The Monster of Florence is Douglas Preston and co-author Mario Spezi's tale of the decades-long hunt for the Monster and their involvement in it. The book is divided into two parts. The first is an extraordinarily detailed account of the people investigating the crimes, suspects, and false leads. There are a LOT of people involved; the "cast of secondary characters" at the beginning takes up five pages and unfortunately is in order of appearance rather than alphabetical by name. The latter half is Douglas Preston's more personal account of how his and Spezi's investigation of the Monster ruffled some Italian feathers and landed Spezi in jail.
This book now has the distinction of being the only book ever to put me asleep four times. I was reading it for a book club however, so forced myself to get through it. The pace (and my interest) did pick up during the second half, but the first half was just too much information. The Afterward to this edition in which Amanda Knox's case is discussed is sadly the most interesting part of the book. Although there are insights into the Italian justice system and attitudes towards the press that are worthwhile, ultimately The Monster of Florence is itself a bloated monster.
This book now has the distinction of being the only book ever to put me asleep four times. I was reading it for a book club however, so forced myself to get through it. The pace (and my interest) did pick up during the second half, but the first half was just too much information. The Afterward to this edition in which Amanda Knox's case is discussed is sadly the most interesting part of the book. Although there are insights into the Italian justice system and attitudes towards the press that are worthwhile, ultimately The Monster of Florence is itself a bloated monster.
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