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    The Monster of Florence
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    The Monster of Florence
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    The Monster of Florence
    Audiobook9 hours

    The Monster of Florence

    Written by Mario Spezi and Douglas Preston

    Narrated by Dennis Boutsikaris

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    In 2000, Douglas Preston and his family moved to Florence, Italy, fulfilling a long-held dream. They put their children in Italian schools and settled into a 14th century farmhouse in the green hills of Florence, where they devoted themselves to living la dolce vita while Preston wrote his best-selling suspense novels. All that changes when he discovers that the lovely olive grove in front of their house had been the scene of the most infamous double-murders in Italian history, committed by a serial killer known only as the Monster of Florence. Preston, intrigued, joins up with the crack Italian investigative journalist Mario Spezi to solve the case. THE MONSTER OF FLORENCE tells the true story of their search for--and identification of--a likely suspect, and their chilling interview with that man. And then, in a strange twist of fate, Preston and Spezi themselves become targets of the police investigation into the murders. Preston has his phone tapped and is interrogated by the police, accused of perjury, planting false evidence and being an accessory to murder--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. THE MONSTER OF FLORENCE, which reads like one of Preston's thrillers, tells a remarkable and harrowing story involving murder, mutilation, suicide, carnival trials, voyeurism, princes and palaces, body parts sent by post, séances, devil worship and Satanic sects, poisonings and exhumations, Florentine high fashion houses and drunken peasants--and at the center of it, Preston and Spezi, caught in the crossfire of a bizarre prosecutorial vendetta. NOW AVAILABLE AS A VALUE-PRICED audio edition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHachette Audio
    Release dateJun 10, 2008
    ISBN9781600242106
    Unavailable
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    Reviews for The Monster of Florence

    3.5/5

    747 ratings62 reviews

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    • 4/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      Very interesting.
    • 3/5
      I liked this book overall. The issues I had were getting through part one of the book. After that I was interested. I was more interested in reading about Preston and Spezi and their dedication to finding the monster. It wasn't al all like I had imagined it would be. I thought I was going to get to read the investigation into a spring of murders that would have the end result being the mister being caught. I was a little disappointed to find out he/she never was. I was also left with questions. My main one being "Did the officials ever investigate the alleged evidence of those metal boxes that were supposed to be in that abandoned house? And if so, what were their findings?" Other than that I enjoyed reading this book.
    • 3/5
      If you like thrillers this book is probably not for you. If you like true crime, you will probably eat this book up. I had this book on my bookshelf for years, ran across it when I was working at Barnes and Noble and just had to have it. When I finally read it years later the entire unfolding of the story was extremely interesting and chaotic. I actually ended up wanting to read the Hannibal books more than anything because they are referenced often as to being based after these killings. I also was very intrigued by the Italian court and justice system and this book does a great job of explaining these differences so that the reader can follow along easily. I gave this 3 out of 5 stars because I might read it again (probably after I read all of the Hannibal Lecter books) but its not something I would recommend for everyone.
    • 2/5
      The premise was interesting but the execution lacked something. It was an easy read. At the end it reminded me a lot of the recent case of the American girl who was recently found guilty of killing her roommate in Italy. And sure enough, Preston made a connection between the two cases. The was the only really interesting part.
    • 5/5
      Although it started a little slow and it took a while to start keeping all the Italian names straight, this true story reads like the most exciting mystery/thriller. Douglas Preston is an internationally know best-selling author. After spending time in Florence, Italy he learns about "the monster of Florence" and along with a local reporter, decides to write a book about the monster. Along the way both of the authors are accused of being involved in the murders. I'm not spoiling anything, this information is part of how the suspense is built - you know what is coming and yet you still race toward the end of the book to find out how this can be true.

      Probably one of the best "true crime" books I've ever read, topped only by In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. This one is highly recommended.
    • 3/5
      This was a fascinating book, not only because of the serial killer story but also for the glimpse inside the Italian justice system that it provided. It's especially interesting in light of the current trial of Amanda Knox in Italy that is playing out in the media here. The serial killer story and the efforts to bring him to justice would have been a great book all on its own but combined with the personal stories of the authors and their brushes with the criminal justice system because of their investigation, it was an even better one. I would recommend this to anyone interested in crime stories.
    • 4/5
      Recommended for readers interested in real crime, violent crime, unsolved crime, The Silence of the Lambs/Hannibal (Thomas Harris is inspired by some of the tale), and international journalist rights.

      I listened to the audio book, so this review deals with that version.

      When an author is writing about things that Actually Happened, I know they don't have much choice about how interesting an ending is. But I can't help but think that The Monster of Florence would be a much more thrilling book if it ended after part one. --Or at least that's what I picked up the tome for.

      SPOILERS BELOW

      While the first half of the book concerns a fascinating series of unsolved murders in Italy, the second half devolves into political, journalistic and personal trials. This is certainly interesting on it's own, but paired with the horror of the first half, I was far less enthused.

      Aside from that complaint, I only have a few negative comments. Preston seems to be writing for a pretty educated and literate audience, however he frequently repeats or rephrases ideas, and carefully interprets ideas and characters within the narrative. Now, I know that Preston as a character in the narrative is certainly welcome to do this, but I felt far more interpretation and influence from Preston the author than I was ready and willing to listen to.

      The murders and descriptions of a potentially graphic nature and handled discretely and rarely ventured into the lurid territory. What I did take offense at was Preston's completely outsider perspective on Italian culture, politics, and judicial system. While he refrains from outright stereotypes, he spends much of the book generalizing the people in a way that feels xenophobic even if, at heart, it is not.
    • 2/5
      I found this book good at the start, but slightly dry and disappointing. The story is compelling enough be then it meanders off into nowhere, really, and ends with the investigation stalling. So, basically they went through all of that for nothing. Sometimes, real life is stranger than fiction - but in this case, it's probably more boring than fiction would be. At the end of a fictional novel, the killer would have been unmasked and good will have triumphed over evil. In this version, the evil was split between some weird Florentine families and a lazy police deparment...all in their quest for notoriety and power.Egotistically speaking, they ended up making this story more about themselves than the killer - it's no wonder no one turned up any new evidence.
    • 3/5
      If you're a crime-show addict like me, then you'll be intrigued by this book. It's weird to say you "liked" a series of serial murders, but I think the story of this book appealed to me more than the writing itself. The first part of the book is told without any firm perspective of a character--it recounts the murders leading up to Douglas Preston's arrival in Italy. Interesting, but not really compelling to read. About mid-way through, it switches to telling the investigation from Preston's point of view. That was a more interesting read for me, so I was more invested from there on out.
    • 5/5
      The Monster of Florence is the first true crime book I've ever read and while I knew it was about a serial killer and the investigation in catching the perpetrator that went off the rails, then I read the book and couldn't believe it. The first portion of the book detailed the killings themselves following Spezi's steps as he reported the happens in and around Florence with the crimes then the various investigations that led to interesting trials. The second portion of the book saw Preston enter the story and how his life was turned around by the Monster case especially from the hands of Giuliano Mignini. The Afterward of Preston's view of the then-developing Amanda Knox case in light of his own knowledge of Italian journalism and justice was very poignant when looking years back.Although I have read about how many people didn't like the details Preston gave about his own experience with the Italian justice system, but I thought it helped highlight one of the problems plaguing the Monster case which seemed to be the point of the book. While Preston and Spezi have come up with a likely candidate for the Monster himself, the fact that they must battle decades old conspiracy theories seems the longest shadow that has cast itself over this case.
    • 5/5
      This was an incredible, and horrifying (though not for the reasons you may suspect) book! Author Douglas Preston loves Italy and moves his family there, where he has decided on the course for his next book - which will take place in Florence. Once there he meets up with journalist Mario Spezi for some background research on how the police and carabinieri work, only to be regaled by and dragged into the story of the Monster of Florence. Utterly convoluted suspect lists and wild crazy conspiracy theories abound while Preston and Spezi try to find the truth in all this mess and uncover the real Monster. I have to admit, a certain Italian higher-up in all this has infuriated me and I cannot remotely understand why he is still working and ruining lives. But the book was fabulous, suspenseful and full of hard truths, can't get much better!
    • 3/5
      There are really two books here. Book 1 works well - a summary of the crimes of the monster, the public reaction and hysteria, the police hunt, likely suspects considered, arrested and discounted, and the authors' own opinion as to who the likely perpetrator is. And their suspicions, although based on circumstantial evidence and the somewhat dubious art of psychological profiling, seem well founded and at least worthy of an investigation that is yet to occur. This is definitely not "Queen Victoria was Jack The Ripper" stuff - its better founded than that. So far so good. Book 2 is less successful, as it deals with the labyrinthine and arcane workings of the Italian legal system. The authors - Spezi in particular - fall foul of the prosecuting magistrate, mainly because he keeps making him look foolish in the press, and find themselves part of the investigation. Spezi is arrested for obstruction of justice - contrary to the books' blurb he is not accused of being the monster - and Preston finds himself under investigation and advised not to return to Italy. The problem with this book is that Preston just doesn't understand the Italian justice system and therefore his commentary takes on the tone of the naive innocent abroad "Gee whiz guys, this isn't fair, don't you know I'm American?" The Italian system may have many faults and rightly or wrongly may be difficult for an outsider to navigate, but it does not run purely on incompetence, malice and corruption as suggested here. For sure the power of influence is important and its frustrating for Preston that he doesn't have any ("But I'm American!") but it deserves more considered commentary than this. It isnt' Kafka's The Trial, whatever Preston may suggest. None the less there are important lessons here for foreigners who find themselves in trouble in Italy. Those associated with Amanda Knox in particular would have been well advised to read this; particularly as it was the same magistrate, a man seemingly obsessed - as The Monster of Florence makes clear - with satanic ritual.
    • 4/5
      The author follows the investigation of what may be a series of murders by an Italian journalist and gets a nasty look at the inner workings of politics in the justice system.
    • 2/5
      This is the second book I've read recently that is nonfiction, details recent crimes and does't provide an true conclusion. Is this some trend in publishing? If so, I hope dies out soon; it's truly unsatisfying to reach the end of the book and not have a real ending. I realize that life doesn't have the nicely tied up endings of fiction, but a conclusion that amounts to "that's as much as we know now," seems to me to be a reason for serious editing and reconsideration of the focus of the book.
    • 4/5
      Douglas Preston is one of my favorite writers, so I was very interested in his true crime book about a serial killer in the Tuscan hills. I listened to it on CD. The story was fascinating. It had a surreal quality about it, almost reminiscent of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. The occurrences are just plain weird... and the actions of the police during the investigation are unconscionable. This story is so bizarre, it HAS to be real. You can't make this kind of stuff up. My big beef with the narrator, who was otherwise excellent, is his falling into an Italian accent when reading any dialogue spoken by any and all of the Italian characters. I could definitely have done without that. Highly recommended to all lovers of true crime stories.
    • 4/5
      If it weren't true, it would be funny. The Italian system of "justice" is that absurd and backward. To think I always thought of the Italians as learned, rational and civilized. Little did I know. I can hardly believe any cop would be so asinine as the ones portrayed in this book. Anytime I think the US system of justice is getting out of hand, or the press have too much leeway, I'll remember this book.
    • 4/5
      This book is amazing. It starts out with the gruesome recount of seven murders that took place in the hills of Florence. A true story filled with detailed, well researched facts, yet so well written that it keeps the pages turning and the reader guessing who the Monster is with the agility of fiction. From the murders to the trials to the conspiracy theories this book is very interesting and thought provoking. I highly recommend it!!!
    • 3/5
      This true-crime journalistic book delves into the mystery of the "Monster of Florence", a serial killer who murdered couples in the Italian countryside every year at a specific time for quite a few years. The mystery has never been solved, and this book discusses all the suspects, as well as serving as a sort of expose of the Italian judicial system, which is pretty crazy. One of the authors is an American journalist who became interested in the story after he and his family moved to Italy; the other author is an Italian detective who has worked on the case since its inception. The narrative tends to wander a bit at times, but overall I liked this book.
    • 4/5
      I stayed up until 2 AM to finish this book. On a day when I have to get up for work at 7, that's saying a lot. This book was interesting, and I think exceptionally interesting, because the two people who are writing it aren't looking at it from afar. They researched so much and delved so deep that they became a part of the investigation themselves. I won't reveal how, but let's just say that it ended up being a big deal.The crime is a series of murders from the years 1968-1984/5 where there were 7 double homicides. The real murderer has not been found to this day. But as Preston and Spezi describe what I (as a forensic scientist) this is one of the most ill-investigated cases in possibly history, I find myself shaking my head in disbelief just as much as Preston must have done.From satanic cults to witnesses-for-hire (though not proven to be!), if you want to read about the man that Thomas Harris may have used as an influence to Hannibal (and it is known for a fact that he did use Florence), this is a good book to start with!
    • 5/5
      True story. Page turner about 7 double murders near Florence.
    • 1/5
      i thought the author was so full of himself i could not even get interested in the book. since the author was in florence for a while, his is the monster as far as im concerned.
    • 4/5
      This was a very interesting read. We really only get 1 side of the story, but I'm really curious about what the otherside side said and if I would actually believe them. If your interested in true crime then definitly check this book out. It's about a serial killer in the hills of Florence, Italy. The crimes he committed and how they police conducted their investigation. What's really intersting about it is how I perceive American investigations to be and how they described the Italian investigation.
    • 3/5
      I haven't read much true crime, but I found this very interesting. I am amazed at how incompetent the court system is in Italy. I never want to be accused of a crime there!
    • 4/5
      America isn't the only place with serial killers. But for some reason, the story of the Monster of Florence didn't make it over here until a U.S. writer ended up involved. I'd heard about this story a year or two ago when I saw it on Dateline. Honestly, the judicial system there makes ours look stellar.Couples on what we would consider lovers' lanes are murdered. The men are shot, the women mutilated. This goes on for decades with no clue as to who the culprit is. Journalist Mario Spezi gets the first case to report on by accident and continues to write about the case with every attack. He's considered an expert. Douglas Preston and his family move temporarily to Florence so he can research a novel. When he meets with Spezi in the course of that research, he discovers that the home he's rented is basically on the site of one of the murders. Preston becomes as obsessed with the case as Spezi, the two of them discovering evidence that disputes what the police have. When a new inspector takes over the case, both Spezi and Preston are arrested. (Not a spoiler--you find this out right away.) An excellent book and a scary one as well.
    • 3/5
      Not exactly want I expected from the title, but a very interesting look at the Italian legal system that I knew nothing about. Really looks more at how power and politics play a role in the justice system of Italy.The latter part of the story about Spezi's fight against the judicary and his jailing and trial is actually more interestinged than the serial killings which is what drew me to the book in the first place.Fascinating story, though it moves much to slowly to be highly recommended.
    • 3/5
      What if Under the Tuscan Sun had been written by Kafka? You would have The Monster of Florence, the true story of a decades-long investigation into a rash of Ripper-like murders in the vicinity of Florence. The appeal is not so much the usual true-crime recipe of forensics, psychological suspense and morbid fascination. It's more of a travelogue from hell - a portrayal of Italy and the Italians that you won't find in Fodor's. The portrayal of the Italian "justice" system is horrifying, albeit sometimes horrifyingly funny. With the caveat that Preston has a personal ax to grind against the system, I guess it's all true. And after a slow start, gripping as hell.
    • 3/5
      It's hard to believe that this is a true, ongoing story. An American writer and an Italian journalist team up to begin researching the Monster of Florence, a serial killer who preyed on young couples parking in the hills around Florence, Italy. The book exposes the convoluted Italian judicial system who many years after the killings stop even accuse the writing pair of the crime. The case is still unsolved.
    • 1/5
      I read about 2/3 of this... it was pretentious.
    • 3/5
      The first half, dealing with the serial killings that took place for roughly twenty years from the mid 60s to the mid 80s, was relatively interesting. The second part covering the investigation--the arrests of various suspects, the examination of the Italian judicial system--was a real snoozer. Cap it off with no resolution to who the true killer is and you have a book I wouldn't recommend to anyone.