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| The Monster of Florence | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 80 reviews)
Sales Rank: 330
Category: Book
Author: Douglas Preston
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Studio: Grand Central Publishing
Manufacturer: Grand Central Publishing
Label: Grand Central Publishing
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 5.7 x 1.2
ISBN: 0446581194
Dewey Decimal Number: 364.1523
EAN: 9780446581196
ASIN: 0446581194
Publication Date: June 10, 2008
Release Date: June 10, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
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.com
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
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| Customer Reviews: Read 75 more reviews...
From S. Krishna's Books September 6, 2008
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.
True is Stranger... September 2, 2008
This book reads as a docudrama. It is a chillingly complete review of the historic serial killings and of the bumbling backwardness of the Italian legal system. I was shocked that the craziness was going on up to 2007 (and presumably to this day)! Although the judicial system sometimes sorted out the truth, the injustices perpetrated by the police and military police are truly frightening. We loved our trip to Italy recently but I will think carefully before planning another. We found the country quite pleasant, friendly, and very clean. This book gives a startling view behind the scenes into the corruption and idiocy that the citizenry evidently lives with and accepts. It is impossible to put the miscarriages of justice down to cultural differences, ingrained corruption is the more likely cause and THAT makes this a very scary book.
Jack the Ripper, take two? September 2, 2008
Admittedly, this was a really hard book to get into. The writing style was somewhere between dry non-fiction and wildly spiraling thriller; it had a slow, plodding timeline with a lot of seemingly non sequiturs tossed in to confuse the issues. There were bits very much thrown in out of left field, which seemed out of place at that moment but would later have some relevance. Continuity issues, I suppose you'd say. And that made it hard to really get immersed in the book.
The second, rather disappointing bit (for me) was the lack of a lot of speculation and general information about serial killers. Certainly, the facts and evidence of the case were presented, as well as one sketchy supposition, but a lot of the psychology behind serial killers was notably absent. For example, the fact that most don't just stop for no reason. Most investigators suspect certain people on the Jack the Ripper case because they were incarcerated or killed about the time the killings stopped. There's no hint of that in this book, and on one hand, I see that he's trying to leave the supposition out of it and let the facts speak for themselves. On the other hand, it's kind of a let down to not have much of anything in the way of speculation.
Still, the facts and personal anecdotes of the case were very interesting to read. I did not follow the case at the time (either the original or the revisited case in 2006) so all the news was new to me. And I cannot vouch for the accuracy of any of it, as this has been my only source of information on the case.
I'd recommend it to people who enjoy unsolved crime and police procedurals (though in this case, it's a primer on how not to).
 Not a page turner August 28, 2008
I agree with one of the early reviews. This book tended to peter out somewhere in the middle. I enjoyed the information about Florence and the area around that city. I did find that the story itself tended to get a little convoluted. All in all....not one that I could not put down easily.
 Surprisingly Boring August 25, 2008
Sensational, horrible, serial murders in Florence. The lead investigative journalist comes under suspicion. Stunning, riveting story. Yes? Not as told in this particular book. I found this book tedious to get through. The second half was really a slog. I can't say exactly why. Perhaps it was the writing. Perhaps this particular team written effort just did not work for me. Perhaps both of the authors had written too much already about these murders and this version just came through stale.
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