Golden Boy by John Glatt: New Excerpt
By Crime HQ
July 21, 2021PROLOGUE
It was a routine Sunday afternoon for Thomas Gilbert Sr., the founder of a multimillion-dollar hedge fund and a longtime fixture on Wall Street. After playing two strenuous rounds of tennis at the River Club, he was relaxing in his bedroom watching a football game. Three days earlier, on New Year’s Day 2015, the tall, athletic financier had quietly celebrated his seventieth birthday and showed no signs of slowing down.
Next door in the living room, his petite wife, Shelley, was chatting with friends on her laptop when the doorbell rang around 3:15 p.m. It was a surprise, as they weren’t expecting anyone, and their doorman usually called to announce visitors.
Shelley opened the front door to find her son, Tommy, outside, wearing a hoodie and carrying a duffel bag. It was the first time she had seen him in five months; they had a difficult relationship, and he usually kept his distance. Shelley was delighted to see him, hoping it might be an encouraging sign of a better relationship between him and his father.
“He said it was real important,” Shelley recalled. “He wanted to talk to Dad about business. I was thrilled.”
As Tommy strolled into the apartment, he asked if his younger sister, Bess, was there. Shelley told him she was at church.
Then he said he was hungry and asked his mother to go to the store and buy him a sandwich and a Coke. He told her to come back in an hour, so he would have enough time with his father. Unsure whether they should be left alone together, Shelley offered to make him a sandwich, but Tommy insisted she go.
As his sixty-five-year-old mother laced up her sneakers to leave, she looked up at Tommy and thought, I don’t like hoodies. They’re a little creepy.
Thomas Strong Gilbert Jr. was born into a world of wealth and privilege. He had an impeccable social pedigree, growing up in a mansion in Tuxedo Park, New York, before moving to a Manhattan apartment on Park Avenue and a town house on the Upper East Side.
He had the finest education money could buy, going to the Buckley School and then Deerfield Academy, where he shone at varsity football, basketball, and baseball. A straight A student, Tommy had an IQ of 140, was fluent in Mandarin Chinese, and excelled at higher mathematics.
“He is an excellent role model for our younger students,” his Deerfield Academy college adviser wrote. “He will only get better as he continues to mature.”
Known to everyone as Tommy, his movie star looks turned women’s heads. Blond, blue-eyed, and six feet three inches tall, designer clothes framed his muscular body, carefully sculpted from daily workouts in the gym. He followed in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps to attend Princeton University, where he majored in economics and graduated with honors.
Like a modern-day Jay Gatsby, he moved in the rarest of social circles, the epitome of the rich, successful man-about-town. He was frequently seen in the society pages, squiring a beautiful socialite to a Manhattan black-tie event or attending a charity event in the Hamptons.
“He has the pedigree of this incredibly sophisticated person,” explained a friend. “But the mind and the skin are two different things.”
Underneath the carefully groomed façade was a socially anxious man with a long history of drug abuse and psychiatric illness.
After leaving Princeton, his much-anticipated career in high finance had failed to ignite. He told friends he was starting a hedge fund with his own secret algorithm, even registering the name Mameluke Capital with the Securities and Exchange Commission. But after twice failing the Chartered Financial Analyst Level II exam, essential for entrée to Wall Street, he had been reduced to a series of short-lived bartending jobs and giving surfing lessons to kids.
At the age of thirty, Tommy was still being supported by his father, who paid the rent for his Manhattan apartment as well as a generous $800 weekly allowance. He also paid for his sporty Jeep, expensive club memberships, and all other expenses.
At the end of 2014, Thomas Gilbert Sr., whose Wainscott Capital Partners hedge fund was itself struggling, had started cutting his son’s weekly allowance, hoping to force him to get a real job.
On the morning of Tommy’s visit that fateful Sunday, he had slashed it down to just $300 a week and knew his son would not be pleased.
After leaving her tony Beekman Place apartment building, Shelley Gilbert walked around the block. She felt uneasy, knowing her husband and son would be discussing the latest cut in Tommy’s allowance. She wondered if it had been a bad idea to leave Tommy alone with his father, in case they argued.
So turning on her heel, she headed straight back to her apartment building, taking the elevator up to the eighth floor. Nervous about disturbing them, she first listened at the door, but could not hear anything. She paced up and down the hallway, trying to make up her mind what to do.
Finally, Shelley unlocked the door with her key and walked in. There was no sign of Tommy, although she’d only been gone a few minutes.
Then she went into the bedroom to find her husband lying dead on the floor. There was blood pooling from his head and a .40-caliber Glock clasped in his left hand over his chest.
“My first thought,” she later recalled, “was ‘Oh, Tommy, you are far sicker than we even knew.’”
Copyright © 2021 by John Glatt. All rights reserved.
Read our review of Golden Boy here.
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Comments are closed.
This looks great!
This is just my type of book. Looks great.
Would love a copy
Sounds so good!
This is going to be such a thrilling read!!
Captivating and mysterious.
I love everything Glatt writes.
Looks interesting, would like to win a copy
Sounds riveting.
I NEED this book, so I can finish past the excerpt!!!
Thanks very much!
Sounds like a great book!
Look forward to reading the rest.
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am familiar with this story and would really like to read the book. It sounds like an example of the tail wagging the dog.
Tantalizing except — looks like a good one.
I don’t know this story but, would love to read the rest. It sounds truly interesting.
Sounds like a great read
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I so enjoy a good true crime book. I want to read more.
Sounds like an interesting read
This is a “ripped from the headlines” crime story; it is just what I need to get my daily fix of real crime drama. This is definitely on my TBR list.
Thanks for the chance to read this fascinating book!
piqued my curiousity, why did Tommy think he didn’t need a job?
Sounds like the killer is Tommy, but the twist says it must not be.
Chilling–The fin occasionally broke the water before the monster moved in for the kill.
Looks like this will be a really great read. Heading to the coast soon….maybe a beach book? Would love to win a copy!
I am interested in reading this book.
I am fascinated by true crime!
This sounds great.
Yes, please enter me in this sweepstakes.
Thanks!
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Getting back into true crime/theillera would love to read this book
Fascinating what goes on in the minds of people.
I love a book that can keep me guessing what’s next! Can’t wait to read this!
A mystery lies therein awaiting resolution!
Creepy!
The son didn’t do it! The scenario leads you there, but it’s just too ‘pat’! Not the son, I tell you!!!
Now you got me wanting to know more.
sounds interesting
Sounds too damn good to pass up-gotta read it!
Tommy did not do it. It was suicide.
Every family has its problems, case in point…Looks like a compelling read!
This reminds me of my former best friend who when asked would say “OH, EVERYTHING IS GOLDEN.” What a liar!
Cant wait to read this book as the excerpt already peaked my interest as a good want to read book.
Can’t wait to read it.
OMG, it’s amazing what the wealthy think they can get away with. Can’t wait to read this one. Thanks.
Sounds like a good read
Awesomeness. Must. Read
Wow, this really goes to show you just never know with people. I definitely would like to read more.
Still being supported by his father and his mother going out to get his food, seems like he had a pretty good life but I will need to read the whole story to find out if he had it as good as it seems.
Another spoiled rich kid! God forbid he had to live on $300 a month with all other expenses paid.
I am not familiar with this story. It would be interesting to read the book and learn more
Sounds like my kind of reading
Oooohhhh! Gives me chills!
I can’t wait to read more!
Wish to know what happened
This looks like a book that I’d thoroughly enjoy reading.
Looks like a good read
I’m hooked, would love to read this book!
sounds amazing.
who done it??????
Love true crime books.
Love rich people gone berserk! Can’t wait to read it.
Love rich people gone berserk! Can’t wait to read it.
Stoked for this! Good book to review on my channel.
This sounds like it will be an awesome read!
I am intrigued by this crime to know someone could kill someone especially one’s own parent. I enjoy reading true crime so I hope to win and read more.
Wow this book looks so great can’t wait to read it love crime and mystery books
looks like a great read!
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Sounds like an intriguing read. Thank you for the chance.
Very interesting!
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interesting
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Definitely adding to my tbr
I will have to put this on my to-be-read list.
Sounds spicy. Looking forward to it.
I would love to win a copy of this book. This sounds like a great story; I’m unfamiliar with this crime.
Crimes like this need to stay in the public eye — thank you for this window into books that need to be read.
this sounds really intriguing
I can’t wait to read this book!
Love a true crime mystery, thanks for the chance
Sounds amazing!
I can not wait to read this book! I can tell TV at the book will read and be interesting by the excerpt!!
I would love to finish reading this! Very interesting!
Hi, I really like the cover of the book! The excerpt was interesting to read, and it seems like although there is money there, dysfunctional family members are obvious… Thanks for the chance to win a copy of your book.
Cindi
Money can’t buy everything! Hooked, now I want to read the book. Thanks for the chance to win one!
This looks SO good!
Now I have to read the rest!
Sounds like it’s going to be good!
Can’t wait to read the rest
I’m always up for true crime!
This is a can’t put down, edge of your seat, reading all night book! Would love to win this one!
Sounds like a great read!
thanks for the chance to win. . . . . . …… . . . …
Boy this sounds like the kind of book I like to read. Would love to read this one.
This sounds like a good book. It has wealth, privilege, and mental illness. thanks for the chance.
This book sounds good
I would like to read this book
Very interesting, always looking for new stories to share with our book and Author to share with my book club.
Would love to win it, looks oh, so good.
It’s hard to tell if this truly nonfiction because the plot has shown up in many mysteries and thrillers. Nonetheless, I’d like to win a copy of this book.
This looks excellent; I’d love to read it and share it with my niece!
Seems like a true thriller to me. Fingers crossed!
Sounds like a great read
I love true crime. Very interested in reading this book.
i would love to read this book
This really sounds like a good book.
Looks like another fascinating true crime. Guess many of us never tire if reading about lives we hope we never have to live!!
I’ve never heard of this case before. sounds interesting!
Sounds fascinating!
Very interested to see what happens with Tommy and his mom too. Love true crime.
This looks great!
Would love to get a copy!
Wow! Can’t wait to read this
I would love to win this!
Sounds truly amazing!
From the prologue it begins the suspense. The hook: Did the son do it? Why did mom leave? this has peeked my interested. Well written, look forward to reading it.
love to read it, this book is going to be good!
Wow! After reading the excerpt, I want to read this book.
I would love to win this book !!!!!
Sounds like a page-turner!
The excerpt makes the book sound very intriguing
sounds interesting!!
On my TBR list
Wow I love True Crime. My library of podcasts are 95% true crime. I would love to read this book
I am a big fan of this type of read
Another one to put on my TBR pile, thanks!
True stories are the best. It seems like he had many advantages but couldn’t cope with his life.
I remember the news when this happened – it was interesting then, but to get much more detail/background would be great.
Wow
This sounds great. I would love to win a copy!
Going on my TBR list
I would enjoy reading this book. Thanks for the contest.
Looks very interesting!
Sounds fascinating, I’d love to read it. It’s been awhile since I’ve read a really good true crime story.
“He wanted to talk to Dad about business and I was thrilled.”
Sounds like a great book!
I remember reading about this case. It sounds interesting.
The excerpt has me intrigued, can’t wait to read this one!
I’m very interested in reading this book!
Sounds like a winner.
True stories can be just as good as fiction. This one really looks like a good one to read.
Sounds like a good book!Thanks:)
would love to read
Read the excerpt. Sounds like a great read. Nothing like family relations to creep you out.
Read the excerpt. Love those family dynamics.
Can’t wait to read this one! Thanks for the chance!
I don’t think my library will get the book so winning the book would give me a chance to read this book. I just read the story about Chris Watt and it was a great book.
Looks like a really good read and I am a member but can’t seems to login.
Adding to my reading list. Looks great!
I know the more articles you write the more what you write It’s definitely going to be even more wonderful. i will wait to read it