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angela_juniper's review
Tried to get into it… just too long and winding of a story. I wish it were edited down some and easier to follow.
honnari_hannya's review against another edition
4.0
It might be strange to call a book about a serial killer investigation fun, but the way Douglas Preston told this incredibly twisty story cannot be described in any other way.
Part-true crime, part-memoir, The Monster of Florence begins with an author's search for inspiration in order to write his latest crime novel, only to become a suspect in the very case he is investigating. It sounds so ridiculously tropey that it couldn't possibly be true, and yet!
This book was structured incredibly well: From the investigative journalism that lays out the history of the serial murders and the case for each suspect, which eventually converge upon Preston and his co-author/co-investigator, Mario Spezi. The book tells you upfront where these lines of inquiry end up, and so I kept trying to anticipate how the twists of this story would play out, almost as if I were reading a work of fiction.
Beyond that, this story is also an indictment against police corruption and the justice system, as well as the importance of free speech when it comes to sussing out the truth. Sadly, these seem to be opposed to one another more often than not1312, as Preston and Spezi can probably attest to after this experience.
Also super interesting to find out this case's connection to the Hannibal franchise! That was a delight.
Part-true crime, part-memoir, The Monster of Florence begins with an author's search for inspiration in order to write his latest crime novel, only to become a suspect in the very case he is investigating. It sounds so ridiculously tropey that it couldn't possibly be true, and yet!
This book was structured incredibly well: From the investigative journalism that lays out the history of the serial murders and the case for each suspect, which eventually converge upon Preston and his co-author/co-investigator, Mario Spezi. The book tells you upfront where these lines of inquiry end up, and so I kept trying to anticipate how the twists of this story would play out, almost as if I were reading a work of fiction.
Beyond that, this story is also an indictment against police corruption and the justice system, as well as the importance of free speech when it comes to sussing out the truth. Sadly, these seem to be opposed to one another more often than not
Also super interesting to find out this case's connection to the Hannibal franchise! That was a delight.
gmd316's review
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
3.0
I love douglas preston but this felt long and droning and could be hard to follow on audio.
kellyfrecca's review against another edition
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
3.75
book_concierge's review against another edition
3.0
Book on CD narrated by Dennis Boutsikaris.
3.5***
In the early 1980s the residents of Tuscany were terrorized by a serial killer every bit as brutal as Jack the Ripper. Known as the Monster of Florence, the psychopath was never caught. In August 2000, Douglas Preston moved his family to Florence; he intended to write a murder mystery. As part of his research he met with Mario Spezi a local crime reporter and celebrated journalist. Spezi regaled Preston with various stories and then commented that the villa Preston and his family were renting was next to one of the most infamous murder sites in Italy. Very quickly Preston abandoned the mystery novel and began working with Spezi to uncover all they could about the Monster of Florence. This is their story.
This work has some of the elements that make true-crime books so fascinating. The reader already knows that the murders will happen, may even know some of the details, but the writers manage to build some suspense into the recitation of facts. While, in this case, the murderer is never brought to justice, there are plenty of suspects, including the two journalists, a group of Sardinians, a pharmacist, a “village idiot,” and much-talked-about secret satanic sect.
What made the work less interesting to me, however, was the necessary focus on the ineptitude of the Italian police, prosecutor and judge. Necessary because both Spezi and Preston became the targets of repeated investigations, allegations and criminal charges as a result of their efforts to write a book about the case. The result is a somewhat circuitous argument with no resolution.
Dennis Boutsikaris does a very good job narrating the audiobook. He sets a good pace, and makes the characters sufficiently unique so as not to confuse. Still, I was glad to have a copy of the text handy, because it includes a map and numerous photographs.
3.5***
In the early 1980s the residents of Tuscany were terrorized by a serial killer every bit as brutal as Jack the Ripper. Known as the Monster of Florence, the psychopath was never caught. In August 2000, Douglas Preston moved his family to Florence; he intended to write a murder mystery. As part of his research he met with Mario Spezi a local crime reporter and celebrated journalist. Spezi regaled Preston with various stories and then commented that the villa Preston and his family were renting was next to one of the most infamous murder sites in Italy. Very quickly Preston abandoned the mystery novel and began working with Spezi to uncover all they could about the Monster of Florence. This is their story.
This work has some of the elements that make true-crime books so fascinating. The reader already knows that the murders will happen, may even know some of the details, but the writers manage to build some suspense into the recitation of facts. While, in this case, the murderer is never brought to justice, there are plenty of suspects, including the two journalists, a group of Sardinians, a pharmacist, a “village idiot,” and much-talked-about secret satanic sect.
What made the work less interesting to me, however, was the necessary focus on the ineptitude of the Italian police, prosecutor and judge. Necessary because both Spezi and Preston became the targets of repeated investigations, allegations and criminal charges as a result of their efforts to write a book about the case. The result is a somewhat circuitous argument with no resolution.
Dennis Boutsikaris does a very good job narrating the audiobook. He sets a good pace, and makes the characters sufficiently unique so as not to confuse. Still, I was glad to have a copy of the text handy, because it includes a map and numerous photographs.
lpm100's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
Book Review
Monster of Florence
5/5 stars
"Italians: Great looking people, but EXTREMELY poor at criminal investigations in particular and statecraft in general."
*******
Of the book:
-60 chapters+intro+foreword
-Over 331 pages, 5.33pps/per
-Index, but no bibliography
-Unputdownable
*******
This is a brilliant book.
The events described are so farcical, that they could never have been a fiction book - -too implausible-- but it defies believe that these events really did happen in real life. (The author, Douglas Preston, is a best-selling author of fiction books; if there was a fictional plot this good, he would have been the one to dream it up.)
As I'm reading this book, I'm wondering: "who in Italy was NOT suspected of being 'The Monster' at some point or another?"
I might note that it was published about 15 years ago, and 4 out of 8 of the murders have been "solved."
It seems that there was more than one person who did the killing.
That aside, this is a fascinating slice of History of Italy, which was only unified in 1871-- and they were still in the process of doing this during the events of this book.
The circumstances that led to these murders are unthinkable to Americans or people in the English-speaking world. For the record: Italian people of this era lived at home until they get married, and so the logical place to have intimate encounters is in a car (WTF?)
And if there are so many people "being intimate" in so many cars, then some of them will be the target of opportunistic killers. (And if you wanted to sneak up on somebody, wouldn't that be the most logical time?)
*******
I see at least four separate threads in this story:
1. Probability and statistics (p.96). At the time of these events, Florence had about 780k people (380k in 2024). Murder rate at that time was about 4/100,000 per annum (33/year). These murders took place over 17 years, during which time there would have been a total of about 531 murders. Some of these would have similar characteristics just by coincidence.
2. Copycat killers (who sense an opportunity to mask their own criminality by copying another person and throwing the authorities off.)
3. Questionable quality of Italian police work/governance structures. (The Italians have had a hard time managing a state for a very long time; why should this be any different?) For example (p.119): police find a rag with 38 spots of blood, but don't bother to analyze it because it seemed unlikely. Also, they didn't even bother conserving any blood from the victims to cross check it with.
4. Mass hysteria / panic. And that type of thing happens from time to time, and it is just coincidence that it was happening in Florence, Italy. A lot of this reminds me of the Salem witch trials, where everybody thought that everybody else was a witch.
*******
A lot of the material for Thomas Harris's book "Hannibal was actually drawn from Florence, Italy and certain of the events around this story (man eating pigs, etc, p.57).
*******
Verdict: the Amanda Knox trial is not new. Apparently, inept Italian law enforcement goes back at least several decades--and possibly even further than that. If you should happen to get killed in italy, don't expect anybody to find out who did it. (At least not any sooner than you would in Sudan or Haiti.) And if you want to kill somebody and not get caught, Italy might be your best bet.
*******
Vocabulary:
-Bonfire of the Vanities (Renaissance term)
-carabineri (military grade police responsible to the Italian Ministry of Defense)
-felucca
-scagliola
-Barbagian code
-crostini
*******
Quotes:
(p. 19): "In Italy, most people live at home with their parents until they marry and most merry late. As a result, having sex in parked cars is a national pastime.... The investigators discovered the dozens of warriors proud the countryside spying on these couples. They were known as 'Indiani.'"
(p. 52): " The unified country had been created in 1871.... The inhabitants spoke some 600 languages and dialects. When the new Italian State chose the Florentine dialect to be official Italian, only 2% of the population could actually speak it. Even in 1960, fewer than half of the citizens could speak standard Italian."
(p. 246): "The doctor, under threat, gave Catapano a quick lesson in anatomy. With one enormous swipe of the knife Catapano opened the man up and ripped out the heart and liver, one in each hand, and then took a bite out of each in turn. "
Monster of Florence
5/5 stars
"Italians: Great looking people, but EXTREMELY poor at criminal investigations in particular and statecraft in general."
*******
Of the book:
-60 chapters+intro+foreword
-Over 331 pages, 5.33pps/per
-Index, but no bibliography
-Unputdownable
*******
This is a brilliant book.
The events described are so farcical, that they could never have been a fiction book - -too implausible-- but it defies believe that these events really did happen in real life. (The author, Douglas Preston, is a best-selling author of fiction books; if there was a fictional plot this good, he would have been the one to dream it up.)
As I'm reading this book, I'm wondering: "who in Italy was NOT suspected of being 'The Monster' at some point or another?"
I might note that it was published about 15 years ago, and 4 out of 8 of the murders have been "solved."
It seems that there was more than one person who did the killing.
That aside, this is a fascinating slice of History of Italy, which was only unified in 1871-- and they were still in the process of doing this during the events of this book.
The circumstances that led to these murders are unthinkable to Americans or people in the English-speaking world. For the record: Italian people of this era lived at home until they get married, and so the logical place to have intimate encounters is in a car (WTF?)
And if there are so many people "being intimate" in so many cars, then some of them will be the target of opportunistic killers. (And if you wanted to sneak up on somebody, wouldn't that be the most logical time?)
*******
I see at least four separate threads in this story:
1. Probability and statistics (p.96). At the time of these events, Florence had about 780k people (380k in 2024). Murder rate at that time was about 4/100,000 per annum (33/year). These murders took place over 17 years, during which time there would have been a total of about 531 murders. Some of these would have similar characteristics just by coincidence.
2. Copycat killers (who sense an opportunity to mask their own criminality by copying another person and throwing the authorities off.)
3. Questionable quality of Italian police work/governance structures. (The Italians have had a hard time managing a state for a very long time; why should this be any different?) For example (p.119): police find a rag with 38 spots of blood, but don't bother to analyze it because it seemed unlikely. Also, they didn't even bother conserving any blood from the victims to cross check it with.
4. Mass hysteria / panic. And that type of thing happens from time to time, and it is just coincidence that it was happening in Florence, Italy. A lot of this reminds me of the Salem witch trials, where everybody thought that everybody else was a witch.
*******
A lot of the material for Thomas Harris's book "Hannibal was actually drawn from Florence, Italy and certain of the events around this story (man eating pigs, etc, p.57).
*******
Verdict: the Amanda Knox trial is not new. Apparently, inept Italian law enforcement goes back at least several decades--and possibly even further than that. If you should happen to get killed in italy, don't expect anybody to find out who did it. (At least not any sooner than you would in Sudan or Haiti.) And if you want to kill somebody and not get caught, Italy might be your best bet.
*******
Vocabulary:
-Bonfire of the Vanities (Renaissance term)
-carabineri (military grade police responsible to the Italian Ministry of Defense)
-felucca
-scagliola
-Barbagian code
-crostini
*******
Quotes:
(p. 19): "In Italy, most people live at home with their parents until they marry and most merry late. As a result, having sex in parked cars is a national pastime.... The investigators discovered the dozens of warriors proud the countryside spying on these couples. They were known as 'Indiani.'"
(p. 52): " The unified country had been created in 1871.... The inhabitants spoke some 600 languages and dialects. When the new Italian State chose the Florentine dialect to be official Italian, only 2% of the population could actually speak it. Even in 1960, fewer than half of the citizens could speak standard Italian."
(p. 246): "The doctor, under threat, gave Catapano a quick lesson in anatomy. With one enormous swipe of the knife Catapano opened the man up and ripped out the heart and liver, one in each hand, and then took a bite out of each in turn. "
mrswhite's review against another edition
4.0
From 1968 to 1985 a serial killer is suspected to have roamed the gorgeous Tuscan landscape, killing as many as eight couples while they made love in cars parked in the rolling countryside. The killer's (or killers') viciousness rivaled that of London's Jack the Ripper, and his crimes inspired Thomas Harris's infamous Hannibal Lecter. And although the slayings would come to an abrupt stop in 1985, the Monster of Florence still enjoys a formidable presence amongst the inhabitants of Florence and its outlying areas, as his identity remains undetermined to this day.
Author Douglas Preston moved to Florence with the intention of writing a work of fiction, but after learning that his front yard was the scene of one of the Monster's gruesome murders, he became fascinated with the unsolved case and found he could focus on little else. With the help of journalist Mario Spezi - nicknamed the "Monstrologer" for his expertise in the case - Preston discovered an unbelievable story, one involving real-life monsters, a cast of degenerates, an Internet nutcase, and even a suspected satanic cult.
But the story of the investigation would prove to be as fascinating as the story of the murders themselves, as time and time again the authorities proved they were more interested in using the case for their own personal gain than in justice; thus, they made false accusations, wrongfully imprisoned several innocent people, possibly planted evidence, illegally spied on dissidents, and even went so far as to accuse Mario Spezi of being the Monster after his investigative work and forthcoming book threatened to paint them in an unflattering light. It's as hard to imagine such acts of brutality taking place in the breathtakingly beautiful home of The Renaissance as it is to imagine such investigative incompetence in a supposedly civilized country, however every bit of it is true.
The Monster of Florence is divided into two parts: the first detailing the investigation into the Monster's crimes and identify, and the second chronicling Preston's collaborative work with Spezi and their subsequent indictments for obstruction of justice. Both parts are of equal interest, and, in the vein of In Cold Blood and The Devil in the White City, the whole piece reads like a work of fiction. My biggest criticism (aside from the difficulties I had keeping all the Italian names straight) was that the ending disappoints somewhat, but there's not much else the authors could have done seeing as the crime remains unsolved.
Bottom line: Preston and Spezi have created a meticulously researched, well-written and wholly absorbing book, and it's a must-read if you are at all interested in the true crime genre.
Author Douglas Preston moved to Florence with the intention of writing a work of fiction, but after learning that his front yard was the scene of one of the Monster's gruesome murders, he became fascinated with the unsolved case and found he could focus on little else. With the help of journalist Mario Spezi - nicknamed the "Monstrologer" for his expertise in the case - Preston discovered an unbelievable story, one involving real-life monsters, a cast of degenerates, an Internet nutcase, and even a suspected satanic cult.
But the story of the investigation would prove to be as fascinating as the story of the murders themselves, as time and time again the authorities proved they were more interested in using the case for their own personal gain than in justice; thus, they made false accusations, wrongfully imprisoned several innocent people, possibly planted evidence, illegally spied on dissidents, and even went so far as to accuse Mario Spezi of being the Monster after his investigative work and forthcoming book threatened to paint them in an unflattering light. It's as hard to imagine such acts of brutality taking place in the breathtakingly beautiful home of The Renaissance as it is to imagine such investigative incompetence in a supposedly civilized country, however every bit of it is true.
The Monster of Florence is divided into two parts: the first detailing the investigation into the Monster's crimes and identify, and the second chronicling Preston's collaborative work with Spezi and their subsequent indictments for obstruction of justice. Both parts are of equal interest, and, in the vein of In Cold Blood and The Devil in the White City, the whole piece reads like a work of fiction. My biggest criticism (aside from the difficulties I had keeping all the Italian names straight) was that the ending disappoints somewhat, but there's not much else the authors could have done seeing as the crime remains unsolved.
Bottom line: Preston and Spezi have created a meticulously researched, well-written and wholly absorbing book, and it's a must-read if you are at all interested in the true crime genre.
wordynerdyanddirty's review against another edition
3.0
I would honestly give this book a 3.5 if I could. It was outside of my normal genres and I thoroughly enjoyed story of the Monster. I also liked reading from two different perspectives - one from the journalist who covered the murders from the beginning and another view from the journalist who moved to Italy much later and discovered the horrors that had occurred near his home. The downfall? Though not the fault of the author, it pains me that it’s not all tied up by the end. Still, an overall interesting read in the true crime genre.