*** - A true crime story that ends up being far more about the problems the authors suffer at the hands of the Italian justice system than about the serial killer. It's nonetheless an interesting story, but the authors' theory is based on an awful lot of conjecture rather than hard facts.The Murders: Over the course of over a decade, fourteen young lovers are brutally murdered while having sex in their cars in the beautiful countryside surrounding Florence. The bodies of the women are horribly mutilated - they are almost certainly the real targets of the killer's rage.
The Reporters: When Douglas Preston moved to Italy to research an art thriller, he never suspected that he would become entangled in a decades-old serial murder investigation. But shortly after his move, Preston discovered that his new home was right next to one of the crime scenes. He was intrigued by the series of brutal murders, and determined with his friend, journalist Mario Spezi, to attempt to uncover the man responsible. But Preston and Spezi both soon became the targets of an investigation by the Italian police.
My reaction: This book focused far more on the incompetence and corruption of the Italian judicial system than it did on the murders. What surprised me most of all was that the author never once compared the killings to the serial killings it seemed to me to resemble the most - the Son of Sam killings. While I'm sure there were a number of differences, both evidentiary and psychological, to me the comparison seemed inevitable - serial killers targeting lovers in cars and demonstrating particular rage towards the women. So I was disappointed that there was no mention at all.
Overall, I'm not sure I buy Preston's theory about who was responsible for the killings. Because the book wanders back and forth between the police investigations and Preston & Spezi's suspicions, I never got a very clear overview of the case against their suspect. In many ways, their presentation of the investigation was as jumbled as the Italian prosecution's theories themselves. I had trouble keeping characters (both prosecutors and suspects) straight
As a portrait of the corruption of aspects of the Italian criminal justice system, the book fares much better. Many of the prosecution's theories are essentially ludicrous - satanic cults, conspiracy theories involving switching of corpses, Preston & Spezi planting evidence and obstructing justice decades after the last murder occurred. And the methods of interrogation, intimidation and imprisonment are downright frightening, even reminiscent of Kafka's The Trial - and as can be seen in the recent trial of Amanda Knox (see the American Girl link below), these are hardly concerns of the past.
The entire situation is a sad, jumbled mess. It's terrifying to see the lengths the justice system will go to in order to get a conviction in a high-profile case (for similar observations on the American system, see Grisham's The Innocent Man). But at the same time, I did not find this book particularly captivating. It had interesting things to say, have no doubt about that, but ultimately I was left more confused than convinced of the authors' theory of the crime. And I'm still not sure who was investigating whom and what and when...
Interested in other opinions?
More about The Monster of Florence killer:
American Girl, Italian Nightmare including Douglas Preston (aired on CBS April 11, 2009 because of links to a current American girl accused of murder in Italy by one of the same prosecutors)
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