Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World's Greatest Outlaw

Excellently written, and while the life of Pablo Escobar was filled with violence, the author tries not to be dramatic regarding the way in which Escobar. killed, tortured, held a country in grips, and went down in history as one of the greatest Cocaine lords .

It took a team of many to finally hone in on Escobar's final hiding place. Using radio signals monitored by a team, in particular the son of one of the highest governmental generals, in the end, after many slick escapes, Pablo died in a hail of gunfire, and Bowden is quick to note that only one of Escobar's thugs died with him.

While filled with details, the book is never boring. The lowly street thug, Pablo Escobar, could have worked in the shadows, continued to amass his show more billions, instead his ego cried for recognition and fame. It was when he tried in vain to be part of the government, thereafter, the megalomaniac was know as a drug king who killed many, succeeding periodically at bribing governmental men on the take. show less

Mark Bowden has put together an outstanding researched narrative on the rise and fall of Pablo Escobar as Escobar put together his cocaine empire and slowly watched it dismantled by the combined efforts of the Colombian government and special units by the U.S. Bowden also dives deep into the character of Escobar, and the reader really gets a feel for the kind of person he was right up to the day he was killed by Colombian forces. Important to note during this narrative is how Bowden manages to convey how many others around Escobar were affected by his actions, some losing their lives in the process. Really enjoyed this one....

Bowden's books are most entertaining when they are written like novels with dialogue. In order to do that, and have good journalism, he has to have access to reliable witnesses so he can recreate the scene. He is able to do that here from information that must have come from Eduardo Mendoza the former vice minister of Justice. The part of the story when Sr. Mendoza tells how he was sent to see Pablo Escobar in his "prison" is great. The rest of the story is more ordinary and seems a little overdone.

The complete story of the rise and fall of Pablo Escobar, brutal head of the Medellin cartel in Colombia. Bowden impresses with his picture of a thug who was no innovator but simply the strongest, most deadly kid on the block. Pablo also made a bid for respectability like Michael Corleone in Godfather III, but it ultimately didn't work for him, either, even though he held a position as a senator for awhile. He left a trail of bodies in his battle not just for supremacy but to maintain his position, killing ministers, innocent public bombing victims, a couple presidential candidates, with a standing bounty on cops. The leadership, in its efforts to deal with Pablo eventually led to an open invitation to American special ops to enter the show more country and aid in the tracking of Escobar. A fascinating story. show less

Recommended by my friend Elliot, this book educated me on some of the intricacies of the US's failed war on drugs. In addition to providing a lot of interesting information, Bowden presents it in a wonderful plotline that proves quite entertaining. This was my first Bowden book and I later found in Guests of the Ayatollah this is his signature style. The book really illustrates that the US has declared war on a ghost when it declared a war on drugs. I see a striking parallel between this ghost and the amorphous figure we have more recently declared war on in the war on terror. Those who do not learn from history... well, you know how it goes. I would reread this book and have widely recommended and gifted it.

I got pulled into the first season of Narcos when I heard it was based on the Pablo Escobar story. After finishing the season I immediately wanted to know how the story ended and how they could make another season. I went searching for a book and found this one. The book was almost exactly what I wanted, the book form of Narcos (except with less artistic license and more of a true non-fiction). It is not a "hard history" non-fiction book. The author does not cite sources throughout the book but does list sources at the end.

It is entertaining and well-written. It is thoroughly brief in its form, which is a strength. It is the story of the hunt for Pablo Escobar.

Pablo was a bad dude. He killed people for breakfast. He killed too many show more people for the government to allow him to live. His downfall was he was too ambitious and too controlling and when he fell, he killed everyone he thought was responsible. He was truly a narco terrorist.

What you learn throughout the book is that Pablo really wasn't hunted because of cocaine. By the end of the book the Cali Cartel was assuredly shipping more cocaine to the US, but the Cali Cartel was basically working with the government to hunt Pablo. Pablo had become a threat to the nation of Colombia and had to be killed. show less

I read this years ago in the dead trees edition. Then, I heard about this Pablo movie Escobar: Paradise Lost and thought I'd watch it on some streaming media. I did that, "meh" about the movie but in prepping for the movie (which I expected to be more fact-based), I decided to take on the audiobook edition, which is still a great tale of rise and assassination. His immense wealth, power, and lethal sway still impresses. What didn't impress was Bowden narrating his own book: "meh", he should have gotten a pro. Like, maybe pro American snipers took out Pablo, or maybe the accurately placed show was a coup de grâce, who knows?