Molly's Reviews

The Monster of Florence
Douglas J. Preston and Mario Spezi
Grand Central Publishing

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Compelling read Recommended 4/5 stars

Just inside the front cover is a timeline, I found it most useful for those, including myself, who may not have an awareness of the events set down on the pages of "The Monster of Florence". The timeline helped me keep everything in order as I read the work.

Subsequent to the timeline is a cast of names for those the reader will meet in the book. I like the system. Again, because I had no awareness of the serial murderer who was killing in Florence, Italy the list helped me keep the times, places and people straight. This serial killer, the events, or the people involved is not one I was aware of prior to reading "The Monster of Florence".

While the facts surrounding the killings are factual; "The Monster of Florence" is not so much a sensational recounting of an appalling set of murders as it is a recounting of the men who have spent years investigating, researching, and trying to put the murders into perspective before beginning to write their findings into a book.

Part 1 is The Story of Mario Spezi. In 1981 Spezi, an Italian, was a young member of the press in Florence where he worked for La Nazione. He had held the post for several years. Spezi had no realization how his life might transform when he noticed a fellow reporter approaching his desk one Sunday. It was the journalist who usually handled the crime desk. The man was a phenomenon having worked and survived two decades covering the Mafia.

Spezi was asked to cover the crime desk for his coworker who had a family matter to take care of that day. His parting words would linger often in Spezi's memory: 'nothing ever happens in Florence on a Sunday morning.'

And, Spezi did hang around the paper until just about noon, his co-worker was correct, it was quiet as could be. Then, he determined to go and check out the local police station. While there he learned something indeed had happened. And, from that day onward Spezi's life was never the same. He was continually searching for answers regarding the subject of a most ghastly murder which quickly became murders in short order.

For 165 pages we follow Spezi in his pursuit to determine who "The Monster of Florence" really is.

Part 2 is The Story of Douglas Preston. Preston, an American writer, had long wanted to compose a murder mystery set in the period of the 1966 Florentine flood when the Arno River overflown its banks following forty days of rain.

Arriving in Florence in 2000 were Preston, his wife and two young children. It was not long before Preston learned that he had come right into to the heart of Monster country. He as Spezi was quickly caught up in a search for the truth. And he and Spezi soon joined forces and their investigation spanned years.

Near Florence, for over a decade the executioner killed and disfigured fourteen people. His killings included both members of seven couples he found in parked cars late at night. He was a serial killer who ritually murdered fourteen young lovers before he stopped. He is known as "The Monster of Florence". And, he has never been caught.

"The Monster of Florence" is a particularly alarming book for the reason that it gives an account of definite horrendous crimes and is not a work of fiction.

Thomas Harris, an American novelist of crime narratives, even studied Florentine Monster data for some of Hannibal Lecter's more outrageous moments in his book featuring Hannibal. Most conspicuously Harris wrote The Silence of the Lambs.

One of the most interesting of elements found on the pages of "The Monster of Florence" is the twist of irony that has also faced more than one reporter or researcher of true crime; Preston and Spezi themselves became targets of a out of the ordinary police investigation.

The murders, which continue to be unsolved even to today, caught the dismayed notice and thoughts of the Italian people, especially those who lived in and around Florence. "The Monster of Florence" is a captivating peek into the management and mis management of one of the largest investigations into a series of grisly killings which stunned and concerned the populace of Italy as well as the situation continues to cause worry and shock today.

"The Monster of Florence" is the explanation of the investigation undertaken by Spezi and Preston for--and identification of--the man Spezi and Preston are persuaded did in fact commit the unspeakable crimes. Included in the book is a recounting of the chilling interview Spezi and Preston conducted with him.

Well written, factual, "The Monster of Florence" is not a true crime account in the strictest sense because the books centers more the writers and what their research shows than it does on the murders themselves.

Spelling binding read, Happy to recommend for readers who have an interest in true crime and how the investigation into it can go awry.

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© 2008 by Molly Martin