Golden Boy: A Murder Among the Manhattan Elite

Golden Boy: A Murder Among the Manhattan Elite

John Glatt

Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

In Golden Boy, New York Times bestselling author John Glatt tells the true story of Thomas Gilbert Jr., the handsome and charming New York socialite accused of murdering his father, a Manhattan millionaire and hedge fund founder. By all accounts, Thomas Gilbert Jr. led a charmed life. The son of a wealthy 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. With his striking good lucks, he moved with ease through glittering social circles and followed in his father's footsteps to Princeton. But Tommy always felt different. The cracks in his façade began to show in warning signs of OCD, increasing paranoia, and--most troubling--an 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 former 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. Journalist John Glatt takes an in-depth look at the devastating crime that rocked Manhattan's upper class. With exclusive access to sources close to Tommy, including his own mother, Glatt constructs the agonizing spiral of mental illness that led Thomas Gilbert Jr. to the ultimate unspeakable act.


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  • queenofgotham
    Mar 09, 2025
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  • bookdarling
    Jan 04, 2025
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    I was vaguely aware of this story. I think I might have googled it at some point and that was part of the reason that I requested it as an arc. This book takes this crime to another level. This is the story of a young man who is deeply disturbed, whose mental state went unchecked and was never properly treated, whose drug use was rampant, and was lost. It took murdering his father in cold blood to try to figure out why. I think privilege plays a big part in this story at least in my opinion. This young man had everything handed to him and still, he fell apart and committed a crime that did not need to happen. Thomas Gilbert, Jr., was adrift. Not interested in the finance business that his father tried to steer him toward. He continued to flounder, but his dad supported him so not much changed by way of his living situation or social life.


    This is such an upsetting story, on so many levels, and while I commend the author for his thorough research, I was left questioning so much at the end. This is my type of true crime book though because I went through an entire roller coaster of emotions from start to finish.

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