Wicked Boy, The

Rating:

Teenagers can be murder…

Author: Kate Summerscale

Robert Coombes wasn’t your average cold-blooded killer. He was an active and bright 13 year-old boy with a yearning for adventure. But in the summer of 1895, he stabbed his mother to death in the upstairs bedroom, leaving her to slowly decompose. Eventually, the neighbors began to notice not only the prolonged absence of Emily Coombes, but a growing stench. Despite Robert’s cunning attempts to conceal his crime – assisted by his 12 year-old brother Nattie – his mother’s decaying and maggot-infested body was finally discovered. Deftly exploring this bizarre true crime, award winning journalist Kate Summerscale tells the youngster’s story in The Wicked Boy.

The Old Bailey, scene of the sensational trial.

As the enormity of the crime became apparent, shock swept through the borough of West Ham, just east of London. The authorities were appalled at Robert’s seeming indifference to his horrific act. Despite extensive questioning of both boys, as well as a dramatic trial at the Old Bailey, no clear motive was apparent. Robert was judged insane and sent away to the asylum at Broadmoor.

Much like the officials at the time, the author tries to figure out what motivated young Robert to commit such a crime. Was it the frequent absence of his father? Did his enthusiasm for the infamous “penny dreadfuls” – a cheap form of sensational serial fiction popular among young boys at the time – drive him to act? Was there abuse in the home? Or was it some sinister deep-seated flaw in the boy’s psyche?

Australian troops on the move during the infamous Gallipoli campaign.

More than one hundred years after the act, the answers aren’t any clearer. Nonetheless, Summerscale’s investigation is thoroughly riveting. While the details of the crime and trial are skillfully chronicled, I found the aftermath to be equally fascinating. Coombes time in the asylum, his service in World War I and his subsequent quiet life in rural Australia only add to the enigma. The author even brings the story to the present day, seeking out those who knew him and searching for answers.

In addition to the horrific crime, Summerscale includes a lot of intriguing and heavily researched backstory. She reveals many of the finer points of late 19^th century English jurisprudence and forensic psychology and skillfully captures the hardscrabble life of lower class teenagers along the Thames.

An intriguing investigation into the mind of a child murderer more than one hundred years after the fact, The Wicked Boy is more than just a true sensationalized crime drama. It’s an entertaining and immersive history of ordinary life in Victorian London when it was the most populous city in the world.

— D. Driftless

Old Bailey photo by Nevilley (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Reviews of other true crime books with a historical bent: The Murder of the Century / The Killer of Little Shepherds / The Devil in the White City / A Serial Killer in Nazi Berlin

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dave

Ceaselessly seeking out non-fiction writing on almost any topic, Dave can carry almost forty pounds of books in the pannier pack on his bicycle and knows all the librarians at his local public library by their first names.