Book Review: "The Monster of Florence" by Robert Preston and Mario Spezi (originally posted on Amazon on 7/14/08)

I'm not sure what I found more shocking in "The Monster of Florence", the sensational, new book by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi: the brutal murders of a serial killer prowling the Tuscan hills, or a local judiciary that appears to be rife with incompetence and corruption. In fact, it's sometimes hard to separate the fine line between the overreaching ambition of certain judges and police officials (apparently willing to do anything for power), and the dogged, seemingly idiotic, determination with which they pursued any number of disparate lies and half-truths, bogging down an already labyrinthine investigation and resulting in still more deaths, and the ruination of many more lives. You find yourself questioning whether or not these people, in charge of protecting the populace, are actually so heartless and conniving, or are they possibly that stupid? I suspect it's a little of both, given the number of law enforcement agencies involved, but whatever the case, the most egregious "official" offenders need to be held accountable for their actions. Because of the outrageous behavior of these authority figures, the atrocities of the Monster of Florence, and the unbelievable chain of events following the crimes, "The Monster of Florence" may sound more like a fictional crime thriller than the terrifying true story that it actually is. Spanning several decades, the book recounts the deaths of a number of young couples viciously murdered in various lovers lane areas in the hills surrounding Florence, the often conflicting efforts of police and journalists trying to apprehend the killer, and the various aftermaths of their actions. Working for the Italian newspaper, Nazione, reporter Mario Spezi was involved in the case from its beginnings on a boring Sunday morning back in the early seventies. When his co-worker on the crime desk asked him to cover his shift, Spezi hurried to the sight of a double murder and suddenly found himself drawn into an increasingly complex web as more murders and intrigue followed. Aware that the police investigation was seriously flawed, especially as more jurisdictions became involved, Spezi became determined to eventually unmask the killer, despite the efforts of public officials to mislead residents, and deter any theories not aligning with their own. What Spezi obviously didn't count on was the absolute authority with which certain individuals pursued personal goals, which ultimately, did not bode well for the writer.

As luck would have it, bestselling author, Douglas Preston ("Tyrannosaur Canyon", "The Relic", "Dance of Death", "Brimstone") moved his family to Italy and was working on a new novel. During his research on the novel, Preston found himself meeting with Spezi and the whole story of the Monster of Florence unfolded. Intrigued, Preston became involved in Spezi's quest to find the monster, and a whole new chapter opened up, eventually paving the way for this book to be written and published (but not before Spezi was arrested and imprisoned, and Preston interrogated and virtually thrown out of Italy). "The Monster of Florence" is both exciting and inciting; it's unputdownable and it makes one yearn for true justice to be done in this case.