The Sleep Of Reason (I'm not sure what this title actually refers to) gives us the whole sad story about how, why (is there really a why?

Much of this book is a somewhat dry recounting of the events leading up to and surrounding the 1993 abduction and torture/murder of 2-year-old James Bulger. One of the two boys must have first introduced the idea that led to taking James… “Let’s get a kid…let’s get a kid lost…”. I was there to read about the murder of James Bulger and the sentencing of two eleven-year-old boys.Venables was sent to prison in 2010 for breaching the terms of his licence, was released on parole again in 2013, and in November 2017 was again sent to prison for possessing child sexual abuse images on his computer. I suppose it is hard to try and regain control of your life when everyone knows who you are, but then hidden identities of not, it didn't appear to help rehabilitate Venables who has been in and out of jail because of child pornography found on his computer. Venables had contacted his probation officer in February 2010, fearing that his new identity had been compromised at his place of work.

As we know, the jury did ultimately find both Thompson and Venables guilty, yet neither has ever spent a single day in jail for this crime.

I had finished reading Denise's book prior to this one and no way in hell I would look at these boys as victims of their circumstances. Interestingly Smith goes through the motions of the crime, the enquiry, the subsequent arrest, the legal systems difficulties in prosecuting such young children and the aftermath.

Blunkett added his own conditions to their licence and insisted on being sent daily updates on the boys' actions.This is a book with a bias for sure - David James Smith feels empathy for the perpetrators and their families, and he addresses that in the book. It seems to be meant for a British reader, as it is full of British slang, references to local places (without any descriptions) and references to acronyms (without any explanation).