Rating: 
Summary: Justice in a dangerous world...
Review: When dealing with a sociopath, sometimes it's necessary to get down into the mud with him, and fight dirty. Or is it? Mark Bowden's account of Pablo Escobar's reign of terror and subsequent arrest, escape, and death is a very unbiased assessment, and leaves the morality question to be decided by the reader.Killing Pablo was fantastic. While it doesn't have the intensity of Black Hawk Down (one really couldn't expect THAT, since the story isn't about a nonstop firefight), from a purely nuts-and-bolts perspective, the story of the manhunt for Pablo Escobar is an incredible and riveting story. While some readers may have wanted more insight into the whos and whats of the larger world of the cocaine industry, Bowden (to his credit, in my opinion) mentions Escobar's competition only in passing. The focal point of the book is the good guys versus the bad guy, and Bowden doesn't muddle that with a lot of inconsequential details about the larger problems in Colombia, at least the ones that weren't directly attributable to Escobar. Escobar's God complex is revealed in disturbing detail, from his favorite methods of execution to his self-image as the patron of the Colombian people. Bowden is remarkably even-handed in his assessment of the "good guys," giving credit where it is due, but at the same time, questioning their tactics and motivation, and crediting dumb luck when it was the true hero. He avoids lumping the local law enforcement-types into the "completely incompetent" pool that they so often wind up in at the hands of American journalists. Bowden recognizes the unique situation that the Colombians had to deal with, and gives them credit for working to hunt down Escobar in spite of these circumstances. All in all, a very informative, entertaining read.
Rating: 
Summary: Columbian Justice
Review: Mark Bowden has done it again. Like in his previous novel, "Black Hawk Down," Bowden takes his readers on another detailed, behind-the-scenes account of American Military Operations in a foreign country. Bowden skillfully documents the rise and fall of the one of the 20th century's vilest criminals, Columbian cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar. The book starts with showing how Escobar rose to power, and the societal and cultural factors that allowed Escobar to become the monster he was in Columbia. It is an eye-opening look at the instability, greed, and corruption that plagues many democratic countries. Then, one learns of the first manhunt for Escobar, which resulted in his "imprisonment" in a luxury jail that he unbelievably was able to build for himself in perhaps the ultimate definetion of a country-club prison. But different factors lead to Pablo's "escape" from this prison and a second manhunt is called that ultimately leads to Pablo's demise. This a just a thumbnail sketch of the book, but what makes this book unique is Bowden's ability to get access and information from all the key players in the Escobar saga. From the Columbian President to disgraced government ministers, Escobar associates,DEA agents, Special Ops guys and the US Ambassodor, Bowden gets the story straight from the people who were there, both behind the scenes and actively out fighting gun-battles on the street. This book reads like the best fiction thrillers, but unfortunately it is a true story.
Rating:
Summary: I Couldn't Put it Down
Review: Bowden gives a very gripping glimpse inside the world of the late Colombian drug lord, Pablo Escobar. This perspective is juxtaposed beside the tale of the military and police forces from the United States and Colombia seeking to put an end to his ruthless reign of terror. The author has done his research and it shows. You get the distinct impression from Bowden's writing that the author knows much more than he is actually saying in his account. Therefore, he is able to weave a story, rich with facts,and easily able to captivate the reader's attention at every turn. This is what I believe sets Bowden, Ambrose, and others apart among popular historians: They do their homework. They don't do their research, it seems, with the intent of getting just enough for their book. They research every angle of the book and then from that massive block of knowledge they sculpt a story that is both accurate and spellbinding. I came to this book with little or no prior knowledge of Pablo Escobar and the US involvement in the Colombian drug cartels, so I am unable to review this book from that perspective. You will have to rely on better-versed reviewers for that. However, from a consumer standpoint--somebody who loves a good story, especially if it is true--this book outperformed my expectations. I finished reading it in three nights; I could not put it down. Buyer beware, do not start reading this, unless you want to finish it quickly. I guarantee that you will never find yourself bored reading this one!
Rating:
Summary: Second to Black Hawk Down
Review: Killing Pablo is a book that should have been made into a movie. It had every aspect of a good movie needed to succeed. Pablo Escobar, who was at the time, the single most powerful drug trafficker in the world. As he became more powerful, he believed the more people needed to be taken out. Little did he know this was the beginning of his long and violent downfall. Mark Bowden again delivers a book that reads very easy. Full of information about hundreds of people involved with either Pablo's rise or Pablo's fall, Killing Pablo is one of the most informitive books I have read about beginning of the drug wars that have consumed the United States of America for now well over 10 years. With the current escalating situation in South America, Killing Pablo is a great book to gain a better understanding of why exactly there are American soldiers down there. I would recomend this book to anybody who enjoys furthering their knowledge of modern day wars, or who has enjoyed books like this, for example Black Hawk Down, in the past. I give it 4 stars because it is not as good as Black Hawk Down, and doesnt deserve to be given and equal rating. A very well done book though.
Rating: 
Summary: Reasonably fun while it lasts
Review: Bowden's post-mortem of the war against the Medellin cocaine cartels of the 1980s and early to mid-1990s is written (and, in this case, read) in a similar style as his gripping 1999 book BLACK HAWK DOWN. While I highly recommend the latter for its thoroughness, attention to detail, and relative even-handedness, I was not quite as happy with KILLING PABLO. It did serve as a good introduction to the world of Columbian drug lords, with Pablo Escobar standing out as the most violent and capricious among them. The author's focus on U.S. involvement in the efforts to hunt Escobar down (and, it is asserted, kill him rather than deliver him to the corrupt Colombian justice system) benefits from some of the same techniques Bowden employed in his previous book: lots of interviews with people involved, coupled with plenty of historical and social background without overloading the reader/listener. Where KILLING PABLO comes up short, at least in comparison to BLACK HAWK DOWN, is that I don't sense the same bond developed between the author and his subjects: the portrayals of these Colombians and their American advisors/adversaries are not quite fleshed out to the same degree as his sympathetic, all-too-human depictions of the Army Rangers and Somali fighters. This could be simply due to the CD abridgement, but I suspect it may also be due to Bowden's finding these subjects much tougher nuts to crack, culturally speaking. (The BLACK HAWK DOWN audio CD does not have the same shortcoming.) Still, his portrayal of Escobar as a complex, very flawed and probably not-quite-sane individual wins points, and the climactic scenes of the chase leading to Escobar's death approach the kind of high drama Bowden best exhibited in his previous work. It's good stuff, but if you had to choose between the two, I recommend going with BLACK HAWK DOWN.
Rating:
Summary: A must read!!
Review: If you are a fan of other books written by Mark Bowden, then this is a must read. The book is an excellent account of the events that lead to the rise and fall of Escobar.
Rating:
Summary: Well researched, good tale, poorly written
Review: Mark Bowden's "Killing Pablo" is a very well researched law enforcement tale that makes for an enjoyable read. I use the term "law enforcement" loosely because Bowden's main thesis seems to be that the killing of Pablo Escobar was successful only because of the efforts of extralegal vigilante groups that terrorized Escobar's associates and who were helped--at least indirectly--by the U.S. military, DEA, and CIA. Also, capturing the fugitive Escobar was never an option, the understanding was that he would be killed when he was found. Bowden does a great job of outlining how deep U.S. involvement was in this affair. An incredible amount of money was spent by the U.S. on killing Escobar despite the fact they knew it wouldn't have any appreciable effect on the cocaine supply available to the States. The other subtext of the book is how corrupt and violent Colombia was, and likely still is. If you ever have a chance to interact with Colombians, you will no doubt find them to be the most cultured and worldly Latin Americans there are; it's sad that just below the surface their country is so lawless. Overall I would recommend the book. I would warn, however, that it is poorly written and certainly poorly edited. There are run-on sentences and many subject confusions that make you have to stop and re-read a paragraph to figure out who Bowden is talking about. If you're a stickler for good prose, it may drive you nuts.
Rating:
Summary: Great Read
Review: This book was a great read. I had always been interested in the story about Pablo's rise and fall, and this book was very well written, and informative.
Rating:
Summary: First Rate Crime Drama
Review: In reading KILLING PABLO, I was struck by the likeness of Pablo Escobar to later terrrorists such as UBL and Saddam. For example, the Colombian trafficker demands investigation of "human rights abuses" and backs up his demand with a threat to place a 10,000 kg bomb in a Colombian govmnt office. He sends a suicide bomber to blow up an Avianca jet in flight, killing all 110 passengers, then issues more demands: "We want peace...We do not accept the numerous arbitrary raids on our families, the ransacking, the repressive detentions, the judicial frame-ups, the anti-patriotic and illegal extraditions, the violations of all our rights..." To "make a statement to the Colombian government" he orders a captured army officer to be tortured to death slowly. It is a scenario which seems to be becoming ever more common: a thug with endless amounts of money attempting to impose the law of the jungle on the world. It's not wild to speculate that if he hadn't been killed, Pablo Escobar might well have beaten bin Laden to the punch in landing a major attack on US soil. Mark Bowden does a thorough job of giving the political context as well as the intimate details of the hunt for Escobar. The drug lord is shown to be a functioning pothead with delusions of grandeur of remarkable severity, seeing himself as a sort of messianic guerilla, a cross between Che Guevara, Vito Corleone, and Christ. He maunders while stoned that terrorism is "the atomic bomb for poor people". One doesn't need too lively an imagination to see what he, a person rich enough to buy an atomic bomb, would do with it to help the poor people for whom he cared so deeply. The unreal quality of the saga is brought home most vividly in the chapter on Escobar's "imprisonment", a bizarre charade in which Escobar carried on his coke business from the confines of a specially built "prison" where his supporters had buried an arsenal of machine guns just in case the incarceration was not to his liking. Here, the "guards" served drinks on the sidelines while the "inmates" played endless games of soccer. After a little over a year Escobar does leave, resuming his former life of fugitive and terrrorist. President Gavira of Colombia makes a fateful resolution: "This was the last time he and the country would be humiliated by Pablo Escobar. There would be no more deals, no more special prisons. Pablo would be hunted down and killed...there was no other way. Pablo was a criminal with not restraints, no boundaries. He could do anything; he WOULD do anything." It takes one more year to run him to ground, which the Colombians do with the help of the US DEA and a vigilante group called Los Pepes. The manhunt and the methods frequently stray into questionable legal terrain, just as in the searches for Saddam and UBL. But there can be little doubt that it was either Escobar or the Colombian government that would survive, not both. Aside from the fascinating story, KILLING PABLO is an excellent case study of how a crime organization like the Medellin cartel, if left to fester, has the potential to grow into a full dictatorship.
Rating:
Summary: BEST BOOK EVER
Review: This book was the most interesting book I have ever read. It's about the most notorious cartel leader in history, Pablo Escobar. The subject of this book is about the rise and fall of a Columbian drug lord named Pablo Escobar. This book goes into the life, family, and inner-workings of his empire. It talks about how he came into power and the problems he faced everyday growing up in a ravaged Columbia and managing his drug ring import export business. The book never has a dull moment. Every page has something exciting happen. I recommend this book to everyone, even people who don't like to read.
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