The Monster of Florence

I wanted to like this but I found it to be convoluted at times. There were a lot of unnecessary historical descriptions and personal anecdotes from the author that just didn't have to be made. The focus was not really on the monster murders as much as it was a strange memoir about a ,”famous author and his family” in Italy and his experiences with the corrupt justice system there. Every time things got interesting the focus would suddenly shift and I found myself skimming through to find out where the story picked up pace again. Preston also kept weirdly name-dropping and propping himself up as a “bestselling author” throughout. Overall, the language is dated, the tone is distracting and it ended up being three books jammed into one. I feel like I still don't know enough about this case and will have to learn about it elsewhere.

This book was so compelling. It is a wonderful piece of storytelling that captures the crimes of an Italian serial killer and the blundering police/judicial system in Italy. Reading through this I was shocked, gripped, disgusted, annoyed, and many other emotions that would take too much time to list, not because of the writing (which is wonderful), but from how everything played out. The included afterward with the "link" to the Amanda Knox case only further cemented those feelings. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in True Crime.

This was a very good book about an elusive serial killer and about how a fixation on a particular theory and the importance of saving face can have serious consequences.

I accidentally purchased the LARGE PRINT version of this book online, which made it a page-turner in more ways that one.

Stories that don't resolve can be such a disappointment, but this absurd, modern-era, Jack-the-Ripper style mystery left me curious for more detail! A quick Google search on the title shows that a movie is in the works. Google around a little more for other interesting side-notes.

It's frustrating to know that, due to ego and incompetence, the truth behind these murders may never be known. Even still, the story is fascinating and well worth the read.

This book is about the serial killer “the monster of Florence” the investigation into the murders was poorly handled and evidence was contaminated, he was never caught.