The Monster of Florence

I like true crime stories and picked The Monster of Florence up because of its story of the monster of Florence, a serial killer who had been killing young couples since the 1970s. Author Douglas Preston was living in Florence when he learned of the monster and decided with Mario Spezi, an Italian journalist, to research the story and perhaps solve the mystery of who the monster was.

The first part of the book was about the monster and the killings. The murders were scary and very creepy. This part was interesting, but the second section dealing with Preston and Spezi's interactions with the justice system in Italy was unbelievable.

This book was upsetting. The stories of the monster of Florence's killings were bad enough, but what was really terrible (to me at least) was the actions of the justice system in Italy. It's hard for me to understand how an industrialized democracy has such a backward system. It was even worse when I read the afterword that the same prosecutor who had done so many wrong things was in the one heading the Amanda Knox case. Yet again, I am so thankful to live in the US.

If you like true crime stories or are interested in free speech issues, I think you'll enjoy The Monster of Florence.