Thursday, March 6, 2014

Finished: 'Monster of Florence'

So I finally wrapped up the Monster of Florence book by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi. If this is an accurate reflection of the entire judicial and law enforcement bureaucracy in Italy, then they certainly have problems and it’s no wonder the Amanda Knox case turned into such a circus.

However, my guess is it is more of an isolated incident, with a few bad actors/prosecutors/judges. Since the authors of this book eventually got arrested too (and then charges dropped), it is in their best interest to present the prosecutors and judges as incompetent bozos in the worst possible light. And they did, using page after page of mockery to score those points.

It wouldn’t be too hard to pick a couple cases out of the blue in America as well to portray our legal system as messed up. Similarly Mexico, Australia, Greece, pick a country.

I tend to think Mr. Preston was operating on the up and up, but have my doubts about Mr. Spezi, who it wouldn’t surprise me to learn had crossed more than a few ethical lines in journalism and perhaps nudged up to or across some legal ones.

The afterward reflects on the Knox case, where a couple of the prosecutors were also involved in the Monster case, and in fact, were under indictment for issues with that while prosecuting Knox. Amazing.

All in all, it was a fascinating book. A thinker. I gave it a 7- on the Haugen 1-10 scale. Goodreads gives it a 3.67 out of 5.

Quotable quotes I highlighted:
“We all have a Monster within; the difference is in degree, not in kind.” 
“You cannot stare evil in the face; it has no face. It has no body, no bones, no blood. Any attempt to describe it ends in glibness and self-delusion.”  
  “Niccolò, for God’s sake, they accused me of being an accessory to murder, they said I planted a gun at that villa, they’ve indicted me for making false statements and obstruction of justice! They threatened me if I ever return to Italy. And you tell me I shouldn’t be concerned?”  “My dear Douglas, anyone who is anybody in Italy is indagato. I offer you my congratulations on becoming a genuine Italian.” 
Also, author Douglas Preston writes nonfiction books with Lincoln Child and they have a new one out that's supposed to be good.

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