The Dark Side of Italy or An Innocent AbroadDouglas Preston and co-author Mario Spezi undertook their own investigation into an unsolved string of serial killings -- seven couples brutally murdered in near-identical fashion in a period beginning in 1968 and stretching up to 1985. Spezi, a journalist who first caught wind of the case, is its most noted chronicler and was responsible for the appellation, "The Monster of Florence" to describe the killer. The first half of the book reads like a stra...

I'm a bit behind on my thoughts on what I've read so am going to give this a quick get-go. If you're a fan of true crime then this is a must read. I've read a few of the Preston/Child Pendergast books and love that character. I'm appreciative of the detail he can provide to his novels from his background with the Natural History Museum of New York. Somehow I missed Monster of Florence but I'm so glad I picked it up on audio for a recent road trip with my husband. We were both mesmerized by this

Because this book was written by a fiction writer, it was a breath of fresh air to true crime literature. I liked the pace and the history of the murders interspersed with the history of Florence and the surrounding area. The first two thirds of this book tell a gruesome and interesting story about a serial killer most Americans know little about. I would have given it four stars had the book stopped there. The last third is about freedom of the press in Italy and, while important to democracy a...

This book - especially the second half - is a primary source in the investigation of an unsolved serial murder case and the odd behavior of an Italian prosecutor in the decades following. It's irreplaceable if it's a case you find interesting, and it's an account which has direct bearing on the Amanda Knox case from a few years ago.Unfortunately, it's not a very good book, partly because it doesn't know what it wants to be - a thriller about the murders? An exploration of the Italian legal syste...

Dolci colline di sangue. That's a corruption of an Italian phrase about the rolling hills of Florence; it means Rolling hills of blood. It's also the title of an Italian version of this book and probably a better one.This book details the investigation into a series of murders that began in 1968 and finally ended in 1985. 16 people were shot to death in the hills surrounding Florence, Italy during that time. All the victims were killed with the same gun. I do not, as a rule, go in for true crime...

I listened to this book on audio. It was a fairly interesting listen, the narrator had a nice Italian accent that contributed a lot to my enjoyment of this novel. It's the horrible story of a serial killer in Florence, Italy. One whose identity remains a mystery to this day. I learned that Italian police procedures are not reliable and they are unlike anything that we hear about in the U.S. I also learned that the Italian police and investigators do not require the same types of evidence that w...

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 w...

Im leaving in the morning for Italy and dare not say a negative word about the Italian police and judicial system! Great nonfiction account of a journalism project that went haywire and nearly had its authors locked away for murder. Thomas Harris based Hannibal Lecter on the monster of Florence, but at least he didnt end up arrested. Really good read. No chianti required.

”This is the nature of the evil of the Monster of Florence. And this is the nature of the evil in each and every one of us. We all have a Monster within; the difference is in degree, not in kind.” The number of victims involving the Monster of Florence are staggering, those murdered and those accused.We are all potential killers. Each and every one of us is capable of killing someone, usually that would be while protecting ourselves or protecting someone we love. Then there are those who live...

Despite my criminal justice background, I'm not a huge fan of true crime books. It's not that I dislike them, but unless the author has a personal connection to the case (ie: The Stranger Beside Me, Helter Skelter) they often just end up being a recitation of the facts without much more going for them.When I first caught wind of Douglas Preston's debacle with an Italian serial killer, The Monster of Florence, I couldn't wait to read the resulting book. How often does one of my favorite bestse...

Thriller writer Douglas Preston moved to Italy, only to find out the nearby olive grove was the scene of a ghasty double murder. Preston and the journalist originally covering the investigation, Mario Spezi, dig into the case of the Monster of Florence, even winding up being investigated themselves...I know I made the synopsis sound like a thriller but this is non-fiction, the account of an Italian serial killer and his murders. It's a fascinating journey into a reign of terror that lasted decad...

From the late 1960’s to the 1980’s a serial killer sporadically stalked the countryside around Florence, murdering young couples and mutilating the female victims. Some victims of the Monster of FlorenceOver the years, numerous men became suspects, many were jailed, and some were put on trial. To this day, however, the true killer, dubbed “the monster of Florence” has not been identified. Sketch of 'the monster of Florence'Monster of Florence suspect Stefano Mele being arrestedDouglas Preston, a...

Preston: Well, my New Yorker article about the Monster of Florence won't be published now thanks to 9/11, so I think I should write a book instead.Editor: But will Americans really be that interested in unsolved lovers lane murders in Italy? We already have the Zodiac Killer and the Son of Sam. Let's make this book about you instead. Preston: You're right. I am, after all, a Bestselling Author. Editor: And don't let your readers forget it! I want at least one reminder per page that you're not ju...

A good true crime story that shows how really terribly wrong an investigation can go when an idiot is put in charge of it. If anything, Preston was too nice in describing the Italian justice system. Recommended to true crime lovers.