Rating: 4 out of 5
The Monster of Florence: A True Story
by Douglas Preston with Mario Spezi
Review by Erin Gurry
It's difficult to imagine the same scenic place
that brought us the Renaissance could also be home
to possibly the most elusive and brutal serial
killer. The Monster of Florence is the true
account of the search to find this European killer
and the unbelievable effect it had on the
journalists searching for the truth.

Serene olive groves in the Florentine hills were
favorites for young couples who wanted to be
alone. It is here in these secluded clearings that
the Monster struck while the couples were making
love. Preston's novel is a two part account of
this story. The first part deals with the
discovery of the crimes and the city's unjust
attempts to unmask the murderer. It introduces the
reader to important characters including the head
of the police, a bizarre fortune teller, and
numerous Monster suspects. The most vital
character introduced is the Italian journalist
Mario Spezi, nicknamed the Monstrologer, who stops
at nothing trying to unmask the true killer.
Having been to the crime scenes and seen the
horrific effects, Spezi has also had the chance to
see the botched police investigations and shadowy
collection of evidence at the crimes.

In part two we meet the next essential character,
the book's author, Douglas Preston. Nearly twenty
years after the last victim's murder, Preston took
his family from their quaint seaside house in
Maine to live in Florence to research his own
thriller novel. Upon arriving he meets and
befriends Mario Spezi and gets caught in the story
himself, even being subjected to interrogation and
threats to never return to Italy, while Spezi
fares much worse having become a suspect in the
Monster case.

The Monster of Florence, no matter how
controversial, is an eye-opening look into the
inner-workings of the Italian justice system.
Preston's account is unmatched in detail having
become part of the investigation and dealing
first-hand with the questionable justice system.
It leaves the reader wondering just how this could
happen in a supposedly civilized modern society.


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