Alas, a blog
I'm afraid, in that I still don't have furniture or a clean house (and that, mates, will be an EPIC post in and of itself) that I've got to keep this short. Here come updates:
Project: Bone Gods (Black London #3)
Deadline: HAHAHA. Um. I mean, May 1.
New words: 2,465
---
4. The Monster of Florence, Douglas Preston and Mario Spetzi
A nonfiction account of a never-identified serial killer operating in Tuscany in the 70s and 80s, the book isn't so much about the Monster (who's identity is rather cut and dried if the information Preston presents is to be taken at face value) but about the massive miscarriage of justice that resulted from a slipshod investigation that finally settled on Satanic cults as the motive for the shooting/mutilation murders of young couples in the hills around Florence, and ruined at least a dozen lives in the process with unfounded accusations. It's a horrifying look at corruption, and Preston and Spetzi present their findings on the case without hyperbole, allowing readers to draw their own conclusion. The one thread left hanging (because Preston could never get a second interview with their prime suspect) is why "Il Monstro" stopped killing after 1985. Preston also never devolves to UNSUB-Cam, the one thing that annoyed me about The Devil in the White City. He treats the victims with respect and never attempts to dissect their last moments for cheap emotional manipulation. He also doesn't attempt to assign agency or get inside the Monster's head, instead using the suppressed FBI profile and his own research to recreate the crimes as he imagined them. It's a quick book, but a concise one, and very good.
---
My friend Cherie Priest got nominated for a Hugo Award for Boneshaker, in the Best Novel category. This is a good thing. Congratulations to everyone on the Hugo ballot.
Originally published at Caitlin Kittredge.com.
Project: Bone Gods (Black London #3)
Deadline: HAHAHA. Um. I mean, May 1.
New words: 2,465
---
4. The Monster of Florence, Douglas Preston and Mario Spetzi
A nonfiction account of a never-identified serial killer operating in Tuscany in the 70s and 80s, the book isn't so much about the Monster (who's identity is rather cut and dried if the information Preston presents is to be taken at face value) but about the massive miscarriage of justice that resulted from a slipshod investigation that finally settled on Satanic cults as the motive for the shooting/mutilation murders of young couples in the hills around Florence, and ruined at least a dozen lives in the process with unfounded accusations. It's a horrifying look at corruption, and Preston and Spetzi present their findings on the case without hyperbole, allowing readers to draw their own conclusion. The one thread left hanging (because Preston could never get a second interview with their prime suspect) is why "Il Monstro" stopped killing after 1985. Preston also never devolves to UNSUB-Cam, the one thing that annoyed me about The Devil in the White City. He treats the victims with respect and never attempts to dissect their last moments for cheap emotional manipulation. He also doesn't attempt to assign agency or get inside the Monster's head, instead using the suppressed FBI profile and his own research to recreate the crimes as he imagined them. It's a quick book, but a concise one, and very good.
---
My friend Cherie Priest got nominated for a Hugo Award for Boneshaker, in the Best Novel category. This is a good thing. Congratulations to everyone on the Hugo ballot.
Originally published at Caitlin Kittredge.com.