The Monster of Florence
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List Price: $25.99
Our Price: $17.15
Your Save: $ 8.84 ( 34% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Grand Central Publishing
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 364.1523
EAN: 9780446581196
ISBN: 0446581194
Label: Grand Central Publishing
Manufacturer: Grand Central Publishing
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 336
Publication Date: 2008-06-10
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Release Date: 2008-06-10
Studio: Grand Central Publishing
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Editorial Reviews:
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In the nonfiction tradition of John Berendt ("Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil") and Erik Larson ("The Devil in the White City"), New York Times bestselling author Douglas Preston presents a gripping account of crime and punishment in the lush hills surrounding Florence, Italy.
In 2000, Douglas Preston fulfilled a dream to move his family to Italy. Then he discovered that the olive grove in front of their 14th century farmhouse had been the scene of the most infamous double-murders in Italian history, committed by a serial killer known as the Monster of Florence. Preston, intrigued, meets Italian investigative journalist Mario Spezi to learn more. This is the true story of their search for--and identification of--the man they believe committed the crimes, and their chilling interview with him. 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.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Not a page turner
Comment: I agree with one of the early reviews. This book tended to peter out somewhere in the middle. I enjoyed the information about Florence and the area around that city. I did find that the story itself tended to get a little convoluted. All in all....not one that I could not put down easily.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly Boring
Comment: Sensational, horrible, serial murders in Florence. The lead investigative journalist comes under suspicion. Stunning, riveting story. Yes? Not as told in this particular book. I found this book tedious to get through. The second half was really a slog. I can't say exactly why. Perhaps it was the writing. Perhaps this particular team written effort just did not work for me. Perhaps both of the authors had written too much already about these murders and this version just came through stale.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Portrait of Evil
Comment: Very well written. The Monster is the Italian equivalent of Jack the Ripper and just reading some of the accounts makes one shudder. Lots of discussion of conspiracy theories. Still, at the end, like Jack, we don't learn the monster's identity.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Okay book, but drags on
Comment: This is a very interesting story, although I don't know worthy of an entire book. The beginning of the book is vey interesting, but the 2nd half of the book drags on making it hard to finished.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Unhappy listener review
Comment: The story is fascinating and as far as I can tell accurately told. I grew up Florence and am very familiar with the whole story. On the other hand I found it almost impossible to listen to the audio version because practically EVERY word in Italian was mispronounced. Given that most of the words in Italian were constantly repeated, often of well known sites and people and ultimately not that difficult to enunciate, I really do not understand why the producers did not try to avoid this problem. In addition, Neapolitan music was used for a story that takes place in Tuscany and most upsetting of all, the voices of Italian speakers were rendered with heavy, almost insultingly stereotypical accents. A WORD TO HACHETTE: please do not do this again! Thank you.
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