’s remains are finally found she is determined to use new evidence to have the case reopened. Tracy knows that the man in prison was convicted on faulty evidence. When Tracy goes home for the funeral service for Sarah, she runs into childhood friend Dan, who is now a lawyer. After looking at all the material Tracy has gathered, he agrees to file for an Evidentiary Hearing. Between dodging reporters, one she dislikes in particular, being hassled by the sheriff and dealing with budding feelings for Dan, Tracy is adamant that she is right. This book kept me turning the pages to find out what would happen next. It is a combination legal thriller and crime suspense. I really enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone who likes thriller, mystery, suspense, crime stories. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tracy Crosswhite became a homicide detective after her sister was kidnapped and never found. When her sister's grave is found by hunters, she is drawn once again into the events of twenty years earlier. The story alternates between the happenings of the sister's disappearance and Tracy's current attempts to overturn the trial results of the man who was found guilty of the crime. It's a little slow paced with a big finale that is worth waiting for. Tracy has a lot of issues she must work through since she feels guilty about her sister's death. It wrecked her family and changed her life trajectory. So there's a lot of back story that I thought wasn't always necessary. I was also confused by the current murder Tracy is investigating since it didn't go anywhere in this book anyway. All in all, it was a good read, and the mystery was cleverly hidden. I'd read this author again.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Tracy's sister, Sarah, went missing 20 years ago and Edmund was convicted of her murder, but Tracy has never been satisfied with the evidence produced at trial. Then Sarah's body is found, throwing the storyline of events given at the trial into further doubt. Tracy persuades a former classmate Dan to file a court case attempting to overturn Edmund's conviction. The first half of this book concerned the inconsistencies in the evidence and the court case itself, and I enjoyed it. After that, things shifted and it became more of an action narrative, the protagonists thwarted by a storm and racing to prevent further bloodshed. It also became quite gory and upsetting - I skimmed it.Written in an easy to read style, I thought initially I was going to give this novel a higher grade, but once it shifted away from the legal/police procedural elements it lost me. It also reminded me of a romance novel with the "big misunderstanding" as the main plot device - SPOILERSif any one of the characters in on framing Edmund had told Tracy the truth at any point over the course of those 20 years, she would probably have let things go.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5After watching a video of one of Dugoni's author events, I knew I had to read one of his books, so I downloaded My Sister's Grave. I'm glad I did because Dugoni's fast-moving story kept me riveted from first page to last. One of the things I liked most was the author's decision to let readers know very early on that there is some sort of conspiracy surrounding Sarah's death. This really ups the suspense and keeps readers wondering how many people are involved, their identities, how much they can be trusted (if at all)-- and just what exactly that they're covering up.There were a couple of things that I didn't particularly care for: a romance for Tracy that wasn't really necessary, and all the drama coming to a head in the middle of a snowpocalypse, but these were minor annoyances that really didn't prevent me from turning the pages as fast as I could go. Dugoni's characters come very, very close to stealing the show from his story. These people are not cardboard cutouts, even the murder victim whose light is just a brief shooting star in the night sky. Tracy can be admired for her dogged determination to find the truth and to demand justice, but how is she going to handle herself if any of her theories are wrong? Almost every single character is shown to have multiple facets, and that gives so much depth and power to a story.Now that Tracy has finally solved her sister's murder, I'm looking forward to continuing this series. I have to know what's next for such an intelligent, stubborn woman.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The last time Tracy Crosswhite saw her sister Sarah was twenty years ago. Even though her body was never recovered, Edmund House was put on trial and convicted. Tracy knows he's a bad buy, but never believed he was guilty of Sarah's murder. That event drove her to leave her job as a chemistry teacher and become a police detective. Now, two decades later, Sarah's body has been discovered and Tracy wants to find out the truth.
She returns to her home town of Cedar Springs, Washington where Sheriff Calloway, warns her not to interfere. When she sees Dan, a childhood friend who is now an attorney, at Sarah's memorial service she asks him to look at the evidence she has been accumulating over the past few years. Tracy wants to get a new trial for Edmund, so she can finally find out if he is the one who killed Sarah or if evidence was tampered with for convenience.
This was a great book. It was fast paced and had some interesting twists. I thought there could be a little more character development but this is the first book in a series and that's not uncommon. There's a mild romance thread going through the story but it doesn't impact the plot very much. Several sections of the book focus on the back story of the relationship between Tracy and Sarah but it was handled very well and was easy to keep up with and understand. I recently discovered the David Sloane series by Robert Dugoni and decided to pick up the audio of My Sister's Grave to check out his other character. It was narrated by Emily Sutton-Smith, who I think did a great job. I will definitely try the next book in the series, Her Final Breath. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I'm not sure why this book got such great reviews. I thought the story and the writing were just average. The non-twist wasn't a dramatic reveal. It was just ok to me.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I have zero recollection of why I had this book in my collection but decided to give it a try and what a fantastic surprise that was. Tracy Crosswhite, a Seattle Homicide Detective has been investigating her sister's murder for the past 20 years, despite Edmund House having been convicted the crime. A conviction that Tracy never could quite believe and genuine and believing that her sisters killer is still on the lose she never stopped looking. When her sisters body is suddenly after all these years, she is able to prove that House was framed for the crime. What happens from there is an action packed thrill ride. I loved Tracy Crosswhite and Dan O'Leary: both so likable and genuine. So imagine my further surprise when I did some research and discovered that this was the first of a series. I can't wait to visit Cedar Grove again.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Sister's Grave by Robert Dugoni is a highly recommended police procedural/legal thriller that will keep you thoroughly entertained.
Twenty years ago Tracy Crosswhite's younger sister Sarah disappeared without a trace in the mountain town of Cedar Grove, Washington. Now her body has been found and Tracy, a Seattle homicide detective, needs some answers. Although there was a man convicted for her murder, Tracy has never been entirely convinced that he was guilty as it appeared that the evidence presented at the trail may have been rigged. With the discovery of the skeleton/body after so many years, Tracy wants some questions answered but it seems that many of the officials involved want her to stop asking the questions.
The story is told through flashbacks twenty years ago set between today's current events. Most of the book focuses on Tracy trying to uncover the truth and get some real answers to her questions. Tracy is a compelling, strong female lead character who is persistent, determined, and intelligent. Certainly she will be welcomed back if Dugoni should start a series featuring her on the investigation.
There were a few times that the plot unnecessarily slowed down, as past events were ruminated over again, and the ending seemed rather predictable to me. That said, I read compulsively to the end to put all the pieces together and reach the conclusion. This is a very satisfying police procedural and should satisfy fans of that genre.
Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Amazon Publishing via Netgalley for review purposes. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thankfully, My Sister's Grave reminds me of an old school hard boiled mystery, rather than the police procedural that I feared. The plot was very good, quite suspenseful in fact, and it kept me happily turning pages even through the slow parts. Shortening the book by culling out some of the dull overly detailed portions would have corrected the pacing problem.
The conclusion was a genuine surprise and left me feeling more than satisfied. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An enjoyable legal thriller about a woman who never gives up the hope of finding out what happened to her sister 20 year prior when she just vanished, with her truck found by the side of the road. Set in Washington state, in a small fictional town in the Cascades. Some parts of the story over the top, especially the final chapters.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is an action-packed thriller about a sister’s abduction, murder and 20 years of trying to discover the truth. It also has some interesting twists about guilt and innocence, being wrongly convicted for the right reasons and so on. Tossed in is a little bit of going home and finding love. Great thriller!
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Tracy Crosswhite has spent twenty years questioning the facts surrounding her sister Sarah’s disappearance and the murder trial that followed. She doesn’t believe that Edmund House—a convicted rapist and the man condemned for Sarah’s murder—is the guilty party. Motivated by the opportunity to obtain real justice, Tracy became a homicide detective with the Seattle PD and dedicated her life to tracking down killers.When Sarah’s remains are finally discovered near their hometown in the northern Cascade mountains of Washington State, Tracy is determined to get the answers she’s been seeking. As she searches for the real killer, she unearths dark, long-kept secrets that will forever change her relationship to her past—and open the door to deadly danger.