Mark, are you arranging to have this translated into Italian and distributed one way or another in Italy? We all need to know this, but the change will be made by Italians. Wonderful work!
I'm honored to be your first comment. Good luck with the book i look forward to picking it up.
Patrick, there are discussions underway about translation to Italian, and also links to Italian publishers are being explored. Look to this site for news about developments on that. The Italian courts will be making the ultimate decisions, but what we say here, in whatever language that is clear, does have an impact. I am hopeful that my book will help to galvanize awareness and action on both sides of the Atlantic.
CD-Host... missed it by that much, but thank you.
Mark, thank you! I'm really looking forward to this book! Your blog posts have consistently alerted me to new facts and absurdities.
Rick, the manuscript is in final processing now. It will probably be available as a Kindle (www.amazon.com) publication this weekend (there is some uncertainty in their processing time). Thank you for your support and I hope you will find it thought provoking.
Just downloaded it from Amazon. Can't wait to get started. Nice job Mark.
I finished your book yesterday. Great job! While Candace Dempsey does a phenomenal job at "telling the story", your work did an equally phenomenal job of pulling the story apart to explore the nature and mechanics of the injustice done to Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito. The book was beyond compelling, and I truly enjoyed it.
Where you lost me a little was your exploration of a possible thesis about what was "really" going on in Perugia. While you were very clear about the fact that it was only a thesis, I guess I'm just naturally suspicious of conspiracy theories. I have to admit that the thesis you presented was compelling; which, to my mind, means either 1) there might be something to it, or 2) in being compelling, it merely meets the principal requirement for being a juicy conspiracy theory.
Where I do agree with you, however, is that it took more than Mignini to put Knox and Sollecito in jail. Individual police officers, forensic investigators and interrogators who worked the case, witnesses who provided unreliable, yet damning testimony and judges who jumped through ridiculous hoops of half-logic to further Knox and Sollecito's incarceration all played their part. Whether they did so as part of a grand conspiracy or simply thought they were "doing their jobs" as members of an insular and clubby backwater community, lots of people up and down the hierarchy did their bit.
The large number of people involved represent a large number of failure points in the prosecution's story. Maybe I'm naïve, but I want to believe that given the number of people who had to be involved, there aren't at least some who have trouble sleeping at night. Men and women of good conscience who thought, at the time, that they were doing their jobs but now recognize that they actively participated in a horrible injustice. The interrogators, for example, know exactly what their instructions were, know whether or not a recording of the interview was made and know the tactics they used. In short, they know that Amanda's version of events is more accurate than what was presented by the prosecution in court. Including the interrogator, that makes thirteen people who really know what happened. I want to believe that at least some of them think back from time to time on that night and feel a little sick inside. My secret hope is that they, or someone else like them one day finds the courage to raise their hand and explain exactly how and why they participated in the Knox / Sollecito witch hunt.
All of this notwithstanding, great job on the book! I'm sure, as was the case with Candace Dempsey's book, your work will contribute significantly to the dialogue.
Wald, I presented my theory of the crime in an effort to put forth a preliminary explanation of what has really gone on in Perugia. As I explain (and you understand, but I'm just explaining here) it is only a theory, and now we need to put forth other theories, test them, try to find information that supports or refutes them, so that we can build our understanding of the terrible injustices that have taken place in Perugia and bring it to an end. That will be a process, and many witnesses are not cooperating as you point out. I believe that facade will crack at some point, and calling them out, as I do in my book, is one part of the effort to turn their circle the wagons approach into a round of finger pointing and revelations about what has really taken place. Thank you for your support!
Thank you, Carrie. Monster of Perugia will first be available in real print form through an eStore link later today, and will be available directly through Amazon.com in about a week. I'm doing everything I can to make it available ASAP because of the timing of the appeal, so that's why its out in ebook form rather than waiting for the print version. Check back here for more information later today, Tuesday, February 22.