Rating: 
Summary: you won't stop shaking your head in disbelief
Review: a great book that makes the colombian police and politicians look like the keystone cops.....druglord pablo escobar basically owned all the power in colombia....he makes more escapes than houdini and kills people as if they were bugs....he then threatens the gov't......this guy's a 10 foot don corleone...then the u.s. gets involved and helps track him down....a great look into how the u.s. special forces work and how colombia's doesn't.....
Rating: 
Summary: Reading Pablo
Review: I picked up this book because I really liked Black Hak Down. This book is written in the same style that made BHD a great book. There is great attention to detail, personal portraits of the characters, and an ever-evolving storyline. My exposure to Pablo Escobar before this book was just a brief understanding that he was a drug dealer from way back. Other than that I could not tell you much about the guy. But after reading this book, I have a much better understanding of the man and why the U.S. wanted him neutralized. Great read. Quick read. Must buy.
Rating:
Summary: One of Summer's Better Reads
Review: I purchased "Killing Pablo" solely on the strength of Mark Bowden's previous stellar work, "Black Hawk Down." While "Pablo" isn't quite up to the standard of "Black Hawk" (one of the best books I've read in the past five years), it is nevertheless an engaging read that is at once informative and entertaining. "Pablo" is Pablo Escobar, the ruthless Colombian drup kingpin who, by the late 1980s, had amassed one of the world's largest -- and certainly most illicit -- fortunes. Mr. Bowden recounts the story of how the notorious international narco-gangster was finally brought to heel by a combination of Colombian law enforcement agencies, the U.S. DEA and Army Delta Force (which provided critical training and surveillance technology), and importantly, Escobar's rivals in the cocaine cartel. The vigilante terrorism visited upon the infrastructure of Escobar's empire by his cocaine cartel rivals (equally as vicious as Pablo himself) -- with the tacit sanction of the Colombian government -- was the critical factor in the eventual tracking down and killing of Pablo following an off-and-on-again three-year manhunt. This book is included in the "Wall Street Journal's" review (Friday, May 18) of the better reads of the Summer of 2001. That judgment gets no quarrel from this reader.
Rating: 
Summary: Hey Miss O
Review: Killing Pablo was a fascinating book focusing primarily on the technology and strategies involved in the killing of one of the world's largest and most ruthless drug lords. The book is well written but becaomes a bit dull during the middle. This book is pretty detailed so I wouldnt reccoment it to anyone with a low attention span. If you fit in to that category, I would suggest just skimming through until the last section. (The Kill) I would reccoment it to anyone interested in CIA-type organizations and technology. Maybe if America would put more of this power towards the hunt for Muslim terrorists instead of wasting their time and money in Iraq, the world would be a better place.
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Summary: Mark Bowden picks another great story to tell us.
Review: As a journalist in Philadelphia, Mark Bowden learned which stories captivate readers and how to tell the stories in a way that keeps them moving. "Killing Pablo" tells the story of Pablo Escobar, the Columbian durg lord, and the coalition of American and Columbian politicians and law enforcement who set out to bring him down.
Bowden's writing really gives you a sense of just how different life in Columbia is from what most of us are accustomed. The extra-legal dealings of Escobar are conducted almost entirely out in the open with only the thinnest pretenses of legitimacy. Escobar gives freely and generously to his community and is the largest "philanthropist" in Columbia.
In the end, this ends up being an engaging story and an interesting look into a whole different world from the one in which we live every day. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A nonfiction tour de force
Review: Mark Bowden's Killing Pablo is a tour de force. I typically do not review books, I prefer to read them. But this work is not a typical book, but one that merits lip service. It is quite simply one of the best nonfiction narratives I have ever encountered. The story of the world's most notorious druglord is of course naturally intriguing, but it is Bowden's execution that makes the story electrifying. The story is handled with a measure of grace, detail, and restraint that is stunning. It would be easy to fall into a melodramatic tone with such a story, but, as Bowden seems mindful of, it would be entirely unnecessary. Killing Pablo is as richly textured, engrossing, stunning, and haunting as any reader can reasonably demand. It is a book that I am certain will not soon be forgotten. Kudos to Mark Bowden for this extraordinary achievement. Killing Pablo is in a class all by itself.
Rating:
Summary: I have A.D.D.
Review: This book is very interesting in that it will bring you step by step through what was goin on in columbia and how life in the country is very unstable. Be cautious however. Mark Bowden makes this book into a history book. A very cool history book in that it talks about drugs, fame and riches; yet boring in the way it was written.
Mark goes into detail about how Pablo was givin the opportunity to do what he acomplishes, I suppose I was expecting more of a narrative rather than documentation. It was hard to comprahend what goes on in this book.
I suppose you need to be in the right audience. I was looking to be entertained by this story, and to a certain extent I was, but this book was honestly made to inform people. Hope you enjoy it.
Rating:
Summary: Good versus Evil
Review: A decent read but not exactly a page turner. The book doesn't get exciting until about two-thirds into it. If you want a quick summary here it is:
Pablo is the worst criminal the world has ever seen. He lives in Colombia and sends more cocaine to the USA than the middle-east sends oil. He is hunted down by a samll team of US covert ops. and easily corruptable Colombian police and military figures. But, trying to locate Pablo using contemporary tactics are not proving effective. Pablo needs to be shifted off balance. To do this, the US assembles an illegal team of indigenous vigilantes called "Los Pepes". Soon afterward, Pablo's organized business operations come to a standstill. Pablo's lawyers, assasins, friends, business associates, and family members begin showing up dead. This undoubtedly causes Pablo to become unsound, causing him to slip up and make traceable phone calls to express his anger and contempt. He is then located and used for target practice. Adios Pablo.
After reading the book (finished it on Dec 27th, 2004) I felt that some of these tactics might work against Osama and Al Zaquari. Or perhaps these tactics are in the works and we will never know about them until years later after both of them are dead.
BlackHawk down was a much better read, as the previous reviewer mentioned. Cheers to Bowden!
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Summary: Viva Columbia! Pablo is dead!
Review: Having just finished Mark Bowden's "Killing Pablo", I find myself somewhat a jumble of emotions. I think that my feelings most resemble those of DEA Agent Joe Toft, who wonders, when all is said and done, if killing Columbian drug lord Pablo Escobar was such a good thing. After reading Bowden's gripping, wonderfully written piece, I must confess to seeing Toft's point.
Bowen follows briefly Escobar's life, his rise to power as drug lord of Medallin in the 1980s, and his eventual fall from grace and into his role as public enemy number one. Through this, Bowden's tells us about the impact, both good an ill, Pablo had on Columbia, from murdering politicians and rivals, to building ballparks for his hometown. Bowden never makes any over pronouncements of Escobar's evil. He simply tells us what Pablo did, and lets those appalling actions speak for themselves.
Bowden's examination of the internal politics of Columbia, first attempting to appease Pablo, then resolving to kill him, is also fascinating. The injection of the United States is even more so. In the perfect world, killing men like Pablo would be the common solution.
However, it's not a perfect world. Bowden makes points of just how down and dirty the forces out to kill Pablo got, including making use of former associates and rival drug lords. Further, the removal of Pablo did nothing to stem the flow of drugs into the US, and other drug lords filled the void.
"Killing Pablo" alternatively appalled, amused, and angered me. Anyone wanting insight into the drug war, cover operations, and simply good recounting of history would enjoy this immensely.
Rating:
Summary: Evil man down
Review: Of course, after reading Black Hawk Down, you naturally have to go look for more books by Bowden. He has a way of writing that isn't totally neutral but not biased, it's intriguing and clear. There's no flowery prose in his writing but it's certainly not dry, it's exciting and real. The story of a thug who terrorized a country is amazing, how does a guy get a country to live in fear? well, simple. Be ruthless. Someone giving you a problem? Kill his sister. Still bothering you, blow up his house. Still? Kill him. Government? Kill the judges. Not giving up? random car bombs. Still after you? bribes... just wow. anyways, not telling all here, but this guy was something, and it's not surprising that he lasted for so long. I thought the book was really engrossing, eye opening and exciting. Though I did think the end was a little dragged out, it was a very good read.
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