Rating: 
Summary: very good, but lacking that intensity of Black Hawk Down
Review: Killing Pablo chronicles the life of Drug Lord Pablo Escobar and the long hunt to capture and kill him. It was written by Mark Bowden, the author of the exceptional book: Black Hawk Down . Since this book was advertised as "the manhunt for Pablo Escobar", I went into the book expecting a kind of adventure story dealing with the killing of Pablo. Instead, what I got was a well crafted story detailing the early life (as much as is known) of Pablo Escobar and his rise to power in Columbia through the drug trade, how Escobar became such an international target, the many years of failed attempts to capture and kill Escobar, his many escapes, and finally how Escobar was tracked down and killed. Having read this book after Black Hawk Down , I expected the level of detail that Bowden presents, and if the story is less gripping than that of his other book, the story is no less interesting. We know how it ends, but we don't know how it all went down. The story of Pablo Escobar may not be very well known, but Mark Bowden wrote an excellent book that deserves to be read.
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Summary: must read
Review: Best book i've ever read. A must read for a crime fan. This is an excellent, fast story.
Escobar is one of the most colourfull people i've ever read about. Buy it!
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Summary: Real World Ruthless Justice
Review: Although others have tried, fiction is never as good as the real tale. Killing Pablo is the story of the rise and violent fall of the Colombian cocaine cartel kingpin Pablo Escobar. Although others, such as Tom Clancy, have attempted to tell the tale as fiction, nothing compares to this intense sixteen month manhunt. Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down, draws on his access with soldiers, field agents and officials as well as secret documents and telephone transcripts of Escobar's intercepted telephone conversations to detail how U. S. operatives and their Columbian allies covertly lead this 16 month manhunt for Pablo Escobar. Although Bowden details Escobar's rise to his position as the world's most powerful criminal, he devotes most of the book to detailing the time from July 22nd when Escobar walked out of a luxuriously prison he built for himself and disappeared into the jungle. Over the next days and months, the U. S. would launch a joint military and intelligence operation, equipped with the latest tracking technology, and with the Columbian government track down this ruthless "doper" from Medellin. This time, however, they had no intention of capturing him. They planned to kill him. This spell binding tale is a great read about ruthless justice in the real world
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Summary: A shocking story of the real war on drugs...
Review: This book tell the amazing story of the rise and fall of the incredibly successful cocaine kingpin and terrorist Pablo Escobar, who became one of the richest billionaires in the world and held the entire country of Colombia hostage for years, while continually a thorn in the side of the US. It raises many moral questions about whether the ends justifies the means in covert US military operations. It is amazing to see the exact toll the drug trade has taken on Colombia and the United States in ways that most people don't realize.
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Summary: Incredible
Review: After reading Blackhawk Down, I wanted more of Mark Bowden's gritty, exciting style. My only qualm with that book was the lack of sociopolitical background. Killing Pablo delivers that in spades. This book goes beyond the excitement of the chase and delves into the cultural forces that allow men like Pablo Escobar to exist in the first place. It is not a pretty picture, and it raises many questions for those of us living comfortable lives in the United States. What is our responsibility for keeping the world 'safe' and how much of the world's ills are of our own creation. This book causes one to really ponder the moral implications of our government's actions, and at it's heart is the timeless question of when does one act and when does one hold still. By the end of the book, I agreed that Escobar had to be killed, but I was left asking that ancient and uneasy question: Do the ends justify the means? Powerful, well-written, significant. I couldn't put this one down. By the end of reading it, my house was a wreck, and I had a stack of work that I was behind on simply because I couldn't stop reading, even though the book's cover gives away the ending. I had to know how it came to that.
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Summary: Nice work...
Review: ...but at times Bowdens' work seems a little disjointed and hard to follow. Both here and in "Black Hawk Down" the time lines and places of action can be a little hard to follow. Don't get me wrong; I really enjoy his books and gladly recommend them, but this is something I have noticed in his previous works as well. Overall though, this book was well-researched and covered a great topic.
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Summary: A wealth of information in a very readable style
Review: I did not find Killing Pablo to be quite as enlightening as Bowden's Black Hawk Down. But then again, perhaps less enlightenment is called for in a more straightforward story. There is less societal, personal, institutional and legal complexity here than in the other book, but that is not entirely Bowden's fault. Killing Pablo is a very well researched and well written piece. Bowden's skill is in setting forth a great wealth of information in a manner that is readable and enjoyable. Also, as you progress through the book, you can almost feel the frustration of Escobar's enemies as the drug boss outwits and outspends them at every turn. This is a very good book that should be read by anyone interested in Colombia and the drug trade.
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Summary: THIS GUY WAS UNBELIVABLE!
Review: THIS IS AN AMAZING BOOK AND BOWDEN REALY KNOWS HOW TO WRITE A GRIPPING STORY. IT IS DETAILD AND YOU REALY FEEL LIKE YOU CAN UNDERSTAND HOW PABLO THINKS AND BUY THE END YOU STILL CANT BELIVE WHAT YOU ARE READING. THE GUY WAS AMAZING AND IF YOU LIKE TRUE CRIME THIS IS THE ULTIMATE STORY. PABLO WAS RYTHLESS YET CHARMING. ON ONE PAGE YOU WILL LOVE HIM THEN ON THE NEXT YOU HATE HIM.THE PICTURES OF PEOPLE AND THE MAP OF COLUMBIA REALY HELP PICTURE THE CHARICTERS AND KEEP TRACK OF WHERE PABLO WAS. THE ONLY PROBLEM WHITH THIS BOOK IS THAT IT ENDS AND I JUST WANTED TO START IT AGAIN SO I DID!
TRULY AMAZING!
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Summary: When The Ends Justify The Means?
Review: This is an excellent thriller, made more gripping because it is true. This is the story of Pablo Escobar, a viscious, pathalogical sociopath who put these dark tendencies to work in building the Medillin cocaine cartel over the 1970's and 1980's. Author Bowden tells Escobar's story, describes the building of his empire, portrays his success at utterly corrupting Colombia's government during the 1980's and engagingly unfolds the ultimately successful effort of Columbian patriots and agencies of our government to hunt down and eliminate a very evil man. Escobar corrupted his government, as well as significant sections of Colombian society. His drive was not only to control the cocaine industry, but also to elevate himself to a man of destiny in his country's affairs. His ruthlessness took the form of bombings, murders, torture and kidnappings. These crimes included at least one jet airliner bombed in the sky and the assassination of presidential candidates, judges, other officials and hundreds of police. Alternating between conciliation -- anything to make the terror stop -- and a desire to rid itself of the man who was making a mockery of Columbian democracy, the government ultimately was pushed by Escobar's continuing bloodletting to ruthlessly hunt him down. Our government was a critical player in the hunt as well as in steeling the Columbian government to hold this course. The final hunt and elimination of Escobar was brutal and bloody on both sides. Escobar continued to attempt elimination and terror bombings of rivals and governmental officials. The government, as well as a government sponsored militia, employed equally brutal methods, targeting Escobar's associates and cartel workers for assassination and looking the other way at bombings of Escobar's various homes and properties and the killing of his relatives. In the end, Escobar was cornered and died in a shoot out with police (and possibly US military personnel, according to the author). This is a fast paced, shocking and very interesting book. It is written in the style of a long magazine article -- which keeps the narrative pace lively. For those of us used to a generally stable society, the utter lawlessness and corruption of Columbian government and large sections of its society is astounding. Perhaps most interesting, this book is a long case study of whether or not the ends justify the means. Escobar's final destruction was only -- and apparently could only be -- accomplished by extra-legal means as brutal as those committed by his forces. He killed and bombed. The government sponsored militia and police killed Escobar's lieutenants and bombed his homes and properties. It was terror for terror that arguably yielded a good end but was accomplished outside of the law, morality or any sense of constraint. And, our government was key in providing the resources (technical and human) as well as the steel needed by Columbia's government to pursue Escobar to his death. Arguably, had the government stuck to the law, Escobar would be stronger than ever today, perhaps the ruler of Columbia. So total was his corruption of government. This book is great fodder for discussion of how far one can go in pursuing a just end. The book itself does not attempt to ask this question or provide an answer. The question is, however, inescapable to the reader, and looms over every deed done to contain the evil represented by the man. The book is fast paced, very well researched, filled with first person accounts and well written. You'll find it hard to put down.
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Summary: Reality is better than fiction...
Review: It's almost hard to believe that one man held an entire country in check for so long, killing anyone who opposed him. If anyone ever deserved to die, Pablo is the one. I personally couldn't care less about his cocaine dealings, but the reign of murder and terror had to be stopped. Nice job Search Bloc!
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