Killing Pablo

Written by Mark Bowden

Narrated by Mark Bowden

Includes enhanced CD with exclusive video of the actual hunt for Pablo Escobar
On July 22, 1992, Colombian druglord Pablo Escobar walked out of the luxurious prison he built for himself and disappeared into the Colombian jungle. His audacious escape destroyed the nation's tenuous ceasefire with its infamous narcos, and pushed it into open war with the Medellin Drug cartel.
Over the coming days and weeks, the United States launched a joint military and intelligence operation with the Colombian government, assembling a team of expert personnel and an arsenal of state-of-the-art weaponry and surveillance technology the likes of which the world had never seen. Their mission: to track down Pablo.
But this time, they knew it would not be enough to just capture Escobar. This time, they would have to finish the job. This time, they were going to kill him.
Killing Pablo is the inside story of the brutal rise and violent fall of Colombian cocaine cartel kingpin Pablo Escobar. Bowden's gripping narrative sounds as if it were torn from the pages of a military technothriller. Action-packed and unputdownable, Killing Pablo is a tour de force of investigative journalism and a stark portrayal of rough justice in the real world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Apr 1, 2001
• ISBN: 9780743518819

Mark Bowden

Mark Bowden is the author of Road Work, Finders Keepers, Killing Pablo, Black Hawk Down (nominated for a National Book Award), Bringing the Heat, and Doctor Dealer. He reported at The Philadelphia Inquirer for twenty years and is a national correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly. He lives in the Philadelphia area.

Reviews for Killing Pablo

[John Nottestad · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Really well read by the author. The documentary is good, but this has so muchuch more detail

[Margaret Cantrell · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

An interesting story but problematic writing and narration. There’s a casual dismissal by the author of Escobar’s sexual abuse of teenage girls and the racism of an American military officer. And the narrator’s attempts at pronouncing Spanish terms is like nails on a blackboard, just painful. Could they really not have employed a bilingual speaker or at least someone who could reasonably get the Spanish pronunciation? It’s insulting…

[rustyboone · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is an outstanding true story about Pablo Escobar and how he ruled the drug trade in eighties. Fascinating subject, good writing.

[whisper1_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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 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.

[utbw42 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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....

[untraveller · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Reads like a journalist writing, which of course what tis, but compelling and interesting. And, what a story!

[rdhawk6886 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Fascinating subject and well researched. I found that the book was poorly organized and difficult to initially get into.

[mrtall_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fascinating subject, good writing -- but still a bit disappointing. Bowden's story is amazingly concise and controlled, but there are just too many players, motivations and events to make for a truly riveting narrative.

[patl_53 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A dark, dark book. Not as gripping as Blackhawk Down, but definitely in the same vein.

[miro_4 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Pablo Escobar was one of the world's prime monsters and at one point probably the richest, becoming a billionaire on the back of the American cocaine business. I found it difficult to put this book down as it traces his violent domination of Colombia with the fatal (for him) involvement of the Americans through the "War on Drugs". Their clean and dirty manoeuvres eventually wore away his power and lead to his shooting. Mark Bowden has written a great book & I'm surprised that it's not better known.