The Monster of Florence
by Douglas Preston
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Book Reviews of The Monster of Florence
Book Review: True Crime isn't Always Riveting
Summary: 3 Stars
As a great fan of the Preston and Childs' work, I find it difficult to report only a mediocre review, but here it is, in brief form.
This story is written in two pieces: one telling of the history of a serial murders taking place in Florence, the other the personal story of Preston and co-author Mario Spezi while investigating the murders. The topic to any mystery enthusiast is fascinating. The problem here is the murders were never solved, with any certainty. THat poses a problem, obviously with the authors as well, as you can sense the difficulty they had finishing the book for publication. Preston cites this and the lingering unsatisfaction left when reading this accounting of this ugly piece of Italian modern history.
If you are a fan or true crime, you will find the tale compelling. In fact, the description of the case and the subsequent tribulations of our two authors is exciting. Without providing spoilers, you follow the murders, not through proper chronology, but via discovery - just as our 'investigators' did. The story transcends from a mystery investigation, full of twists, turns, and hypotheses; into web of conspiracy and subterfuge. The problem is, the story stalls once the focus leaves the murder investigation and becomes that of Spezi and Prestons' fight against the unscrupulous Italian investigators, themselves. It never really survives the jump from the investigation to the personal conflict of the authors, as the story never gets back to the resolution of the murder! When the attempted persecution of the authors abates, the story quickly wraps up with an unsatisying, cursory-level explanation of how the situation remained at book ending. The reason to why this occurs is obvious, but it begs for a final edition!
Finally, I found the read worthwhile, as the murders and locale are quite interesting, however, be prepared to be denied the satisfaction of a convincing opinion of the murderer's identity. How unrewarding!
Book Review: An extraordinary indictment of the Italian legal system
Summary: 5 Stars
When Douglas Preston moved his family to the outskirts of Florence in 2000, he thought he was just going to enjoy la dolce vita and write a mystery novel. What he found was both more interesting and scarier than any story he could have come up with on his own. As he was interviewing a journalist named Mario Spezi who was an expert on the Italian legal system, Spezi casually mentioned that just outside the villa Preston and his family had rented, was the site of one of the most gruesome murders in Florentine history. There, in 1983, the famed Monster of Florence had taken the lives of two of his victims.
Slowly Preston found himself getting pulled into the mystery of the Monster of Florence, who had between the years of 1974 and 1985 killed at least 7 couples as they made love in various out-of-the-way places in the Tuscan hills. Various men had been tried and convicted of the crimes, but the cases did not offer compelling proof and Spezi believed that the killer or killers were still free. Preston joined Spezi in trying to find the real killer, but what neither of them could have known was that they themselves were going to be charged crimes in connection with the case. In Italy, important magistrates don't appreciate being shown up by the press and Preston and Spezi showed up the flaws in the Monster investigation. What starts out as a murder mystery soon turns to much much more -- a chilling indictment of the Italian legal system and the lack of freedom of the press in Italy.
Preston and Spezi bring the people and places involved to life. The writing is crisp, the story well laid out and the implications of the abuse of government and suppression of a free press in a first world country shocking and important. So... Come for the monster, come for Florence, but stay for the journalists, who are much more interesting in the end.
Book Review: Italianissimo
Summary: 4 Stars
If you liked John Berendt's "The city of fallen Angels" and Erik Larson's "The Devil in the White City" you are on for a treat. The Monster of Florence is a non fiction collaboration between Douglass Preston and Mario Spezi and follows the a series of killings from 1968 and continuing through 1985: seven couples were brutally murdered in the secluded lovers' lanes located in the hills surrounding the city of Florence, Italy. Still unsolved to this day, the crimes captured the horrified attention and imagination of the Italian people, and consumed enormous resources--nearly one hundred thousand men were investigated and more than a dozen arrested during the course of various inquiries into the crimes. Per Douglas Preston's introduction, the investigation "has been like a malignancy, spreading backward in time and outward in space, metastasizing into different cities and swelling into new investigations, with new judges, police, and prosecutors, more suspects, more arrests, and many more lives ruined."
Although the writing is not superb, if you are a lover of Florence, you will love the descriptions of the places and the machinations of the Italian dolce vita--where egos and avarice trump the real evidence--creating one of the stranger twists in a case replete with strange twists, where the focus of the ongoing police investigation falls on the reporters, thus becoming part of the very story they are covering. Spezi is subsequently arrested, and his collaborator, American crime novelist Preston, is harshly interrogated by the authorities. In a novel, the protagonists would have been able to clear their names by dramatically unmasking the real killer, unearthing a piece of key evidence at the last moment. Real life, however, proves to a bit more complicated, and certainly more bizarre.
Book Review: Very well-told True Crime story
Summary: 5 Stars
If you want to get away with murder go to Italy. The police in Italy have been chasing the serial killer, The Monster of Florence, for many years. Many people have been suspected of the murders and many have been imprisoned only to be set free when yet another murder occurs.
Although the book title states "A True Story" and I am sure it is a true story it is hard to believe that government officials, police officers and judges can act in the manner described in this book. Couples have been murdered over the years when parking in secluded spots. The murders are vicious and cunning.
Mario Spezi is a journalist who was fascinated with the killer and determined to find the answer to the identity of The Monster of Venice. When Lincoln Child moved to Florence he met Mario Spezi and also became fascinated with the tale.
Mario Spezi wound up eventually accused of being The Monster and Lincoln Child came under suspicion and had to leave Italy.
The police procedures in Italy are so unusual almost anyone can be arrested for almost anything and not even be given the benefit of knowing what they are accused of or who their accusers might be. It seems in the Italy described in this novel no one is safe from prosecution.
The book provides a timeline of all the killings as well as a cast of secondary characters in order of appearance which is very helpful in reading this book. The Italian names are confusing if the reader is not familiar with Italian but the timeline and character list help to keep everything straight.
The lengths that Lincoln Child went to in order to help free Spezi when he was imprisoned is a definition of what real friendship is all about.
Armchair Interviews say: Powerful story, well told.
Book Review: "Monster" doesn't begin to cover it.
Summary: 5 Stars
Being a huge fan of Douglas Preston (as well as Preston/Lincoln Child), I couldn't wait to get my hands on this book and devour it. I just finished reading it about an hour ago, and need to admit that the whole story shifted something within me. I have read all the other reviews posted to this site so I realize I do not need to recap the book for anyone. I will say that the first half of the book was fascinating as a true-life crime tale. The second half of the book, though, is what made my head spin.
The horrifying treatment both Mr. Spezi and Mr. Preston received for daring to investigate an unsolved crime and challenge the current theories on it was disturbing to read about, to put it mildly. That this sort of thing can happen in a democratic country in the twenty-first century is appalling. I felt sicker and sicker as I read the details of first Mr. Preston's and then Mr. Spezi's experiences, and unfortunately, since this is no novel, there was no real happy denouement at the end. There was no Colonel Mustard in the library with a candlestick explanation.
I am an avid fan of the murder mystery genre and always will be. I am a devoted fan of Mr. Preston's and that will never change. But I will never again have the same attitude toward a story about murder and violent death. Crime and investigation are very entertaining in the world of fiction, but the cold and stark reality presented in this book cannot help but make one stop and think, especially since Mr. Preston, as always, has added layers even into the title. By the time I finished the book, I wasn't entirely sure there was only one monster in Florence.
Great reading, but be prepared for a thorough soul-shaking chill with this one.