In February 1993, 2 year old James Bulger disappeared from a shopping mall in Liverpool, England. A day or so later, his mutilated body was found on some nearby railroad tracks, clearly the victim of a brutal murder. Using camera footage and some quick detective work, the murderers were found - two 10 year old boys from the community, an unbelievably young age for something so brutal. And this case became a lightning rod for discussion of how to treat children who commit horrific crimes when generally we don't consider children to be mature enough to understand the magnitude of what they've done.

Smith's The Sleep of Reason is a hard retelling of the crime and subsequent trial - almost brutal itself in the telling. He's not trying to answer the question, for instance, of why the boys did what they did or how the circumstances of their background, including significant abuse, contributed to their actions. Instead, he presents the facts as best they can be reconstructed and lets the reader come to conclusions. Bookending the story is a little bit of the history of murder committed by children in Britain and how society responded, and some thoughts on how he interprets the crime. This one will make you think: how do we treat these children? How do we try to keep this from happening? What is society's response as these children grow up - can they become more than just child murderers? ( )

The author portrays a gripping story of the events surrounding 2 ten year old boys killing a 18 month old child. Every part of the book screams "How could this happen?" The author points out at the beginning how often children have killed children and this helps to put the events of James Bulger's murder into a better perspective. Tragic story. ( )

A very, very thorough account of the murder of James Bulger and the context of children's criminal justice in Britain. I enjoyed the book, but at times it felt a bit clinical and detached. Some of the passages read like transcribed police reports, but I don't think this really hurt the overall book. ( )

I was really fascinated with this book. Smith walks you through that horrible day step by step, every place and person the boys encountered, all the way to the horrific end at the railroad tracks. The police interviews and court case were well documented. You never do get a definitive answer to why they did what they did to poor James. Some parts of the book got a little confusing but overall the book was well written. I would be very interested in hearing what Robert Thompson and Jon Venables had to say now that they are adults. ( )

The Sleep of Reason: The James Bulger Case recounts that fateful events that happened to James Bulger on February 12, 1993. James was a 2 year who was abducted and killed by two ten-year old boys. This case shocked the world. How could two young children do such horrible things to another young child? David James Smith gives us a glimpse behind the headlines about what really happened that day. Mr. Smith does go into great detail in breaking down this case. Every rock is uncovered. Although this is a fascinating story, I did feel lost in the way this was told in the book. It, at times, was confusing, as it goes back and forth with multiple stories that lead up to the death of James Bulger. The author does help glimpse into the minds of the two boys who caused this tragedy and how it ending up coming about.

***I received this book through LibraryThing Member's Giveaway. The opinion is solely my own.*** ( )