Monster of Florence & Dolci colline di sangue

Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi each wrote books on the Monster of Florence. Preston's book, The Montser of Florence -- just recently released in the United States, is an excellent read in English. If your Italian is up to snuff, the Italian version, Dolci colline di sangue, is just as good (if not, in my opinion, slightly better -- Spezi has a better understanding of the Italian justice and police system). Spezi's book is to me more of a romanzo than a recounting of events which makes it that much more interesting, although he remains in the confines of the facts.

In Preston's version, The Monster of Florence is laid out in two sections -- one from Spezi's point of view and the other from Preston's. Spezi portrays a picture of terror as he brutally explains the murder scenes and then offers up various suppositions for who the murders might be. He takes us through the process as one person after another is accused and then eventually set free, even offering his own supposition as to whom the murder might possibly be and how that person played the system to escape scot-free! Spezi also describes for us the infighting among the various Italian agencies, which, as one might think, are probably one of the main reasons why no one has ever been caught for the crimes.

The second section, written by Preston, is not as interesting in terms of the actual crimes themselves but relays how Preston and Spezi became suspects! It is of immense interest as to how two writers, one of whom was not even in Italy at the time the killings took place (Preston), could become accused of obstructing justice!

True crime novels can be gripping and often more frightening because they deal with real people, places and events that are often harder to escape once you've finished the book and turned the last page. And this is very true of Spezi and Preston's work.