The Monster of Florence, Finale

I finished The Monster of Florence tonight. The last half of the book started in the 2000s, with author Doug Preston arriving with his family in Italy to work on a new thriller. He met journalist Mario Spezi and became fast friends. They decided to write an article for The New Yorker about The Monster of Florence (which never got published because 9-11 happened), so Preston got up to speed on the case. It's during this time that we learn Spezi's theory of who the real Monster is, and I have to say I completely agree with his idea. Unlike the Italian police, Spezi has actual evidence that who he thinks it is could actually be the right guy. Spezi and Preston even go to this person's house and interview him.

The thing is, the Italian police think they have the right guy. But they're using false witnesses and falsified evidence to make their case. The wrong man even goes to prison. And then, the police turn on the journalists when Preston and Spezi come out against them. The rest of the book is just unreal. Wrongful imprisonments, intense interrogations, police corruption, etc. I couldn't believe the things I was reading, and I can't imagine what Preston was thinking or feeling when all this was happening.

Being a journalist myself, all this was so interesting, yet so scary for me to read. But I enjoyed the book. True crime, and the author was even a part of it for a little while. What a story!

The Monster of Florence

I’m in the middle of The Monster of Florence, a retelling of a gruesome string of murders between 1968 and 1985 in Florence, Italy. In the first half of the book, co-author Doug Preston gets us up to speed on the serial killer (or killers) that ripped Florence of its innocence. The killer would target young lovers on moonless nights as they had sex in their cars in different secluded areas. He would kill both by gunshot, and mutilate the female. Eight of these murders (16 people) happened in 17 years time. Due to the fact that all the bullets were from the same gun, and the MO was nearly the same in all cases, the police could only believe they were all connected. The man was named The Monster.

Preston’s co-author Mario Spezi was the journalist during a majority of this time. Because he was so close to the cases, he was seen as an authority figure. He even wrote a book about the murders in the ‘80s. Preston moved to Florence with his family in 2000, learned of the still-unsolved serial murders and partnered up with Spezi to write about it (and try to nab the killer). (If you ever read Thomas Harris’ sequel Hannibal - when Hannibal Lector lives in Florence after escaping at the end of Silence of the Lambs – many of his storylines, themes and characters are based on people from the time of The Monster of Florence. Harris even stayed at the home of the lead investigator.)

I’m almost finished with Part I of the book, which recounts the murders and the coinciding investigation. The police had several different leads, arrested many men, but could never find enough proof to pin the murders on any one person. The retelling of the murders are pretty awful, and it’s very easy to get confused when there are so many players with very similar-sounding Italian names. But, the book is good. Not awesome, but good. It’s painful to read about all the mistakes the police made; this kind of thing didn’t happen in Florence, so I feel they were pretty out of their league, especially at first. But the story is also very interesting. In 2007 it was a Dateline episode, so I’m thinking of trying to find that online and watching it after I read the book.

The second half of the book is Preston’s story – after he moves to Florence and begins his research into the murders. The cover flap even alludes to Preston and Spezi getting so close to the investigation they become suspects themselves. I’m anxious to get to that part.