Escobar: The Inside Story of Pablo Escobar, the World's Most Powerful Criminal

Our Review

Escobar: The inside story of Pablo Escobar the world’s most powerful criminal

When I picked up this book I had very little knowledge on Escobar. I knew his name and that he was a famous South American drug lord and that is it. A few people I know had spoken about the Netflix series on him and how interesting it was and that led me to buying this book.

“True legends like that of Pablo Escobar, grow slowly through time and must be nurtured. The stories told about them have to continue to grow in scope and size until reality is simply too small to contain them. They have to burst beyond the borders of time and place and become famous enough to outlive the contemporary journalism of their life. The world has to come to know them on a first name basis.

Pablo Escobar has joined the list of celebrity criminals, finding his place on the dark side of history with Blackbeard, Jesse James, and Capone.”

Escobar was one on Forbes list of the world’s richest man, a fortune made on contraband and cocaine. However, he also remembered by many in Columbia as a Robin Hood type figure who helped many of those in the poorer neighbourhoods of his home city.

This story was told by his brother Roberto and therefore the reader has to maintain a shade of doubt about the veracity of some of his claims but on the whole a lot of what he said seemed to ring true.

“I think about my brother every day. Pablo Escobar was an extraordinarily simple man. He was brilliant and kind- hearted, passionate and violent. He was a man of both poetry and guns. To many people he was a saint, to others he was a monster.”

I found this a fascinating read, much more than I was expecting and I read it very quickly. I think the parts that involved the corrupt police force and government officials were as interesting as the bits involving known criminals.

I didn’t have any preconceptions going in but I found coming out that is much easier to view Escobar as a whole man rather than simply by his crimes.

It helps that Roberto acknowledges that Pablo wasn’t all good and that there were things he did that he didn’t necessarily agree with.

“I always loved my brother but my soul was not blind. I could see that there were parts of him that I couldn’t recognise.”

It is clear Roberto thought a lot of Pablo and this book is as much a brother’s tribute as it is anything else. However, I think it is a good start point for those wishing to learn more about this infamous man.

Our Final Rating...

Sun, 31st January 2021