A thoroughly riviting audible. The Italian judicial system and the characters come to life in this well written and detailed account of Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi's search for the truth about The Monster of Florence. I look forward to future literary products from Douglas Preston.

This covers an interesting case and is as full of intrigue as any novel. However, the Italian names were hard for me to keep straight and made the story more difficult to follow than it would be as a traditional book.

Every year when we travel on vacation, my husband and I listen to a book. Even though this is not a novel, it read like one. It kept our attention for our entire 10 hour drive. Talk about life being stranger than fiction. This true story had more twists and turns than a well-written thriller. I've thought of this book so many times this year when I've followed the trial of Amanda Knox, the American student charged with the murder of her roommate. I wonder if Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi could have counseled both her and her family during her on-going trial. Give a listen, you won't be disappointed if you like suspense.

I really enjoyed the story of Preston and Spezi's involvement in the case of the "Monster of Florence," but I found the narration irritating. He used a very fake, cartoonish Italian accent for many of the characters, which was distracting. He also mispronounced certain basic words - like "trattoria" along with other more difficult ones , like the town where Preston lived, which includes the tricky "gli" sound. I had to keep reminding myself not to think Preston was a total idiot. It's really a shame that the publishers didn't choose a narrator more familiar with the language.

I really enjoyed this book. It isn't an easy listen-you have to pay attention because there are alot of characters and their names start to become hard to keep track of. It may be easier to read than to listen because you can flip back and reread a portion. But I found it worth my time. I loved the narrator so much that I went looking for other books he read. His Italian accents sounded true to me (a non-Italian speaker) and it is a well written book. It was a sensational crime spree but the book is not over the top.

Story about two people writing a story about themselves writing a story. As a lover of tru crime mysteries and Italy - I thought I'd love this but was very bored. Barely got through it.

This book started off quite interesting. However, it soon became a seemingly endless dialog of the authors serving themselves up as the main characters, over the "monster." The narrator did an excellent job and I look forward to listening to him again with a more fulfilling "read."

I really enjoyed this book. It was great to know this was a true story. Glad I live in the US.

I can't begin to describe how terrible this book was. It was boring, plot less and plodding. I can give the reader an "A" for effort - he didn't have much to work with. What a waste of time and a credit. I am very disappointed I usually like anything by Preston.

I finally gave up after hearing half, and I gave it my best try. It goes backward and forward in time, the narrator goes in and out of an Italian accent, even in the middle of sentences. True crime is my favorite, but this is so complicated that the story is lost.