Golden Boy

A Murder Among the Manhattan Elite

By: John Glatt

Narrated by: Shaun Grindell

By all accounts, Thomas Gilbert Jr. led a charmed life. The son of a wealthy hedge fund manager and a financier, he grew up surrounded by a loving family and all the luxury an Upper East Side childhood could provide: education at the elite Buckley School and Deerfield Academy, summers in a sprawling seaside mansion in the Hamptons. He was strikingly handsome, moving with ease through glittering social circles and following in his father's footsteps to Princeton. His friends saw him as a leader; his parents adored him.

But Tommy always felt different, and the cracks in his façade began to show. What started as quiet exhaustion turned into warning signs of OCD, increasing paranoia, and - most troubling - an indescribable, inexplicable hatred of his father. As his parents begged him to seek psychiatric help, Tommy pushed back by self-medicating with drugs and escalating violence. When a fire destroyed his recently estranged best friend's Hamptons home, Tommy was the prime suspect - but he was never charged. Just months later, he arrived at his parents' apartment, calmly asked his mother to leave, and shot his father point-blank in the head.

With exclusive access to sources close to Tommy, including his own mother, author John Glatt constructs the agonizing spiral of mental illness that led Thomas Gilbert Jr. to the ultimate unspeakable act.

©2021 John Glatt (P)2021 Tantor

Obvious spoiled rich boy who thought he was above the law!

Great book. Kept me listening throughout, no boring parts. I think Tommy has some mental issues. But doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be held responsible for murdering his own father! Especially a father who did a lot for him, and tried to help him. Tommy and his mother have a very unhealthy relationship. She spoiled him even more, making constant excuses for the guy. He was 30 and still being supported by his parents!! Pathetic! She still was making excuses for him even after he killed her husband!! She needs to get some mental help. She enabled his spoiled behavior and never should’ve left him alone with her husband. Such a sad story. After he did that to his friend Peter, the guy should’ve been made to stay at a mental hospital or jail. His court antics proved he was used to getting his way! He finally got held accountable for his ignorance. I’m sorry I don’t feel sorry for him. He’s a spoiled rich entitled brat

Story @ mental health & lack of help

Really good story line. This is story is what many families deal with when their loved ones refuse help.

SAD CIRCUMSTANCES IN MANY AREAS

I feel bad saying upfront that my heart does not feel remorse for Tom, Jr. I getting ahead of the outcome as I feel the jury dealt with the evidence carefully and justly. All along I was thinking if they would realize the real guilt in that he asked his mother to leave for sandwiches and a Coke. It was stated repeatedly he would be aware tgey did not keep Cokes in the home. He had planned the attack. He had purchased the gun out of state planning to use it on someone. The final resolve to Tom , Jr was he was going to have to get a job or find other ways to get his fathers money. It is so sad that he didn’t realize the financial situation his parents were in The way he spent money would not have lasted long anyway. Also to this end his mother should bear a great deal of shame. Not in fighting for treatment but for how she had spoiled him and many times behind her husband’s back supplied Tom, Jr with money to get him out of trouble. Somehow she must be feeling regrets.

An Enabled Tragedy.

I belong to a Toughlove group in South Africa. This story is a classic enabling story. Parents who couldn't say no with tragic results.

Great book. Tragic Story.

This case is incredibly sad, a person whose mental illness is overlooked because of his good looks and the appearance of financial stability. It's easy to blame the parents, and the parent-son relationship is codependent. Eventually, untreated mental illness and tragedy meet one afternoon.

Obvious Schizophrenia

Close up of the current impossibility for family with even with resources to get help for a dangerous paranoid child. It usually starts in adolescence and then gets worse. The hallmark of these schizophrenics is they always refuse meds. This situation is all too common and nothing can be done under most current law.

Mental Illness, Addiction

This is an intriguing but also an incredibly sad story. I don’t find this a story of wealth or an appropriate commentary on class in our country. This is yet another sorry and sad story of an seriously mentally ill young man not getting treatment. The judge says it in sentencing “maybe if you had treatment this would not happen.” The parents struggled, failed, tried again but ultimately knew they had no authority to get help for their son. After three days of being committed by family, every adult can chose to leave. The outcome of this sorry state of mental health in the USA is visible in our over crowded jails and ever growing homeless population. I am a pragmatic conservative who believes in the safety net and our call to care for the sick. 30 years in jail? Too bad and I think unjust. When will treatment prevail?

English Reader for American Story - Why?

Why have an English reader, with a thick English accent, read an all American story? It takes place in New York, all people are American, all laws are American. Why then have an English reader? At times he is difficult to understand for us Americans. Why make it hard on us?
Anyway, the tale is well told. Details included and told with appropriate detachment. It covers the victim, and the murderer from beginning to end. Easy to follow, flows well. All in all a great book.

The real moral of the story may be missed

Read lots of negative reviews but I wanted to read this because it was an intriguing tragedy. For people focused on the wealth and privilege of the Gilbert family, I believe this is a tale of what money cannot buy. In the richest country in the world, we are completely failing at mental healthcare. While the author rails against the New York criminal code, the tragic tale told here echoes across the country at every socioeconomic level. We need to do better. This was a well written narrative of a sad, sad case. I can't feel anything but sympathy for this family.

Sad, Extremely Tragic

This true crime story definitely puts mental health at the forefront of our society. Although Tommy Gilbert, Jr.’s family were extremely wealthy, they still didn’t have the system behind them to hospitalize him for any amount of time that would possibly have helped him. He still could have refused his medication after getting out of a facility. With that said, I also believe there was some affluent syndrome he was going through too. No matter how the parents handled the situation (cut the money back gradually or all at once) he still would have came at them. Very sad, very tragic.