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3.4 AVERAGE
3.4 AVERAGE
I want to preface everything I write with this caveat: this is one of the best researched books on an historical crime not committed by a famous person or member of the royalty. There must have been a lot of digging to get the information the author acquired on this 'wicked boy,' who was from a low station British family in the late 19th century.
In July 1895, 13-year-old Robert Coombes and his younger brother travel to Lord’s to watch a cricket match. The trip is just the beginning of a spending spree for the two boys who are pawning items from their family home and taking jaunts to the seaside in the company of a grown-up friend Mr Fox. However, when visiting relatives notice an offensive smell coming from the house and explore the small modest cottage, the decaying body of the boys’ mother is discovered in an upstairs room.
13-year old Robert immediately admits to stabbing his mother several times - and when she doesn't die immediately, finishes her off by suffocating her with a pillow. The trial spends a great amount of time trying to decide whether Robert is bad, mad, or the victim of circumstance and surrounding (the nature vs. nurture debate that goes on in "The Alienist," though that is fiction).
I did enjoy the author expanding the scope of the story by including information and history of the various people involved in the case - but without straying from the main story. It gave the story a life that might otherwise just have been dry research on a sensational murder trial.
I found the first half the book intriguing and fascinating: the lead-up to and the murder, the aftermath, the arrest and trial, and the long incarceration of the murderer (there was never a question about whether he was guilty - he readily admitted it - only whether he would be housed in prison or asylum). It was somewhat disheartening to read that some of these late nineteenth/early twentieth century asylums were more compassionate and understanding of the mentally unstable than we are today.
The second half of the book, regarding Robert's release and his 'adventures' thereafter, were less interesting to me. He became a war hero - and much of the remainder of the book is covering of his war activities and promotions, as well as multiple retelling of several famous WWI battles in which he took part and received medals. Frankly, I'm just not interested in reading a war story - which is what this basically became - so I found myself skimming, rather than reading.
The very final period of his life, I found interesting - and the man who grew up from that murderous 13-year old is rather surprising and adds a lift of touch of hope for the mentally deranged.
As a well researched piece and (unusual today!) uplifting ending, as well as the fascinating beginning of the book, I highly recommend it.
But I can't give it more than three out of five stars, because of the two hundred pages of battle sequences which just blurred my eyes over with tedium.
Still, I'm not at all sorry I met The Wicked Boy!
In July 1895, 13-year-old Robert Coombes and his younger brother travel to Lord’s to watch a cricket match. The trip is just the beginning of a spending spree for the two boys who are pawning items from their family home and taking jaunts to the seaside in the company of a grown-up friend Mr Fox. However, when visiting relatives notice an offensive smell coming from the house and explore the small modest cottage, the decaying body of the boys’ mother is discovered in an upstairs room.
13-year old Robert immediately admits to stabbing his mother several times - and when she doesn't die immediately, finishes her off by suffocating her with a pillow. The trial spends a great amount of time trying to decide whether Robert is bad, mad, or the victim of circumstance and surrounding (the nature vs. nurture debate that goes on in "The Alienist," though that is fiction).
I did enjoy the author expanding the scope of the story by including information and history of the various people involved in the case - but without straying from the main story. It gave the story a life that might otherwise just have been dry research on a sensational murder trial.
I found the first half the book intriguing and fascinating: the lead-up to and the murder, the aftermath, the arrest and trial, and the long incarceration of the murderer (there was never a question about whether he was guilty - he readily admitted it - only whether he would be housed in prison or asylum). It was somewhat disheartening to read that some of these late nineteenth/early twentieth century asylums were more compassionate and understanding of the mentally unstable than we are today.
The second half of the book, regarding Robert's release and his 'adventures' thereafter, were less interesting to me. He became a war hero - and much of the remainder of the book is covering of his war activities and promotions, as well as multiple retelling of several famous WWI battles in which he took part and received medals. Frankly, I'm just not interested in reading a war story - which is what this basically became - so I found myself skimming, rather than reading.
The very final period of his life, I found interesting - and the man who grew up from that murderous 13-year old is rather surprising and adds a lift of touch of hope for the mentally deranged.
As a well researched piece and (unusual today!) uplifting ending, as well as the fascinating beginning of the book, I highly recommend it.
But I can't give it more than three out of five stars, because of the two hundred pages of battle sequences which just blurred my eyes over with tedium.
Still, I'm not at all sorry I met The Wicked Boy!
Fan of Kate Summerscale but this book felt a little flimsy. Very well researched but some of the support information (the endless penny dreadfuls in particular) felt to me like filler pages. Not a bad book and a fascinating story, I just expected it to be a bit better.
It was good, though not as good as Mr. Whicher. I wanted to know more than it was possible to know, i think, which was not the author's fault, the internal information, diaries, letters, things which might have made the "wicked boy" more fleshed out, real , complex, I think they are just not there. STill, a look at the time, especially Broadmoor, that really is fascinating.
Not the greatest book. I found the epilogue to be more compelling and interesting than the actual book!
Another brilliant book from Kate Summerscale. It tells the story of Robert Coombes, a 'wicked boy' who murdered his mother aged just 13. The crime itself is disturbing yet fascinating, as is the contemporary press coverage which surrounded it. We see an early example of moral panic over youth diversions in the form of the Penny Dreadful, and the problem of what to do with juvenile criminals.
Summerscale's detailed research enables us to follow Coombes long after interest in the case had died away, and eventually traces him to his final days and the legacy he left behind.
Summerscale's detailed research enables us to follow Coombes long after interest in the case had died away, and eventually traces him to his final days and the legacy he left behind.
In East London in the summer of 1895 13-year-old Robert Coombes murdered his mother. His guilt was never in question, and he never denied the charges when the death was eventually discovered. For ten days after the murder, his mother's body lay rotting in the summer heat in an upstairs bedroom, whilst Robert, his younger brother Nattie and a simple-minded colleague of his father's whom Robert conned into taking care of the boys in their mother's 'absence', went to watch cricket at Lord's, to the seaside, coffee shops and the park, played cards and other games. Family members soon grew suspicious, and the crime was eventually uncovered. To say more of the events that took place would spoil readers' enjoyment, no doubt, so I will refrain, and simply say that only the first half of this book concerns the murder and Robert's trial.
Child murderers are always of interest - the dichotomy between such an abhorrent act and the perceived 'innocence' of childhood, no doubt - and a young boy who kills his mother and then acts with such cool unconcern in the aftermath all the more so. Yet I found this book disappointing, for all that. I've read and thoroughly enjoyed both of Kate Summerscale's previous books, 'The Suspicions of Mr Whicher' and 'Mrs Robinson's Disgrace', but this one seems to lack depth in comparison. It felt very cursory, degenerating on many pages to little more than a 'he said/they said/he said' recitation of the trial records. At no point did I ever feel enthralled in the tale and none of the personalities involved ever felt more than potted characters on the page.
Perhaps that was because there was no 'whodunnit' aspect to the case; perhaps because the trial lawyers never sought to determine Robert's motive; perhaps because there is no extant record of Robert's thoughts, impulses or feelings after the trial or throughout his subsequent life - whatever the reason, Robert himself remained very much a cipher in these pages, impossible to understand or empathise with. As I said, at no point reading this book did I ever feel that there was any depth to the words on the page - it read as very much a 'this happened and then that happened and then he said this and she said that', and quite frankly I got bored. It took me less than a day to read this book, not because I was unable to put it down, but because it was such a light, cursory read it took no time at all to rattle through. I can only hope Kate Summerscale's next book reflects 'The Suspicions of Mr Whicher' or 'Mrs Robinson's Disgrace', and not this one.
Child murderers are always of interest - the dichotomy between such an abhorrent act and the perceived 'innocence' of childhood, no doubt - and a young boy who kills his mother and then acts with such cool unconcern in the aftermath all the more so. Yet I found this book disappointing, for all that. I've read and thoroughly enjoyed both of Kate Summerscale's previous books, 'The Suspicions of Mr Whicher' and 'Mrs Robinson's Disgrace', but this one seems to lack depth in comparison. It felt very cursory, degenerating on many pages to little more than a 'he said/they said/he said' recitation of the trial records. At no point did I ever feel enthralled in the tale and none of the personalities involved ever felt more than potted characters on the page.
Perhaps that was because there was no 'whodunnit' aspect to the case; perhaps because the trial lawyers never sought to determine Robert's motive; perhaps because there is no extant record of Robert's thoughts, impulses or feelings after the trial or throughout his subsequent life - whatever the reason, Robert himself remained very much a cipher in these pages, impossible to understand or empathise with. As I said, at no point reading this book did I ever feel that there was any depth to the words on the page - it read as very much a 'this happened and then that happened and then he said this and she said that', and quite frankly I got bored. It took me less than a day to read this book, not because I was unable to put it down, but because it was such a light, cursory read it took no time at all to rattle through. I can only hope Kate Summerscale's next book reflects 'The Suspicions of Mr Whicher' or 'Mrs Robinson's Disgrace', and not this one.
interesting book about the life of robert coombes who murdered his mother in 1895 and the events leading to and after the murder to the trial at the old bailey and his time at broadmoor and WW1 and australia.
Me starting this book: Robert was a dick
Me at the end of this book: Robert deserves to be protected
Me at the end of this book: Robert deserves to be protected
So far, I've only had one experience with true crime through NetGalley. It piqued my interest enough for me to explore other novels that fit into this genre. I thought this one was quite unique because not only is it true crime, it is from an incident that took place in the Victorian era in London. History was always one of my favorite subjects so I was excited to read this novel and see how the author would portray this iconic crime.
Early morning on Monday 8 July 1895, 13-year-old Robert Coombes and his 12-year-old brother Nattie left their house in East London to attend a cricket match at Lord's. Upon questioning, they told their neighbours that their father was away on a sea voyage and their mother was visiting her family in Liverpool. Over the course of 10 days, these 2 brothers spend money extravagantly and begin to pawn valuables to fund their excursions. But eventually, people began to get suspicious of this scenario. When the police were finally called to investigate, the discovery something that sends the city - and the press - into a mad frenzy, sweeping Robert and Nattie along into a criminal trial for a crime that seems straight out of the 'penny dreadful' novels that Robert loved to read.
The premise pretty much tells you everything about the story. On that note, I should probably warn you that this story isn't going to be suspenseful; everything is pretty much told by the synopsis and becomes obvious as you continue to read the facts presented (and you could always Google it). The author has clearly done her research when it came to this story. She had a lot of transcripts from the court and included detailed accounts of witnesses to create a cohesive story. There were times when I felt as if the author was giving me too much detail; there were some facts that I really could not care about, but because there were so many instances of this, I felt like I was plodding through this novel. The case itself was interesting and the author did an excellent job of portraying the sensation through all of the different lenses; there was no bias or partiality that I could detect, which was so good to see because it allowed me to form my own assumptions. I was also happy to see that the author ventured beyond the case and described the aftermath and the changes this crime presented to the lives of the boys. The book is dry, I'll admit. It reads like a textbook full of inane details, hiding those little nuggets of gold that actually hold your interest. Unfortunately, that's not my style of book so it made it feel a bit like a chore to get through. Overall, I think the author chose a fascinating case to explore and she did a great job in covering all of the bases and portraying a cohesive story that looks at every angle. However, the overwhelming amount of (sometimes useless) detail combined with the factual writing style made it a slow read to get through.
Early morning on Monday 8 July 1895, 13-year-old Robert Coombes and his 12-year-old brother Nattie left their house in East London to attend a cricket match at Lord's. Upon questioning, they told their neighbours that their father was away on a sea voyage and their mother was visiting her family in Liverpool. Over the course of 10 days, these 2 brothers spend money extravagantly and begin to pawn valuables to fund their excursions. But eventually, people began to get suspicious of this scenario. When the police were finally called to investigate, the discovery something that sends the city - and the press - into a mad frenzy, sweeping Robert and Nattie along into a criminal trial for a crime that seems straight out of the 'penny dreadful' novels that Robert loved to read.
The premise pretty much tells you everything about the story. On that note, I should probably warn you that this story isn't going to be suspenseful; everything is pretty much told by the synopsis and becomes obvious as you continue to read the facts presented (and you could always Google it). The author has clearly done her research when it came to this story. She had a lot of transcripts from the court and included detailed accounts of witnesses to create a cohesive story. There were times when I felt as if the author was giving me too much detail; there were some facts that I really could not care about, but because there were so many instances of this, I felt like I was plodding through this novel. The case itself was interesting and the author did an excellent job of portraying the sensation through all of the different lenses; there was no bias or partiality that I could detect, which was so good to see because it allowed me to form my own assumptions. I was also happy to see that the author ventured beyond the case and described the aftermath and the changes this crime presented to the lives of the boys. The book is dry, I'll admit. It reads like a textbook full of inane details, hiding those little nuggets of gold that actually hold your interest. Unfortunately, that's not my style of book so it made it feel a bit like a chore to get through. Overall, I think the author chose a fascinating case to explore and she did a great job in covering all of the bases and portraying a cohesive story that looks at every angle. However, the overwhelming amount of (sometimes useless) detail combined with the factual writing style made it a slow read to get through.
This book explores a fascinating case of matricide by a 13-year-old boy in Victorian London. It features surprisingly compassionate attitudes among late-19th-century asylum workers, retrograde attitudes among lawyers and judges, and doesn’t provide any easy answers regarding why some children enact horrible crimes.
However, so much of the writing is so incredibly dry and bland as to make a lot of the narrative read like an extended court transcript. I can imagine that when an author approaches telling a true story, there is a concern not to leap to conclusions or inject opinions, but I do think there’s some room for a bit more artistry and personality to be present in the prose.
This is only my second-ever delving into true-crime literature, and I’m still waiting to be truly swept away by my reading experience in this genre.
However, so much of the writing is so incredibly dry and bland as to make a lot of the narrative read like an extended court transcript. I can imagine that when an author approaches telling a true story, there is a concern not to leap to conclusions or inject opinions, but I do think there’s some room for a bit more artistry and personality to be present in the prose.
This is only my second-ever delving into true-crime literature, and I’m still waiting to be truly swept away by my reading experience in this genre.