Killing Pablo

Impulse buy after seeing it briefly discussed on Breaking Bad and thought it sounded like an interesting story, which having read the book I can now confirm it is. But to me the book felt a little rushed. Pablo goes from being a nobody to being the most notorious cartel leader and being on the Forbes top 10 rich list in just a few pages, without any real description of how he got there. I know the book is about the manhunt rather than the man himself but I really feel the book would have been much better if the author had gone into more detail on Pablo's backstory. But don't get me wrong it is definitely a good book and worth reading. At no point did I become bored, distracted or start counting how many pages are left which to me is the sign of a book worth reading

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria could divide opinion in a way that very few could. Back in the 1980s, if you asked the Medellin working man for their opinion of Escobar, they would likely extol his virtues and point to the millions he has directly donated to the poor. They would be unlikely to mention the fact that he was the leader of the most murderous drug cartel in history.Bowden's account is thorough without venturing into tedium. He humanises all the criminal players without glorifying their grotesque crimes. A thoroughly good read that I would be happy to recommend.

Having already read Bowden's Black Hawk Down and his collected articles in the book Road Work this was not a disappointment and as ever Bowden's knack for detail and his informative style peppered with the thrilling narrative nature of his writing means you won't want to put this down. Having binge watched the utterly brilliant Netflix series NARCOS I was compelled to find out more about the demise of Columbia's #1 criminal - this book is highly recommended.

Read this after watching Narcos on Netflix. Very well written, and you certainly get the impression that the book is truer to what actually happened than the TV series. Highly recommended!

Great book. Got this after watching Narcos on Netflix. Interesting and well written and sets out the history of Columbia and the time and the horrible mixture of drug crime, political corruption and the poisonous interference from America via the CIA that the innocent people of Columbia had to tolerate. It is unbelievable how a country so out of control can exist in the developed world.