• Golden Boy

  • A Murder Among the Manhattan Elite
  • By: John Glatt
  • Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
  • Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (148 ratings)

Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.
Golden Boy  By  cover art

Golden Boy

By: John Glatt
Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $17.19

Buy for $17.19

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

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

What listeners say about Golden Boy

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    75
  • 4 Stars
    40
  • 3 Stars
    21
  • 2 Stars
    10
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    66
  • 4 Stars
    38
  • 3 Stars
    11
  • 2 Stars
    9
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    69
  • 4 Stars
    30
  • 3 Stars
    17
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    2

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Disappointing to my Thinking

I purchased this audible story because it seemed like an interesting topic to me. I found the book sad and depressing however because rather than covering a story about a crafty, diabolical heir desirous of speeding up his inheritance … this is actually about a sick individual with so many diagnoses from medical sources that it did not seem fair (to my thinking) to write about all his medical issues. I did not take notes to record the many problems Tommy exhibited but included were mention of psychosis, OCD, severe paranoia (where he imagined the airport was contaminating him) and also a deranged belief his father (Tom, Sr.) was stealing his own son’s identity. Huh? If it interests you to see a mentally/emotionally handicapped (though high I.Q.) offspring try to cope in New York City with his living-allowance reduced to $200 per month by a wealthy parent, then this tale might interest you. But as for me, it seemed unkind to expose his private medical information and familial history of suicidal ideation in the family tree: Hasn’t Tom Gilbert, Jr. already struggled and suffered enough? This book was authored by a reporter and delivered to us like a miserable book report without much depth so I’m unable to recommend it. // P.S. I genuinely feel guilty after posting a negative review so to be honest, IF some info about this NYC court case which ensued —and the preamble too— is sought, then this might satisfy your curiosity.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Like listening to a book report

I was compelled to finish because it is an interesting and tragic case but it missed the mark in terms of storytelling.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Gossip Rag Novella

Let me begin by saying that this book was recommended by a family member (who shall remain blameless) and that person couldn’t put it down.

I did not have that same experience.

If you like Star magazine or Real Housewives of New Hampshire then this book is probably for you.

The fact that someone is already making a movie about these un-endearing aristocratic poseurs must mean there’s a healthy market for it.

Personally I found this collection of words about as intriguing as a dissertation on what happens to a full glass of water when left around a toddler too long.

The choice of narrator was an odd one. Not sure what the British accent was supposed to bring to the performance. Granted he didn’t have a whole lot to work with, but he also didn’t do anything to make me forget that. (As a side note, given the weight/thread of the female characters in this story, a female narrator might have been a better call)

As “real crime” goes this story’s focus was on the wrong criminal(s). You don’t blame The Monster, or a lack of social safety nets for the Doctors failings.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

An interesting and frustrating case

Wonderfully written and with thorough analysis of the history of the case, I find myself frustrated by the way the legal system deals with someone clearly mentally unstable.
I’m fully convinced that the sentence is just, but aggravated that this murder could have been prevented by mental health professionals years in advance.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Gripping Tragic Tale: an Unraveling Mind & Murder

The narrator took charge of this terrible tragedy and kept the pace moving fast. It is a terrible tale of money, madness, and murder. Tommy G is unhinged but wasn't expected to cross the line into madness. The very well written and narrated backstory of his upbringing, his slow but steady mental unraveling, and his murder of his father keeps one fixed to the story. We all want to hear/see what comes next. I would recommend this page turner. It was a sad, tragic but well told story.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!