America isn't the only place with serial killers. But for some reason, the story of the Monster of Florence didn't make it over here until a U.S. writer ended up involved. I'd heard about this story a year or two ago when I saw it on Dateline. Honestly, the judicial system there makes ours look stellar.

Couples on what we would consider lovers' lanes are murdered. The men are shot, the women mutilated. This goes on for decades with no clue as to who the culprit is. Journalist Mario Spezi gets the first case to report on by accident and continues to write about the case with every attack. He's considered an expert. Douglas Preston and his family move temporarily to Florence so he can research a novel. When he meets with Spezi in the course of that research, he discovers that the home he's rented is basically on the site of one of the murders. Preston becomes as obsessed with the case as Spezi, the two of them discovering evidence that disputes what the police have. When a new inspector takes over the case, both Spezi and Preston are arrested. (Not a spoiler--you find this out right away.) An excellent book and a scary one as well. ( )

This was totally engrossing, especially since I was bopping around the Italian countryside near Florence when these murders were happening. ( )

The book was kind of a bundle of facts and fiction. These two guys have two very different styles and some how they just did not connect. Lots of interesting information - information as scattered as thoughts in a young teenager's diary. Previous line is an example of how the book is written. As buggy as an infested mattress in a drug den. Ahhhhh

Picking up this book, I was expecting an exciting real life mystery, and while there are certainly elements of that in the still unsolved murders committed by "The Monster of Florence" this is more a story of the utter failure of the Italian justice system in the handling of the case than of the murderer himself. The theories put forth by the investigators and the level of evidence that seems to be acceptable in the Italian court system is the real horror story here, and the authors get caught up in it. Overall, I found the book enjoyable, if slightly unsatisfying. The evidence does seem to point towards the suspect put forward by the authors, but the mishandling of the evidence and investigation makes it impossible to come to a solid conclusion, and I suspect that "The Monster" might simply have gotten away with it.

Overall, I'm not sure I buy Preston's theory about who was responsible for the killings. Because the book wanders back and forth between the police investigations and Preston & Spezi's suspicions, I never got a very clear overview of the case against their suspect. In many ways, their presentation of the investigation was as jumbled as the Italian prosecution's theories themselves. I had trouble keeping characters (both prosecutors and suspects) straight.

As a portrait of the corruption of aspects of the Italian criminal justice system, the book fares much better. Many of the prosecution's theories are essentially ludicrous - satanic cults, conspiracy theories involving switching of corpses, Preston & Spezi planting evidence and obstructing justice decades after the last murder occurred. And the methods of interrogation, intimidation and imprisonment are downright frightening, even reminiscent of Kafka's The Trial - and as can be seen in the recent trial of Amanda Knox, these are hardly concerns of the past.

The entire situation is a sad, jumbled mess. It's terrifying to see the lengths the justice system will go to in order to get a conviction in a high-profile case (for similar observations on the American system, see Grisham's The Innocent Man). But at the same time, I did not find this book particularly captivating. It had interesting things to say, have no doubt about that, but ultimately I was left more confused than convinced of the authors' theory of the crime. And I'm still not sure who was investigating whom and what and when...

More at my blog. ( )

Not exactly want I expected from the title, but a very interesting look at the Italian legal system that I knew nothing about. Really looks more at how power and politics play a role in the justice system of Italy.

The latter part of the story about Spezi's fight against the judicary and his jailing and trial is actually more interestinged than the serial killings which is what drew me to the book in the first place.

Fascinating story, though it moves much to slowly to be highly recommended. ( )

An interesting education on the inner-workings of the Italian legal system and how a monster got away with murdering 14+ people over the course of many years. Hate to say that a story about a serial killer is entertaining, but I was captivated by the story and how it unfolded.

What if Under the Tuscan Sun had been written by Kafka? You would have The Monster of Florence, the true story of a decades-long investigation into a rash of Ripper-like murders in the vicinity of Florence. The appeal is not so much the usual true-crime recipe of forensics, psychological suspense and morbid fascination. It's more of a travelogue from hell - a portrayal of Italy and the Italians that you won't find in Fodor's. The portrayal of the Italian "justice" system is horrifying, albeit sometimes horrifyingly funny. With the caveat that Preston has a personal ax to grind against the system, I guess it's all true. And after a slow start, gripping as hell. ( )

It's hard to believe that this is a true, ongoing story. An American writer and an Italian journalist team up to begin researching the Monster of Florence, a serial killer who preyed on young couples parking in the hills around Florence, Italy. The book exposes the convoluted Italian judicial system who many years after the killings stop even accuse the writing pair of the crime. The case is still unsolved. ( )

I read about 2/3 of this... it was pretentious. ( )

Douglas Preston and his family moved to Florence, Italy and lived there for 4 years. During that time he became acquainted with Mario Spezi, an Italian journalist who had become an expert on the Monster of Florence. He had followed and written about the serial killer from the very beginning. He told the story to Preston because Preston and his family were living in the area where one of the double murders took place. It interested Preston so much that they began to collaborate on an article, and then a book, on this case.

It seems that the countryside of Florence becomes a "lover's lane" on weekend nights and couples pair off in their cars to have sex. This has spawned voyeurs and peeping toms who get their kicks out of trolling around and finding these spots and watching couples have sex in their cars. I guess if you are going to have illicit affairs in your car, you can't be too shocked at what slimey dark walkers do in your wake. According to Preston it becomes quite an organized underground system. Ick!

The killer would strike while the couples were "coupled" shall we say. He killed them by shooting them with a .22 pistol (that was never found) and mutilated the corpses over a period from 1968 to 1985. Then it stopped. The police were inundated with clues and theories and so-called witnesses. Arrests were made only to have alibis presented or acquitals made. This case led to innocent people spending time in jail, suicides, bankruptcies, police and prosecutor corruption, etc. The killings are straightforward enough, but the twists and turns of the Italian judicial system, including the investigators, were patently absurd, laughable. It seems their desire to ride this famous serial killer's coattails to fame and fortune got the best of them. They intended to make their career by putting someone in jail for being the Monster!

Mismanagement of the crime scenes, evidence and investigations made for poor police work to start with. But, we've learned a lot over the decades, especially with the crime scene shows we have on TV today (yuck, yuck). But their deliberate attempts to railroad suspects were scary. It didn't matter if it made sense, if they had evidence, if the suspect had an alibi, whatever. They made up theories to match what they wanted to believe. They would plant evidence and find any screwball to testify. Of course, this doesn't just happen in Italy and with that much pressure on the police to find this horrible killer, I guess it's only natural things get out of hand. What was laughable was years later, after most of those involved had died...the Italian judicial system is still doing silly stunts like accusing Mario Spezis and Douglas Preston with obstruction of justice charges.

I have to say this book was a page turner and once I started it, I read it straight through. It reminded me of Patricia Cornwell's Portrait Of A Killer (about her attempts to solve the Jack the Ripper mystery) although much better written. Or Steve Hodel's Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius For Murder, another fascinating true crime but not as well written as Preston's. I didn't see it's likeness to Erik Larson's, Devil In A White City, because Larson's tale is about a known serial killer. There is no mystery as to whodunit, only a fascinating (I loved the book) story about the famous killer and how he did it during the World's Fair in Chicago. As with all mysteries I like mine solved or so nearly solved that there is little doubt in my mind. You will have to see if Preston solves this mystery. ( )

When novelist Douglas Preston moved his family to the Florence countryside he expected to immerse himself in the very culture he planned to feature in his next thriller. Early on, however, Preston’s research brought him into contact with Mario Spezi, an Italian crime reporter who was expert in the ways of Italian police investigations, and Preston’s life was changed forever.

Spezi mentioned that Preston’s new home was within a stone’s throw of one of the more infamous murder scenes in recent Florence history and that the double murder was almost certainly the work of a serial killer yet to be identified. Spezi, as it turned out, had made his reputation as a journalist by becoming an expert on the murders and was obsessed with finally determining the killer’s identity. As the two talked, Preston became more and more taken with Spezi’s story and decided to postpone his new thriller until after he and Spezi had written a book together about "The Monster of Florence."

By the time Preston and Spezi teamed up to investigate the crimes for their book, it had been more than ten years since the last murders. The Monster, between 1968 and 1985, had killed seven couples as they made love in their cars or campers while parked in out-of-the-way sites around Florence. In a fashion similar to England’s Jack the Ripper, he mutilated the bodies of his female victims, even carrying away body parts as trophies or reminders of his crimes.

Unfortunately for Preston and Spezi, they soon found themselves in conflict with various members of the Italian crime investigation establishment, some of whose members had used the murders to make their reputations and advance their own careers. More than one person had been charged with the murders over the years as diverse theories, ranging from satanic cults to medically trained or aristocratic killers, were trotted out for the benefit of the public. Sadly, according to Preston and Spezi, those responsible for solving the crimes were so anxious to pin them on any likely suspect that they were willing to create evidence as needed, ignore any conflicting real evidence, coerce testimony from known informants, and ruin the lives of anyone who fell into their path if that would help close the case.

Preston and Spezi could hardly believe what they discovered about Italian criminal investigators, prosecutors and judges. Successive investigators built case after case against men who fit their preconceived ideas of how and why the murders occurred. It was all so ludicrous and, most importantly, so corrupt, that the two pushed on with their own investigation long enough to place themselves squarely in opposition to official investigators. As a result, Spezi himself was eventually charged with, and tried for, the very crime he had a spent a lifetime investigating and Preston was threatened with arrest if he ever returned to Italy. Italian authorities knowing how many lives had been ruined and how many reputations built on false investigations greatly feared the publication of Preston and Spezi’s book and seem to have charged Spezi with murder mainly in order to suppress it.

"The Monster of Florence" should have been a horrifying and fascinating true crime thriller because of the nature of the crimes, how long they went on, how difficult it has been to identify the killer, and the inept, fraudulent, and almost comical investigation so terribly bungled by Italian authorities. But, because of the dry style in which the book is written (more the style of a newspaper article than a book), even a story filled with as many horrifying elements as this one becomes more boring than thrilling. The second part of the book, in which Preston and Spezi recount what happens when they themselves become suspects rather than reporters moves at a more lively pace but it leads to an ending that likely will disappoint most readers.

The audio version of "The Monster of Florence" is competently read for the most part but one aspect of the audio book quickly grows into a distracting annoyance. Much of the book is written in conversational form encompassing direct quotes from those involved and, although these quotes are naturally reproduced in English rather than in Italian, they are delivered in such an atrocious (and stereotypical) Italian accent that they are sometimes difficult to understand even in English. The result is that every Italian character begins to sound like every other Italian character in a book already filled with names that, for the non-Italian speaker, can already be difficult to distinguish one from the other. This makes listening to the audio version of "The Monster of Florence" into a tedious experience that might possibly be avoided by reading the book the old fashioned way.

Regardless, this one is not quite what it could have been.

Rated at: 2.5 ( )

Douglas Preston, a crime novelist and creator of Detective Pendergast, fell in love with Italy when he was thirteen, and since then has always dreamed of living there. Little did he know that when fulfilling his childhood dream thirty years later, he would get involved in the true crime story of a serial killer, dubbed the Monster of Florence for the brutality of his murders. Even less did he suspect that one of those murders took place in an olive grove right in front of his villa, as he was duly informed by his Italian journalist acquaintance, Mario Spezi on arrival.

Immediately pulled in by the story from his own backyard, Preston went on the trail of the murders. Together with Mario Spezi, a long time amateur investigator of the case, he revisited archives, conducted interviews, and sifted through evidence.

What was known about the Monster of Florence was that he murdered seven couples in the hills surrounding Florence between 1974 and 1985. He murdered in cold blood and his murders were premeditated and ritualized. The killings always happened on moonless summer Saturday nights. The couples were always engaged in sex at the time, and the female corpses were always mutilated- missing some, or all sexual organs. A profile of a lone psychopathic serial killer fitted well with the murders. The murderer has never been apprehended and the murders never solved. The killings and their manner captivated many, though, and ultimately the killer’s profile served as a prototype for Hannibal Lecter in Harris’ book.

Pursuing their own trail to the truth, Spezi and Preston got in the way of an incredibly long lasting and futile police investigation favouring a satanic cult as responsible for the crimes. They publicly ridiculed some of the police theories and evidence, presenting their own at the same time and pointing to a lone man still alive and at large. That swiftly landed them in jail for obstruction of justice and contempt of court. Spezi spent three weeks behind bars, and Preston was told never to come back to Italy. Their trail was never pursued.

I am not a great fan of true crime stories and I don’t usually follow serial killer's trails, but this book is about much more than that. It’s a story of a fantastic miscarriage of justice including tampering with evidence, wrongful convictions, wrongful imprisonments, sentencing of individuals based on evidence given in court by mentally disturbed feeble-minded alcoholics and schizophrenics, fantastic pet theories of prosecutors, and all sorts of stranger-than-fiction events, all of which have been allowed to happen for years. The Italy that has emerged from this tale is not the Italy I expected; an Italy in which Florence, for example, besides its well known beauty, also harbours a substantial subculture of nocturnal voyeurs called Indiani who, armed with microphones and night vision cameras, prey on young couples having sex in cars among the vinyards and olive groves of the Tuscan hills at night, also a national pastime, and a still thriving tradition of regional and clan killings not so far removed from the Middle Eastern and South Asian honour killings. ( )

The first half, dealing with the serial killings that took place for roughly twenty years from the mid 60s to the mid 80s, was relatively interesting. The second part covering the investigation--the arrests of various suspects, the examination of the Italian judicial system--was a real snoozer. Cap it off with no resolution to who the true killer is and you have a book I wouldn't recommend to anyone. ( )

In 2000, New York Times best selling author Douglas Preston moves to Florence, Italy to work on a novel set in the Italian Renaissance. His plans change drastically when he meets the local journalist, Mario Spetzi, who tells him the story of a string of unsolved murders committed in the neighborhood of the 14th century farmhouse where he is living with his wife and children. Ignoring warnings from Italian friends, Preston reverts to his roots as a journalist to become involved with Spetzi’s obsession with solving the case. The results are every bit as engrossing as his fiction. ( )

The story circulated more around the misfortunes of numerous citizens and the miscarriage of justice and inept criminal investigation of the carabinieri moreso than the criminal investigation itself. I was hoping for more of a probe into the mind of an Italian serial killer and the criminal investigation. Preston spends more of his time narrating Spezi's misfortunes than the killings and investigation. At times, especially toward the end, I felt like I was reading more of an editorial column than a true crime story. However, Preston does point out in the very beginning how the ensuing story would flow.

Essentially, it is a slightly above read that does give the reader some insight (however subjective) on Italian culture and its influence on crime and criminal investigations. I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for light reading. ( )

found this book to be morbid and twisted, yet I had to finish reading it. The Monster of Florence was hard to swallow at times, being that it is based on true crimes. I skipped over the parts that go into details about the murders, but it was interesting to read about the investigation and the leads in the case. It's my first time reading a book like this.

The book is divided into two sections. In one half author Douglas Preston speaks, then in the other half of the book, Italian journalist Mario Spezi talks about The Monster and the investigation.

As I said, The Monster of Florence was hard to stomach. I'm the type of reader that really gets into the book I'm reading. I have an overactive imagination as it is, and reading a book like this was difficult. There were times I needed to put it away, it was just too much. Knowing that these people were really murdered made it hard to read. There are photos included of the people who were killed, as well as the people arrested and those involved in the investigation, including the men who were thought to be The Monster.

see my full review here
http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/200... ( )

Crime stories, especially the violent sort, have captured the human imagination in a way that few other things have in the last few decades. Television is over-populated with fictionalized serials and reality programming relating the lives and jobs of criminal investigators, crime scene technicians, and criminals. And the publication of books on serial killers, the serial killer psyche, and the classification of violent serial murder has grown exponentially. Rarely has a story as unusual and frustating as Douglas Preston's The Monster of Florence been told.

For nearly three decades, a serial murderer begin stalked the Florentine hills for young couples parked in secluded locations. At the time, the hills surrounding one of Italy's most beautiful and historic cities were often used by young lovers looking for a privacy. Beginning in 1968, the killer dispatched some 8 different couples, killing them in the throes of passion, and brutally mutilating and displaying the women. The Italian police and carabinieri were baffled and unable to identify and arrest anyone in connection with the crimes for nearly fifteen years. Then, in 1982, the first of a host of Italian petty criminals and fringe characters was arrested and charged as "the Monster". Over the next twenty years, nearly a dozen different people were charged for the murders or charged as part of a conspiracy linked to a mysterious satanic cult that law enforcement officials thought responsible for the murders. There to chronicle the whole sordid mess was Mario Spezi, a grizzled investigative journalist. Spezi was present at nearly every crime scene and used his superior network of police informants and sources to develop evidence and theories which infuriated Italian officials for their credibility.

In 2000, Preston, well-known for his fictional thrillers, decided to move his family to Florence, a life long dream. He settled, conincidentally, in a villa with an olive grove where "the monster" committed one of the murders. Intrigued, Preston began researching the murders and eventually partenered with Spezi in an attempt to uncover the identity of the murderer. As Preston and Spezi wrote articles and prepared to write a book about the killings, Italian officials, in a fit of jealousy and embarassment over their own ineptitude, charged and arrested both Spezi and Preston in connection with the murders. Preston was allowed to leave an Italian police interrogation and told to leave the country or expect to be jailed. Spezi was tried and acquitted.

Preston's account is compelling for the very reason that many readers will criticize it - their is no resolution. While Preston names the person he and Spezi both feel are responsible for the killings, that individual is never arrested or charged. And there is enough contradictory and ambiguous evidence that their choice for "the Monster" may not be right. While the book mostly villifies the Italian police and carbienieri, the narrative still makes clear how difficult such stranger murders, committed by a true sociopath, are to investigate and solve. The endless rabbit trails and dead ends which are necessarily followed in such an investigation are not unique to this set of murders but are a frustratingly common denominator in most murder investigations. This story just has more of them.

Preston's prose never gets in the way of the details, though such a mistake could easily befall a writer best known for fictional crime and near supernatural cops. Rather, Preston is able to infuse what could have been a dry accounting of facts with a wonderment over the beauty of the setting juxtaposing the brutal murders. He also employs a deft, light tone in describing the intricate history and subtle layers of Italian existence which inform the invetigation.

My main criticism of the book lies in the ending of the book which feels somewhat hurried. Preston was patient in providing all the necessary detials for the crimes and the investigation. Yet, when he and Spezi are arrested and charged, the book seems to rest more on a surface accounting. Some of this may be explained by the numerous legal, both civil and criminal, that the two authors face in the writing and publication of the tale. Nonetheless, it would have been nice if Preston had finished with the same luxuriously steady pace present in the first three quarters of the book.

Recommended!!!!

Four bones!!!! ( )

I didn't find the book riveting or even particularly well-written. I usually find true crime tales engaging, but this one didn't keep my attention. Perhaps there were too many diversions that focused on Florentine life and other themes that simply don't interest me. ( )

This was not a well written book, often to the point of laughter. However, the examination of the Italian justice system made for interesting, disheartening, and eventually stomach churning reading. It's horrifying to think how many lives have been destroyed by the investigation into the Monster of Florence, to say nothing of those devastated by the Monster himself, who may yet be free to carry out his grisly work. ( )

Douglas Preston (who normally writes mystery and suspense type books) and his family travel to Florence because he's ready to write a mystery based on a missing Renaissance painting (and by the way, the outline of that book sounds pretty good). So, being the good researcher that he is, hooks up with someone who knows all about the local crime scene, and ends up becoming interested in an unsolved string of serial murders. His friend, Mario Spezi, is an award-winning crime reporter, and one of his passions is the so-called "Monster of Florence," who for over 20 years has gotten away with murdering young couples out for a romantic evening under the stars. Preston tries to work on his novel, but finds himself getting more interested in this serial killer, and soon he and Spezi are trying to solve the murders. This would have been good enough to keep me reading, but the most frightening thing about this book to me was the whole misguided system of justice in Italy, as portrayed (and lived) by Preston and Spezi. Politics and well, a bit of stupidity lead the investigation into some bizarre areas that have no merit, and soon Spezi finds himself on the wrong end of the law, as does Preston.

Very interesting, although actually it probably could have been a bit more taut and concise. I really liked it, though, and I'd definitely recommend it to readers interested in unsolved murder cases, or the workings of investigation and justice in foreign countries, or the power of the press. Or, if you're a reader of Preston's fiction, you may wish to give this one a go. Overall, very good. ( )

I've read several of Douglas Preston's thrillers, but I wasn't prepared for this true story! While researching the serial killer "The Monster of Florence," Preston gets entangled in a web of controversy and mismanaged bureaucracy. This book makes the Italian police and legal force look like total crap. And I mean it.

Starting in the late 1960's couples were murdered in their cars in isolated parking areas in the hills around Florence, Italy. The killer shot both the male and female, but then cut on the females, spilling their purse on the ground and little else. Most of these murders occurred on nights with full moons in the summers. Mario Spezi, the co-author of this book, was the Italian crime beat journalist who covered the gruesome killings and became the expert on the trials. The Italian police charged several people, held innocent people in jail, and everone became a suspect. Even Preston was charged with helping Spezi plant evidence. This story is amazing if you like murder mysteries and true crime. I still can't believe how Preston became entangled in the murders! I'm sooo glad I live in America and not Italy! ( )

I am finished with the Monster of Florence. I do not mean I finished the book. I mean I am finished, I have filed it in the life's too short category and am moving on, returning the book to the library. I can't really say what it is I didn't like about it, but what I can say is, at this point I do not care about the ending, I don't care who killed these people, I do not care about the politics of Italy, I did not read this book for the history of Florence or the origin of Italian curse words. The story has been bogged down in meaningless side trips.

From http://www.skrishnasbooks.com

I am ashamed to admit that I have never read anything by Douglas Preston until this novel. I've been meaning to read his Pendergast series, and I have the entire thing for my Sony Reader, but I haven't gotten around to it quite yet. Since this is a non-fiction book, I wondered if my lack of Preston knowledge would inhibit my enjoyment of The Monster of Florence. I'm glad to say that wasn't the case.

This review is concise simply because I didn't want to risk too much summary, and giving too much away. The book is contingent on its suspense; giving knowledge in advance would ruin the book in many ways. So I decided to take the easy (and safe) way out.

One thing I didn't like about the book was the ambiguity of the ending. I'm not going to say any more about it because, again, I don't want to ruin the book, but if you read it, I think you'll understand my issue.

This book reminded me of Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. Both are novels recounting the exploits of two serial killers, both are true stories - however, in Devil in the White City, the story is told in third person and is in some ways from the serial killer's point of view. In The Monster of Florence, we are outside looking in, with Douglas Preston as the narrator.

Overall, The Monster of Florence, while horrifying, is very interesting (though not captivating) and well-written. I was surprised that I hadn't heard about the case before reading the book, especially with the high profile Preston claims that it received. I would recommend it to any fans of Douglas Preston, Thomas Harris (you'll see why when you read the book), non-fiction, or mysteries. ( )

Preston moves to Florence with a plot for a murder mystery. He contacts Spezi, a writer and expert, inter alia, on Italian police procedures, for information to use in his novel. He then gets caught up in Spezi's obsession with a real life serial murder mystery - the monster of Florence. This nonfiction book about their attempt to solve the murders reads like a first rate novel. Along the way Spezi himself is arrested as a suspect and Preston is indicted for obstruction of justice, The book chronicles considerable corruption and incompetence at the local prosecutorial level of several Italian cities, Preston and Spezi come up with a credible suspect for the murders; however the murders remain unsolved, ( )