Reviews - The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer

285 reviews for:

The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer

This is a fascinating true-crime book about a 13-year-old boy who murders his mother in Victorian England. The author does a deep dive into the culture and history of the time as well as the boy's experiences after the murder. I look forward to reading more of her books.

juushika's review

4.0

In London 1895, 13-year-old Robert Coombes murdered his mother; then, for ten days, Robert, his 12-year-old brother Nattie, and an unwitting family friend lived in the house with the corpse decaying in a locked room upstairs. This has some tedious sections (including, perhaps ironically, the murder and its immediate aftermath) which are unaided by Summerscale's precise, exhaustive research and the cultural and anecdotal details that flesh out the historical setting. But it pays for itself in Summerscale's compassionate, complex reading of the case, specifically of Robert's motives and emotions, in the crime and its baffling immediate aftermath, but also during the trial and into adulthood. (One almost wishes for more: a comparison between historical and modern moral panics over popular media is the obvious oversight.) Her refusal of simple answers makes for compelling arguments which are firmly rooted in, but not limited by, historical context--and she still manages to inhabit that morbid, escapist ten-day interlude which makes this case so engaging.