One of the most famous criminals of the 20th century, Pablo Escobar was a character whose tumultuous life was the headline of the press in Colombia, but also in the United States of America. Building a real empire, especially based on drug dealing, El Doctor was both adored and detested in his native Colombia, his deeds remaining in the collective memory to this day. Writer and journalist Mark Bowden manages to masterfully introduce us behind the scenes of the operation to capture the drug lord, having access to information collected from its protagonists themselves. The reader has the opportunity to penetrate, thus, the cultural, social, political and economic atmosphere of the time and to get in touch with a bloody era in the history of the South American country, one in which the great drug cartels took off, but also one in which determined vigilantes tried to do justice.
Throughout these pages, the events of Escobar's life and the description of the pursuits weave together in a harmonious and alert way, all forming a captivating historical thriller, a masterfully crafted biography. "A master of narrative journalism, [Bowden] uses the same techniques of recreating scenes and dialogue that made his bestseller, Black Hawk Down, such a captivating read." - Linda Robinson, New York Times Book Review
"Author of the bestselling Black Hawk Down, which chronicles the U.S. military involvement in Somalia, Bowden strikes again with this chronicle of the hunt for Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar." - Publishers Weekly
"This gripping account of the assassination of former Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar traces the rise and fall of the cocaine baron with enough poise and insight to offer a fresh perspective on the drug trade." - The Austin Chronicle
Mark Bowden (born 1951) is an American writer and journalist. He graduated from Loyola College in Maryland in 1973 and has written for publications including Men's Journal, The Atlantic Monthly, Sports Illustrated, and Rolling Stone. His books include: Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War (1999), Guests of the Ayatollah: The First Battle in America's War with Militant Islam (2006), The Finish: The Killing of Osama bin Laden (2012) and The Last Stone: a Masterpiece of Criminal Interrogation (2019).
