Manhunters

September 23, 2019
What was it like to be an American DEA agent in Colombia in the early 1990s? Like living in a war zone is how Murphy and Peña describe their time in Bogotá spent hunting drug lord Pablo Escobar in this riveting account of the multinational effort to stop the man behind the Medellín Cartel. Besides supplying cocaine to America, Escobar was behind the kidnaping and assassination of his country’s attorney general and the bombing of a passenger jet in 1989. Murphy and Peña were paid 50% more than stateside DEA agents because of the danger of their mission, and their lives were put on the line multiple times. Through it all, the two agents became trusted partners and best friends, who watched Escobar surrender on TV in 1991, only to reactivate the search when the drug lord escaped from his prison cell the next year. When Escobar was gunned down by the Colombian police in 1993, people celebrated in Colombia, and, not coincidentally, the murder rate in Medellín dropped by 80%. This is a must-read for anyone interested in one of the major campaigns in the war on drugs. 100,000 copy announced first printing. Agent: Luke Janklow, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc.

October 1, 2019
Two former Drug Enforcement Administration operatives serve up a thriller-esque account of chasing down a notorious narco kingpin. "It was our colleagues from the Colombian National Police who actually pulled the trigger, but after spending every waking moment going after that scumbag for six years, it was our victory as well." So writes Peña at the end of a narrative in which he and Murphy--the agents who were portrayed in the Netflix series Narcos--take turns recounting the hunt for Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar. The exultation at Escobar's demise in a monsoon of bullets is a little unseemly, but one quickly comes to understand why the world should be happy that Escobar is gone--even if, as the authors allow, not a whole lot has changed, with actors on the bad side simply shifting roles and positions of authority. Among the players that Murphy and Peña describe is a "sicario," or hit man, who boasted of killing more than 300 people on Escobar's behalf. Most such foot soldiers were teenagers who lived for only a year or two before being killed by paramilitaries, vigilantes, rival gangsters, or the police, but while they lived, they were able to provide for their families in ways unavailable to otherwise unemployed youth. The narrative is a pretty by-the-numbers affair: There are the obligatory scenes of their early years and how they came to be federal agents, the academy hijinks, and the internal politics and interagency rivalries. The best part of the book is the authors' portrait of two very different countries, Colombia and the U.S., and the different cultures of the police in each country. For example, one leading Colombian law enforcement official who figures prominently in their account was glad to yield to Escobar in negotiations, a concession that "prolonged the war against him and led to the deaths of thousands of innocent victims." Mark Bowden's Killing Pablo is by far the better book, but this one reveals enough interesting details to keep the pages turning. For Narcos fans and drug-war buffs.

COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

October 15, 2019
Two veteran DEA agents detail their years spent in Colombia tracking down notorious drug trafficker Pablo Escobar. During the 1980s and early '90s, Colombia was a hotbed of cocaine distribution and extreme violence, much of it perpetrated by Escobar. He employed numerous sicarios, hired killers, to torture and kill police officers, government officials, and members of rival cartels. Murphy and Pe�a arrive in Colombia a few years into their DEA employment, at the height of violence there, and make it their mission to find Escobar. With the help of the Colombian police and lots of informants, they risk their lives (often undercover) time and again. They take turns telling their story, which serves them well as they recount their individual paths to the DEA and then Colombia, but after they begin working together, this style slows down the action and loses some tension. Readers looking for an Escobar biography will be disappointed, but those wanting the real story and the brave men behind the TV show Narcos will be thrilled.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

October 1, 2019
Two former Drug Enforcement Administration operatives serve up a thriller-esque account of chasing down a notorious narco kingpin. "It was our colleagues from the Colombian National Police who actually pulled the trigger, but after spending every waking moment going after that scumbag for six years, it was our victory as well." So writes Pe�a at the end of a narrative in which he and Murphy--the agents who were portrayed in the Netflix series Narcos--take turns recounting the hunt for Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar. The exultation at Escobar's demise in a monsoon of bullets is a little unseemly, but one quickly comes to understand why the world should be happy that Escobar is gone--even if, as the authors allow, not a whole lot has changed, with actors on the bad side simply shifting roles and positions of authority. Among the players that Murphy and Pe�a describe is a "sicario," or hit man, who boasted of killing more than 300 people on Escobar's behalf. Most such foot soldiers were teenagers who lived for only a year or two before being killed by paramilitaries, vigilantes, rival gangsters, or the police, but while they lived, they were able to provide for their families in ways unavailable to otherwise unemployed youth. The narrative is a pretty by-the-numbers affair: There are the obligatory scenes of their early years and how they came to be federal agents, the academy hijinks, and the internal politics and interagency rivalries. The best part of the book is the authors' portrait of two very different countries, Colombia and the U.S., and the different cultures of the police in each country. For example, one leading Colombian law enforcement official who figures prominently in their account was glad to yield to Escobar in negotiations, a concession that "prolonged the war against him and led to the deaths of thousands of innocent victims." Mark Bowden's Killing Pablo is by far the better book, but this one reveals enough interesting details to keep the pages turning. For Narcos fans and drug-war buffs.

COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.