As If 
by Blake Morrison

 

This was a recommendation from she_ghost

 

I was interested in this as the Bulger case was one of the cases I covered in my dissertation on the link between violent media and violent acts, and although it did touch on the media violence angle, I was pleased that this was a detailed look at the case and our society as a whole.

 

Starting with a lengthy ramble through the children’s crusades, I wondered where this was going, but it made sense once he started talking about the case.

 

Blake Morrison was at the trial of Robert Thompson and Jon Venables in Preston, and looks at their backgrounds, influences, the nature of childhood and evil to find out what I wanted to know at the time: why?

 

There are a few passages I found hard to read (especially one that reads like a sex scene but turns out to be a description of him putting his daughter to bed) but this is a complex book that covers a lot but never strays too far that it loses your attention.

 

As Morrison illustrates, children can be, and often are cruel.

 

Through personal anecdotes, fables and factual examples, he looks at why children are portrayed as innocent, when they are far from that, and sets out a calm and fair conclusion that is far more thought-provoking than anything else I’ve read on the subject.