Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World's Greatest Outlaw |
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Author:
Mark Bowden
By Penguin Books
Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 364.17709861
EAN: 9780142000953
ISBN: 0142000957
Label: Penguin Books
Manufacturer: Penguin Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 304
Publication Date: 2002-04
Publisher: Penguin Books
Studio: Penguin Books |
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Amazon.co.uk Review
Killing Pablo, Mark Bowden's intoxicating account of the turbulent life of Colombian drug baron Pablo Escobar and his inevitable demise, relates in riveting detail the cataclysmic effect one man can have on the world economy. Finally tracked down and killed in 1992 after a 15-month intense manhunt that had resulted in hundreds of casualties on both sides, Escobar was, ironically, that archetypal American hero, the outlaw, siding with "ordinary people" against the ruling oligarchy (although at his peak Forbes magazine listed him as the seventh-richest person in the world). His break came when the American drug of choice changed from dope to cocaine, a golden, or perhaps powdered, egg exploited by Escobar with resourceful manipulation of officials and politicians--he would offer the classic choice of his silver or his lead. Even when incarcerated at La Catedral prison on a smuggling charge, he turned it into a state within a state. The guards, the army and the police all fell within his pay and he led his operation with a quiet, well-mannered ruthlessness. Until, that is, the Americans took an interest. Bowden is well-equipped to describe the drawn-out campaign by the intelligence services to assassinate Escobar, having already covered similar territory in the superb Black Hawk Down, which chronicled the disastrous 1993 American operation in Mogadishu. His descriptions of the electronic surveillance that finally ensnared the hounded Don and the shady mutual interests of civilian militia group Los Pepes, the Colombian government forces and the US Delta unit that wore him down, are taut, dramatic and deeply thrilling. While he stops short of claiming that the Americans were present or active in the killing, he admits that Delta knew roughly where Escobar was and were dismissive of the electronic wizardry, pointing out that Escobar was eventually spotted by the naked eye. Though Escobar died, the circumstances he seized upon would be harder to expunge. The troubling, concluding lines of Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui come to mind, referring to a character based on Al Capone and Hitler but who could have been Escobar, "The bastard son is dead but the bitch is still on heat". --David Vincent
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Fabulous!, 2008-01-03
I bought this book when I was going on holiday and I couldn't put it down-absolutely unbelieveable how this man lived his life. A book I'm sure I'll read time and time again!
Well researched but somewhat lacking , 2007-11-15
This is a decent read for anyone with an interest of how US forces operated in South and Central America around the time this book relates to.
I found myself becoming bored with the superlatives used to describe the US spying techniques and yearning for greater insight into how Pablo and the cartel were adapting and still avoiding capture.
A well researched and insightful book just occaisionally lacking in detail with regards to Pablo himself.
You couldn't make it up., 2008-04-30
This is tightly written and compelling thriller which just happens to be true. Putting Pablo Escobar into the wider context of Columbian history helps explain not only how he can justify his activities but why he was so beloved by so many people.
The overall arc of the war (and that's no exaggeration) between Pablo and the Columbian state is gripping stuff. It's also interesting how so many common people were willing to believe his lies. However it's the incidental details that really bring things to life, the interviewees asked to recount key moments mean they are told with crystal clarity. Not all of them are vital to the narrative but they add a whole new understanding of Pablo himself, an example would be his extremely infantile attitude to women. The stand out story there being getting naked models to race to a sports car- first one to get there keeps the car! Only too much money and power leads to that sort of degradation.
This is a fascinating account of how to deal with the chimera of drugs in society and how there are no simple answers to anything in Colombia.
Scarface is a pussy cat compared to this guy, 2008-12-19
I had read some of `Black Hawk Down', Mark Bowden's earlier book and actally was a little bit disappointed with it. I didn't find it as gripping as I had hoped. I was leant this by a friend and found it a better read. I knew nothing of Pablo Escobar apart from the fact that he was the big wheel in the cocaine trade, and a crime lord of terrifying and brutal power.
This book gets into quite a fascinating life, and like `Cosa Nostra', John Dickie's excellent recent history of the Sicilian mafia, you realise how these figures rise out of the poorest backgrounds, and interestingly, how this sense of their own poor past, never really leaves them and in fact fires them up. This is not to say that Escobar is some kind of latter day Robin Hood, although he works hard to create this image for himself amongst the poor of Medellin. He really does give to the poor, build churches and invest in public projects. But as one hand gives, the other bludgeons and kills.
A quite terrifying character, with an equally terrifying mother.
The book gives a fascinating insight into Colombia.
A very good read.
very good read, 2007-12-02
This is a very good read told at a brisk pace. I came away feeling that Pablo was a bit of a tragic figure, with plenty of bad as well as plenty of good in him, mixed in with a very heavy dose of ambition fueling his rise to the top of the drug world. For all of the bad things Pablo seems to have done, I found it very sad and even tragic to see him hunted down and shot to death in the end. Colonel Martinez, Pablo's nemesis, comes across as an interesting and strong person who you also care about. As some critics have noted, perhaps the book should have been written by a Colombian, who would have greater familiarity with the subject matter, but Bowden seems to have done a very good and objective job of telling the story. Author of Adjust Your Brain: A Practical Theory for Maximizing Mental Health.
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