This is a true story about a series of murders in Florence, Italy. The author, Douglas Preston, had longed to move to Florence for years, and finally fulfilled that dream, moving to a villa in Florence with his family.
When he met the renowned journalist, Mario Spezi, he was shocked to discover that there had been a double murder in an olive grove near his new home. This was the beginning of a series of murders that have taken place in the Florence area over a number of years.
Preston began to investigate the murders with Spezi's assistance. In the process, they themselves became the focus of the police investigation, with Spezi actually being imprisoned for a time as a suspect in the crimes.
"And then, in a strange twist of fate, Preston and Spezi themselves become targets of the police investigation. Preston has his phone tapped, is interrogated, 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. Like one of Preston's thrillers, The Monster Of Florence tells a remarkable and harrowing story involving murder, mutilation, and suicide - and at the center of it, Preston and Spezi, caught in a bizarre prosecutorial vendetta." ~ Wikipedia Brenda
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Thanks for posting, Candi! This was Ginger's recommendation, so it should be a great read.
Did you read the transcript from The Book of Negroes? I know that you were not able to make it to the online chat, and I hope that the new book club forum will give ST'ers like you a chance to participate before and after the scheduled monthly chat. Was it helpful? Any suggestions to make this forum work better?
I just ordered the book from our Peace Regional Library online book loan service...it should be here in a couple of days!
Here is an article by Doug Preston about his family's move to the Florence area and his involvement with the unsolved murders in that area.
"According to Variety, Tom Cruise has acquired the rights to the story alongside United Artists. Cruise is attached to produce the thriller and could decide to also star in it after he has fully read the script, currently being written by Chris McQuarrie.
The murders in The Monster Of Florence have already inspired Hannibal, and they are now going to be embedded in movie history forever. Preston, who has previously had his book The Relic turned in to a movie, said, 'It’s the biggest movie deal in my life.' This could be a brilliant film in the mold of Silence Of The Lambs and maybe The Da Vinci Code." ~ Dave Parrack Brenda
Originally posted by BGE: Thanks for posting, Candi! This was Ginger's recommendation, so it should be a great read.
Did you read the transcript from The Book of Negroes? I know that you were not able to make it to the online chat, and I hope that the new book club forum will give ST'ers like you a chance to participate before and after the scheduled monthly chat. Was it helpful? Any suggestions to make this forum work better?
Brenda, Yes I did read teh transcript for the discussion. It is nice to have it. Hopefully I will be able to join in some of the chats too.
I was skimming this book before Christmas at a bookstore and discovered that one of the killings took place 5 minutes from one of the villas we rented in Montespertoli. Small world.
I'll be interested to hear what folks thought of this one . . .
Jerry
The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see. ~G.K. Chesterton
Just picked up my copy from the library and I've started reading. Right from the get-go, I gotta say that this is a daytime read, definitely not a nighttime read for me...too creepy.
So, I've set it aside while I read something a little less graphic tonight, and I'll go back to reading it tomorrow. Shoulda known better when I read that Thomas Harris' character, Hannibal Lecter, was based on this guy....that's a movie I'd never be able to watch.
The book has a great set of reference pages in the beginning that helps the reader keep the characters and the victims sorted out.
"Not merely a recounting of those grisly crimes and endless investigations, The Monster of Florence is also an engrossing biographical piece, detailing the toll the case took on both its authors, who, in one of the stranger twists in a case replete with strange twists, become the focus of the ongoing police investigation." ~ Henry P. Wagner Brenda
Based on Brenda's description and with the Thomas Harris Hannibal (Silence of the Lambs is one of my fav books/movies ever) connection, I know I'll love this story. Hannibal, the movie, was camp; nowhere near Silence and not at all scary.
I have a lot of reading to catch up on when I get to 'merica! Perhaps I'll listen in on the chat next week. Don't care if surprises are revealed.
What I found hilarious and most disturbing was that it doesn't matter which country you live in, the police are still just as ridiculously inept, with the reasoning skill and finese of a water buffalo, and more interested in proving who has bigger kahoona's, than solving a crime.
Hi, Nancy, Book chat is this coming Sunday, February 15th at 2:00 P.M. MST!
Is anyone else besides me not nearly ready for this coming Sunday's book chat? I'm barely into the book, maybe 45 - 50 pages in. I could use another week...how about you? Ginger, I know that you're finished!
"Unfortunately, Monster of Florence is more a book about this journalist and his various run-ins and dealings with Italian law enforcement while following the story than it is about the killer(s) and the victims. Outside of two brief interviews with the mother of one of the victims, we learn virtually nothing about the victims or those they left behind. And, outside of one FBI profile, readers learn nothing substantial about the killer or killers by the last chapter." ~ K Row, Amazon review Brenda
Here's a photo of Tom Cruise, who owns the rights to the movie, along with Mario Spezi on the left, Tom, Chris McQuarrie, producer and writer of "Valkyrie" and Bryan Singer, director of "Valkyrie." recently attended the Rome premiere of "Valkyrie."
"But I found it interesting for a number of reasons. I think it’s safe to say we are living through a particularly superficial era where image is everything and much time is spent on the surface of things. In the travel world, I see this in the nation-branding wars, which we’ve chronicled on World Hum. Another place I see it is in the growing chorus of naysayers who claim that travel is finished, the world is exhausted and that there are no new discoveries to be made.
I couldn’t disagree more.
The English philosopher Herbert Spencer once wrote about a Frenchman “who, having been three weeks here, proposed to write a book on England; who, after three months, found that he was not quite ready; and who, after three years, concluded that he knew nothing about it.”
Which is exactly where “The Monster of Florence” comes in handy as a book about Italy. At its core, it’s a breakneck read. But in the margins a more complex country takes shape." ~ Frank Bures Brenda
Slow Travel Talk 
