Killing Pablo

"A master of narrative journalism, [Bowden] employs the same techniques of reconstructing scenes and dialogue that made his bestselling Black Hawk Down gripping reading." -Linda Robinson, New York Times Book Review

On July 22, 1992, drug lord 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 cease-fire with its infamous narcos, and pushed it into open war with the Medell"n drug cartel.

Over the coming days and weeks, the United States would launch 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, nobody was interested in capturing him. This time, they intended 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, whose criminal empire held a nation of thirty million hostage-a reign of terror that would end only with his death. In an intense, up-close account, best-selling author and award-winning journalist Mark Bowden exposes the never-before-revealed details of how U.S. operatives covertly led the sixteen-month manhunt.

Drawing on unprecedented access to the soldiers, field agents, and officials involved in the chase, as well as hundreds of pages of top-secret documents and transcripts of Escobar's intercepted phone conversations, Bowden creates a gripping narrative that reads as if it were torn from the pages of a military technothriller. At every phase, he brings to life the men who brought the drug lord down. There is the Colombian president, C'sar Gaviria, afraid for his life and the future of his nation, who is forced to do the unthinkable: allow a foreign military to operate within his country's borders. There is the U.S. ambassador, Morris D. Busby, who brings in the most sophisticated surveillance team in the world, code-named Centra Spike, and the best team of manhunters, the mysterious Delta Force. And there is the leader of the Colombian forces, Colonel Hugo Martinez, an incorruptible man who lives under constant threat during the drug lord's reign-and whose own son plays a critical role on the fateful day when Pablo is finally found.

Bowden's last book, the New York Times best-seller Black Hawk Down, was hailed by critics (David Halberstam called it "a brilliant book, a heartbreaking story wonderfully well told-it's everything I admire") and became a finalist for the National Book Award. In Killing Pablo, Bowden's reportage achieves a new level, his narrative an epic scope. 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.

“Praise for Killing Pablo : "A complicated tale that might have overwhelmed a lesser writer, but Bowden skillfully weaves a narrative studded with anecdotes that are hilarious, horrifying and tragic, sometimes simultaneously." -- Miami Herald "A master of narrative journalism, [Bowden] employs the same techniques of re-constructing scenes and dialogue that made his bestselling Black Hawk Down gripping reading." -- New York Times Book Review "A compelling, almost Shakespearean tale." -- Los Angeles Times "[A] well-reported and lively narrative." -- Boston Globe "Bowden synthesizes an extraordinary amount of research and detail, creating not only an edgy narrative of the search's machinations but also a sobering examination of the moral dilemmas and futility of the entire operation." -- San Francisco Chronicle "[A] great read for anyone wanting to understand more about the cruel truths of the war on drugs or for anyone who likes a story about the good guys beat the bad guy--and what it took." -- Baltimore Sun "Exciting, suspenseful and seem[s] destined to become [a] blockbuster movie." -- Newsday "Impressive. . . . Bowden argues--I think persuasively--that for all its violence and lawlessness, the vicious Colombian response to Escobar was justified. . . . It is a troubling conclusion, but difficult to dispute in the face of the evidence Bowden assembles." -- Washington Post "All eyes in the business-class lounge will be poring over copies of [Mark Bowden's] new work, Killing Pablo ." -- Esquire "A down and dirty primer on the drug war." -- Daily News "And so we got [Escobar], or [the Colombian police] did, and the biggest and most expensive manhunt in history was over. The only thing left to do was for someone to tell the real story, and Mark Bowden was without question the writer to do it." -- Austin-American Statesman " Killing Pablo is a unique, superbly written account of Escobar's story. Exhaustively researched and presented with an inspiring tenacity, the book takes the reader into a darkness that few of us can imagine. . . . Killing Pablo is well worth reading." -- Military Review "Bowden hits another home run with his chronicle of the manhunt for Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) "In this riveting work of reportage, award-winning journalist Bowden details American involvement in the assassination of Pablo Escobar, the Colombian billionaire godfather of cocaine trafficking. . . . Essential reading for any aficionado of espionage scandals and Mafioso folklore." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "A fascinating new piece of investigative reporting." -- Bookpage "One of the most fascinating aspects of [ Killing Pablo ] is Bowden's depiction of small-scale, military-centered intelligence launched in Colombia--spy tactics that detail what parts of target buildings are vulnerable, for example, or the habits of the human target that might leave him alone and exposed. A harrowing investigation into the cost of both drug trafficking and the War on Drugs." -- Booklist”

Praise for Killing Pablo:

"A complicated tale that might have overwhelmed a lesser writer, but Bowden skillfully weaves a narrative studded with anecdotes that are hilarious, horrifying and tragic, sometimes simultaneously."--Miami Herald

"A master of narrative journalism, [Bowden] employs the same techniques of re-constructing scenes and dialogue that made his bestselling Black Hawk Down gripping reading."--New York Times Book Review

"A compelling, almost Shakespearean tale."--Los Angeles Times

"[A] well-reported and lively narrative."--Boston Globe

"Bowden synthesizes an extraordinary amount of research and detail, creating not only an edgy narrative of the search's machinations but also a sobering examination of the moral dilemmas and futility of the entire operation."--San Francisco Chronicle

"[A] great read for anyone wanting to understand more about the cruel truths of the war on drugs or for anyone who likes a story about the good guys beat the bad guy--and what it took."--Baltimore Sun

"Exciting, suspenseful and seem[s] destined to become [a] blockbuster movie."--Newsday

"Impressive. . . . Bowden argues--I think persuasively--that for all its violence and lawlessness, the vicious Colombian response to Escobar was justified. . . . It is a troubling conclusion, but difficult to dispute in the face of the evidence Bowden assembles."--Washington Post

"All eyes in the business-class lounge will be poring over copies of [Mark Bowden's] new work, Killing Pablo."--Esquire

"A down and dirty primer on the drug war."--Daily News

"And so we got [Escobar], or [the Colombian police] did, and the biggest and most expensive manhunt in history was over. The only thing left to do was for someone to tell the real story, and Mark Bowden was without question the writer to do it."--Austin-American Statesman

"Killing Pablo is a unique, superbly written account of Escobar's story. Exhaustively researched and presented with an inspiring tenacity, the book takes the reader into a darkness that few of us can imagine. . . . Killing Pablo is well worth reading."--Military Review

"Bowden hits another home run with his chronicle of the manhunt for Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"In this riveting work of reportage, award-winning journalist Bowden details American involvement in the assassination of Pablo Escobar, the Colombian billionaire godfather of cocaine trafficking. . . . Essential reading for any aficionado of espionage scandals and Mafioso folklore."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"A fascinating new piece of investigative reporting."--Bookpage

"One of the most fascinating aspects of [Killing Pablo] is Bowden's depiction of small-scale, military-centered intelligence launched in Colombia--spy tactics that detail what parts of target buildings are vulnerable, for example, or the habits of the human target that might leave him alone and exposed. A harrowing investigation into the cost of both drug trafficking and the War on Drugs." --Booklist

Mark Bowden is the author of thirteen books, including the #1 New York Times bestseller Black Hawk Down and most recently, Hue 1968. He reported at the Philadelphia Inquirer for twenty years and now writes for the Atlantic, Vanity Fair, and other magazines. He is also the writer in residence at the University of Delaware.

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