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The Sleep of Reason

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About this listen

Friday, 12th February, 1993. Two outwardly unremarkable 10-year-old boys began the day by playing truant and ended it running an errand for the local video shop. In between they abducted and killed a two-year-old boy, James Bulger. In search of an explanation, award-winning journalist David James Smith looks behind the misinformation, misunderstanding and sensational reporting to an exact account of the events of that day.

A sensitive and definitive account, The Sleep of Reason achieves a unique understanding of the James Bulger case, and comes as close as may ever be possible to explaining how two 10-year-olds could kill.

©2017 David James Smith (P)2020 Audible, Ltd Murder True Crime Crime Scary

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I found this book to be really interesting. It went really in depth into the events, but with more focus on the two perpetrators rather than young James, although some background is covered about him too.

You might want to space it out over a few days, like I did, because the subject matter is pretty intense.

Narration is also top notch.

A fascination, sad, disturbing read..

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We all know this terrible tale and the basics of what happened. This book really goes deeper into what the two 10 year olds did before, during and after their abhorrent abduction and murder of the two year old James Bulger.

It is a difficult read in parts as you would expect.

Quite separate to their awful actions with James Bulger, the two boys seem as if they had tough home lives, with poor boundaries and bad/lacking parenting and - perhaps as a result or at least a partial result - they acted like feral, entitled brats. Wantonly skipping school often and then shoplifting - not just the odd thing but a LOT of things in one day - and damaging property etc. A horrible “Lord of the Flies” type depiction of what it looks like when the dark side that is in every human being, including every child, is ramped up far beyond the “normal” mischief and bad behaviour.

Back in a time when it was normal for kids to play outside all day and call for each other and go off roaming, getting up to goodness knows what, these two were in an environment where they seemed to be surrounded by other tough kids with seemingly bad characters and little empathy. Basically, these two and others were regularly going out looking for trouble and taking delight in hurting or terrorising others.

It seems inconceivable that these two could both go along with the abduction and murder or James, with no sympathy for or empathy with the little boy. Any tears afterwards were largely for themselves once they realised that they had not got away with it. Only a naive child brain could even imagine that they could.

One really sad and frustrating thing is that several adults saw the boys with James and some even stopped and challenged them. In a couple of cases they even told these adults that they did not know James, had found him at the shopping centre, and were on the way to the police station with him. He had visible injuries to his head and yet these adults just let them on their way, which is unbelievable yet true.

The community is portrayed as somewhat hard, poverty stricken and lacking in feeling. The interaction between the police and the parents is interesting and it is hard to imagine what they went through as it dawned on them that their children were murderers.

The whole book was very well done and very well paced. It was spoiled (for me at least) by the final chapter, which the author says he did not include in the first printing but decided to include afterwards. The thrust of the chapter is that however awful their crimes, the two 10 years olds could have been treated more gently by the legal process. He argues that the boys deserve empathy due to their lack of positive parenting, which set them on this path.

Whilst any right minded person would agree that a bad start in life probably is a contributing factor, the premeditated and sustained attack was truly awful. A poor start in life is no excuse for such extreme evil behaviour. They did know the difference between right and wrong but didn’t care, they were out for thrills. So many others have poor starts in life yet do not take a perverse pleasure in torturing and murdering a toddler. They committed an adult crime and do not deserve our sympathy or leniency. The only person who deserves our sympathy is James Bulger and and his family, who went through a nightmare most of us cannot bring ourselves to even imagine.

So in summary, a tough read but a very good book, spoiled by a self indulgent opinion chapter at the end by the author

Horrendous story, told well

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The James Bulger case shocked the world, and it is easy to overload it with emotive and judgmental language which it hardly needs. This author resists that, telling in a very procedural way the simple facts of the case and the testimony given in court. The first edition, published only a year after the case, stopped there - this updated edition includes a final chapter in which he adds his conclusions about the upbringing of the perpetrators, and how it bore upon their actions. I'm not sure that this reflective chapter adds anything, as the simple facts of the case are compelling and heartbreaking enough.

Clear, unemotive telling of a shocking case

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Loved the detail that the author went into. But hated it at the same time.

Well written, full of factual information

Heinous…

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Great book, hard not to become emotional listening to it. Will now move on to the book written by James Bulgers mum ‘I let him go’

Heartbreaking

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Very good lots details sad off course but very interesting rip poor james humans are the worst kind

Very sad

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I thought I knew about the Bulger case until Iheard this audio book.
Some really gruesome and upsetting details but an overall respectful analysis.
My one criticism of the narration is that, at times, the narrator uses a bouncy, chirpy manner of speaking that you might hear reading a child's story book while describing awful facts.

The outcome in the last chapter shows just how the deterioration of family life can damage a child.

Gruesome

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I have always been fascinated with this case. And this book did not let me down. Fantastic book which seems to cover both the day of the crime and the fillowing weeks, moths and years as the pair went through interviews and the court process.

Hard to hear

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I felt this book slightly lent towards the murderers point of view, rather than James as family.

Heartbreaking

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Excellently told story. Highlights the sadness of all the families involved. Narrator tells the story brilliantly and I was glued to this. Listened to it inside 24 hours.

Fabulously written

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