Book description
Friday, February 12 1993. Two outwardly unremarkable ten-year-old
boys, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, began their day playing truant
and ended it running an errand for a local video shop. In between they
abducted and killed the toddler James Bulger. The Sleep of Reason is
the harrowing, sensitive, definitive account of this terrible crime
and its consequences. In a new Preface (which considers the re-arrest
of Jon Venables in February 2010) David James Smith writes: 'It is as
true now as it was then that the murder has never really been
explained and the motive for the crime remains a mystery. This book,
the result of considerable research and a painstaking, sometimes
distressing assembly of the facts, was my attempt to offer some
insight and understanding.' 'Surprisingly evocative, even moving...
immensely valuable.' Times 'Dramatic and disturbing.' Anita Brookner,
Observer 'Compelling and compassionate.' Times Educational Supplement
