The Monster of Florence

The Monster of Florence
by Douglas Preston

The Monster of Florence
List Price: $25.99
Our Price: $6.35
You Save: $19.64 (76%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $3.70 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


or

Book Summary Information

Author: Douglas Preston
Contributor: Mario Spezi
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-06-10
ISBN: 0446581194
Number of pages: 336
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Book Reviews of The Monster of Florence

Book Review: Horrifying
Summary: 5 Stars

I literally could not put this book down. I really didn't read any reviews before beginning this book, and I started reading thinking that the book was about a serial killer. I have always been fascinated by the investigations of serial killers, from Jack the Ripper to the Zodiac, so this seemed right up my alley.
The first third or more of the book is mostly focused on the initial investigation into the killings and theories about who the killer could be, but then the book starts to focus on those investigating the killer instead of focusing solely on finding the identity of the killer. While this might seem like it would weaken the book or make it confusing to read, it actually becomes that much more fascinating. The authors relate more about all the people beyond the victims that the Monster of Florence touched, also revealing the corruption or at the very least the ridiculous methods and theories used by those who should have approached the case with an open mind.
At times, the methods used and theories proposed by the investigators read more like something out of another century of from a novel. I had to keep reminding myself that most of these events occurred within the past ten years. Half of the book is written from the authors' points of view, so I have to account for the fact that they are certainly biased to a certain point. However, if even half of what the authors are accounting is true, it is completely horrifying and puts into context the recent evens surrounding the incarceration of Amanda Knox.

Summary of The Monster of Florence

In the nonfiction tradition of John Berendt ("Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil") and Erik Larson ("The Devil in the White City"), New York Times bestselling author Douglas Preston presents a gripping account of crime and punishment in the lush hills surrounding Florence, Italy.
In 2000, Douglas Preston fulfilled a dream to move his family to Italy. Then he discovered that the olive grove in front of their 14th century farmhouse had been the scene of the most infamous double-murders in Italian history, committed by a serial killer known as the Monster of Florence. Preston, intrigued, meets Italian investigative journalist Mario Spezi to learn more. This is the true story of their search for--and identification of--the man they believe committed the crimes, and their chilling interview with him. And then, in a strange twist of fate, Preston and Spezi themselves become targets of the police investigation. Preston has his phone tapped, is interrogated, and told to leave the country. Spezi fares worse: he is thrown into Italy's grim Capanne prison, accused of being the Monster of Florence himself. Like one of Preston's thrillers, The Monster Of Florence, tells a remarkable and harrowing story involving murder, mutilation, and suicide-and at the center of it, Preston and Spezi, caught in a bizarre prosecutorial vendetta.
Amazon Best of the Month, June 2008: When author Douglas Preston moved his family to Florence he never expected he would soon become obsessed and entwined in a horrific crime story whose true-life details rivaled the plots of his own bestselling thrillers. While researching his next book, Preston met Mario Spezi, an Italian journalist who told him about the Monster of Florence, Italy's answer to Jack the Ripper, a terror who stalked lovers' lanes in the Italian countryside. The killer would strike at the most intimate time, leaving mutilated corpses in his bloody wake over a period from 1968 to 1985. One of these crimes had taken place in an olive grove on the property of Preston's new home. That was enough for him to join "Monsterologist" Spezi on a quest to name the killer, or killers, and bring closure to these unsolved crimes. Local theories and accusations flourished: the killer was a cuckolded husband; a local aristocrat; a physician or butcher, someone well-versed with knives; a satanic cult. Thomas Harris even dipped into "Monster" lore for some of Hannibal Lecter's more Grand Guignol moments in Hannibal. Add to this a paranoid police force more concerned with saving face and naming a suspect (any suspect) than with assessing the often conflicting evidence on hand, and an unbelievable twist that finds both authors charged with obstructing justice, with Spezi jailed on suspicion of being the Monster himself. The Monster of Florence is split into two sections: the first half is Spezi's story, with the latter bringing in Preston's updated involvement on the case. Together these two parts create a dark and fascinating descent into a landscape of horror that deserves to be shelved between In Cold Blood and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. --Brad Thomas Parsons

21st Century Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in 21st Century Books
Jerusalem Diaries: In Tense Times ImageJerusalem Diaries: In Tense Times
by Judy Lash Balint
Gefen Publishing House; Published: 2001-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.05
Price in other shops: $16.95
Hemingway's Hurricane ImageHemingway's Hurricane
by Phil Scott
International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press; Published: 2006-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $34.93
Blood Brothers: Among the Soldiers of Ward 57 ImageBlood Brothers: Among the Soldiers of Ward 57
by Michael Weisskopf
Holt Paperbacks; Published: 2007-09-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.97
Price in other shops: $15.00
The Dead of Winter: How Battlefield Investigators, WWII Veterans, and Forensic Scientists Solved the Mystery of the Bulge's Lost Soldiers ImageThe Dead of Winter: How Battlefield Investigators, WWII Veterans, and Forensic Scientists Solved the Mystery of the Bulge's Lost Soldiers
by Bill Warnock
Chamberlain Bros.; Published: 2005-10-25; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $43.38
Inside Gitmo: The True Story Behind the Myths of Guantanamo Bay ImageInside Gitmo: The True Story Behind the Myths of Guantanamo Bay
by Gordon Cucullu
Collins; Published: 2009-02-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.49
Price in other shops: $24.99
A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-Day Slavery ImageA Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-Day Slavery
by E. Benjamin Skinner
Free Press; Published: 2008-03-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.10
Price in other shops: $26.00
The Bomb in My Garden: The Secrets of Saddam's Nuclear Mastermind ImageThe Bomb in My Garden: The Secrets of Saddam's Nuclear Mastermind
by Mahdi Obeidi, Kurt Pitzer
Wiley; Published: 2004-09-16; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.50
Price in other shops: $24.95
Mission: Black List #1 CD: The Inside Story of the Search for Saddam Hussein---As Told by the Soldier Who Masterminded His Capture ImageMission: Black List #1 CD: The Inside Story of the Search for Saddam Hussein---As Told by the Soldier Who Masterminded His Capture
by Eric Maddox, Davin Seay
HarperAudio; Published: 2008-12-01; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $3.28
Price in other shops: $34.95
Terror at Beslan: A Russian Tragedy with Lessons for America's Schools ImageTerror at Beslan: A Russian Tragedy with Lessons for America's Schools
by John Giduck
Archangel Group; Published: 2005-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $23.20
Price in other shops: $25.00
Thunder Run: The Armored Strike to Capture Baghdad ImageThunder Run: The Armored Strike to Capture Baghdad
by David Zucchino, Mark Bowden
Grove/Atlantic; Published: 2004-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $48.79
Similar Books and other products
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Random House Reader's Circle) ImageThe Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Random House Reader's Circle)
by Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows
Dial Press Trade Paperback; Published: 2009-05-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.25
Price in other shops: $14.00
The Broken Window: A Lincoln Rhyme Novel (Lincoln Rhyme Novels) ImageThe Broken Window: A Lincoln Rhyme Novel (Lincoln Rhyme Novels)
by Jeffery Deaver
Pocket Star; Published: 2009-04-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.70
Price in other shops: $9.99
The Last Oracle ImageThe Last Oracle
by James Rollins
Harper; Published: 2009-06-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.40
Price in other shops: $7.99
Terminal Freeze ImageTerminal Freeze
by Lincoln Child
Doubleday; Published: 2009-02-24; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $6.46
Price in other shops: $24.95
The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective ImageThe Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective
by Kate Summerscale
Walker & Company; Published: 2008-04-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $17.66
Price in other shops: $24.95
When You Are Engulfed in Flames ImageWhen You Are Engulfed in Flames
by David Sedaris
Back Bay Books; Published: 2009-06-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.80
Price in other shops: $15.99
Blasphemy ImageBlasphemy
by Douglas Preston
Forge Books; Published: 2008-12-30; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.79
Price in other shops: $9.99
Cemetery Dance ImageCemetery Dance
by Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child
Grand Central Publishing; Published: 2009-05-12; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.00
Price in other shops: $26.99
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ImageThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
by Stieg Larsson
Knopf; Published: 2008-09-16; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.00
Price in other shops: $24.95
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel (Oprah Book Club #62) ImageThe Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel (Oprah Book Club #62)
by David Wroblewski
Ecco; Published: 2008-09-19; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.35
Price in other shops: $25.95