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The Monster of Florence |
Customer Rating: 
Sales Rank: 26
Available from Amazon |
$15.59 |
In the nonfiction tradition of John Berendt ("Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil") and Erik Larson ("The Devil in the White City"), <I>New York Times </I>bestselling author Douglas Preston presents a gripping account of crime and punishment in the lush hills surrounding <ST1:PLACE w:st="on"><ST1:CITY w:st="on">Florence</ST1:CITY>, <ST1:COUNTRY-REGION w:st="on">Italy</ST1:COUNTRY-REGION></ST1:PLACE>.
In 2000, Douglas Preston fulfilled a dream to move his family to Italy. Then he discovered that the olive grove in front of their 14<SUP>th</SUP> 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. <st1:place w:st="on">Preston</st1:place>, intrigued, meets Italian investigative journalist Mario Spezi to learn more. <I></I>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, <st1:place w:st="on">Preston</st1:place> and Spezi themselves become targets of the police investigation. <st1:place w:st="on">Preston</st1:place> has his phone tapped, is interrogated, and told to leave the country. Spezi fares worse: he is thrown into <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Italy</st1:country-region></st1:place>'s grim Capanne prison, accused of being the Monster of Florence himself. Like one of Preston's thrillers, <I>The Monster Of Florence</I>, 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.
Being Italian and of an age that gives me a pretty good alibi not having been born at the time of the first homicide and being still an infant at the time of the second I guess that I can be cleared on any suspicion if I tell Mr. Preston to fly down a notch or two.
This book is badly written and he didn't understand anything of Italian culture.
The worst thing of all though is that he has sadly misrepresented the best legal system I know, which leave space to the dimwitted to fantasize a total alternative reality.
One last note: I suspect some of the people commenting haven't even read the book.
The murders spanned between 1968 and 1985 and there were 8 couples killed (not considering the first murder the span of time goes from 1974 to 1985 and the couples killed would be 7), so unless math has become a matter of points of view there was not a "killing a year".
I won't ask that you UNDERSTAND before you write, but at least read the book! But also not. Save the money.
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