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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.