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The Monster of Florence - Douglas Preston & Mario Spezi

The Monster of Florence

By Douglas Preston & Mario Spezi

  • Release Date: 2008-06-10
  • Genre: True Crime
Score: 4
4
From 197 Ratings

Description

In the nonfiction tradition of John Berendt and Erik Larson, the author of the #1 NYT bestseller The Lost City of the Monkey God presents a gripping account of crime and punishment in the lush hills surrounding Florence as he seeks to uncover one of the most infamous figures in Italian history.
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.

Reviews

  • Good Book

    4
    By Emmet Aloysius
    A good accounting of a chilling, historical mega-crime spree in Italy. The monster is truly a monster...EAF
  • Amazing

    5
    By CMJL.W.
    I am so so glad that I visited Italy and had a great vacation with my husband before I read this book and Amanda's. (Knox) What a terrible justice system they have over there .... And as the years have indicated it will never change. I will not visit Italy again as you just never know what may happen.............. I hope the movie is produced so more can be aware of what went on with this case.
  • Good book

    3
    By Dabuschka
    Interesting reading.
  • True life page turner

    4
    By Lamullholand
    Great read, and as other reviewers have mentioned, you can't make this up. The crimes are terrifying but the injustices of the bungled investigation and the prosecution makes this chilling to anyone who has ever had the guts to be just serve as witness in a crime, never mind research it. Witch hunting. I was not surprised that the same hierarchy was involved with the Knox case many years later.
  • Truth is stranger than fiction

    5
    By mr landrover
    A person could not make something like this up...
  • Wow,

    5
    By Michael Pena
    My brother gave my wife the paperback as a birthday gift. I work in the oilfields of west tx, so bought it for my iPad. It is frightening how scary reality can be! This is the most captivating book I have ever read and the fact that the monster was never caught still gives me chills! Buy this book! You will not regret it! The only thing I didn't like was in the paperback, you see photos of people and crime scenes and electronically you don't!
  • Monster

    4
    By Soxcrazy
    This is an excellent book. The only thing wrong with it is they weren't able to discover who the real monster was.

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