Book Review – “Monster of Florence: A True Story”
Book Review – “Monster of Florence: A True Story”
Introduction
Review of the book, "The Monster of Florence: A True Story by Douglas Preston with Mario Spezi published in its first edition 2008 shows the publisher as New York: Grand Central Publishing. The author presents the story over 36 chapters divided in two parts – the first about the background of the decades- long mystery and the second focusing on the current investigation. This review includes comments about the author, a summary, and discussion about the material presented.
According to MacLeod-Johnson (2013) the author of “Monster of Florence: A True Story” Douglas Preston is a seasoned writer with “respected magazines (the New Yorker, National Geographic, the Atlantic, and others), he co-authored a best-selling series of thriller novels, he's written acclaimed non-fiction books, and he's taught writing at Princeton.” Preston moves his family to Florence, Italy in 2000 intending writing “an art historical murder mystery set in the time of the Florentine flood of 1966.” However, this book never develops because the author finds the reality of discovering the source of a new idea for a book evolves because of the location of his “quaint” little Italian farmhouse existing next to where one victim among numerous of Italy’s most prolific serial killer (at least in modern times) (p. 16).
Befriending Italian journalist Mario Spezi – the consultant working with Preston on this book – the author takes advantage of Spezi’s firsthand knowledge from day one reporting on the crime shocking the world. Finding the Spezi story engaging, compelling, and inspirational Preston then turns his writing attention to developing and finishing “Monster of Florence: A True Story (MacLeod-Johnson, 2013, p. 16).
Summary
Preston’s research and collaboration with Spezi produces a story reading very much like a novel. This sense of a novel lay in the way Preston tells the story unfolding with a serial killer’s horrifying practice of taking body parts from his victims, the link to a long ago murder, a profundity of sexual deviation, let alone the fact Florence provides the most alluring setting for the story becoming a protagonist itself. However, unlike a well-written crime novel Preston’s story reveals nothing of about the identity of the Monster of Florence because the monster eluded capture.
The story centers on a serial killer beginning in 1974 with the murder of two lovers – and the grotesque damage inflicted on the body of the female receiving 97 stab wounds to her pubic area and her breasts. Six years later the monster strikes twice in 1981. From 1982 through 1985, he keeps busy murdering victims always using a Beretta .22, he scouts out couples engaged in lovemaking in parked cars. At every murder scene, the female bodies have different private parts removed.
Police eventually link the Beretta to a 1968 murder with the same victimization of the targeted lovers. Here the plot thickens because the 1968 murder had a confession and a convicted prisoner out of commission with no possibility linking him to these murders two decades later. Incidentally, the 1968 murder investigation never recovered the Beretta thus, somehow (adding to the mystery) it landed in the hands of the Monster.
The 1980s proved chaotic for police with the investigation proving a monstrous fiasco due to false arrests, convictions, and imprisonments. By the 21st century, the case of the Monster of Florence became a conspiracy of satanic worshipers with the lead detective obsessing on this theory Preston with the help of Spedzi, tears apart the new conspiracy theory amid continued unlikely identification of the monster.
Discussion
“Monster of Florence: A True Story” is certainly a memorable read about a 20th century serial killer still at large. The author’s ability to write of the gruesome crimes in detail while
Infusing the charm of Florence throughout keeps the material interesting, engaging, and significant. Reading this book makes it impossible not to bring up memories of the elusive and never caught Jack the Ripper of infamy as one of the first recognized serial killers. The continued fascination the world carries for the Ripper story must surely look at Preston’s work in the same light.
In fact, the topic comes up in the book while Preston discusses the case with the medical examiner involved in the medical forensics of the victims. Here, Preston’s decision to include the conversation in the story provides an intriguing dialogue for the reader. As Preston (2007) remarks to Dr. Maurri, “Like Jack” the clarification provided pulls the reader into a fascinating medical description of the damage inflicted on the Monster’s victims:
“Our killer is not a surgeon. Nor a butcher. Knowledge of anatomy was not required here Certainly it was done by a person with no hesitation, one perhaps who uses certain tools in his professional work Above all a person with determination and nerves of steel. Although he was working on a dead body, it was, after all, just dead (p. 17).”
Preston’s description of the police and justice system of Italy itself reads like a Keystone Cop skit and it is easy to recall the Amanda Knox histrionics clearly resulting from the way the Italian police in that murder investigation, trial, and the eventual release of the young American accused of murdering her roommate. The story proves more enlightening about the obvious shortcomings of Italy’s legal system and therefore, makes the book a pragmatic read for law students.
As a genre, typecasting this book seems problematic. It is not a novel. The handling of the material by Preston certainly makes it seem more of docudrama. The descriptive manner Preston provides the details of the mutilations can give horror aficionados numerous moments of gluttonous pleasure indeed. As already mentioned, law students reading about the legal system in Italy come away with a clear understanding of the fundamental drawbacks existing keeping its citizenry assured of partial treatment – the wrong way.
The effect reading this story incurs with the last sentence is surprisingly not as disappointing as the implication there is no final point to the story. The killer remains at large or possibly like the infamous Zodiac Killer of the late 1960s and early 1970s, may already be imprisoned for other crimes or even dead by natural or suspect reasons. This unfinished yet, satisfying ending to the detailed and engaging story Preston gives readers is definitely, well written. This alone may be the redeeming aspect of a lengthy, involved mystery that has no ending, and gives the book its recognizable value as a piece of literature. Surely, it is a matter of perspective.
References
MacLeod-Johnson, K. (2013). The Monster of Florence: A True Story. Hollins Critic, 50(2), 16+
Preston, D. Monster of Florence: A True Story. Written with M. Spezi. Grand Central
Publishing. New York.
