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Must read on the Mafia operations!
Wow, this book. The research and amount of detail is staggering. Saviano exposes every aspect of the global cocaine industry, from production to shipping to distribution. It's expected, but still somehow mind-boggling the money, creativity, and violence involved. Just as compelling and intense as Saviano's previous book, Gomorrah.
#cocaine #rockinmay I won this in a giveaway last year and it will also be my "z" book for #litsyatoz
Accompanied by my only addiction, coffee (if we don't include books as an addiction)
In this book an Italian investigative journalist examines the current state of cocaine production and how it reached this point and a nasty, violent dispiriting story it is. From the days of the Colombian cartels through to the Mexican crime gangs and dealing networks across the world, but also importantly the end users, the relatively rich in the developed countries. A book which has convinced me even more that the war on drugs is a dead end.
It covers a pretty wide range of the cocaine trade history, but the bulk of the story focuses on people other than Escobar and the time period after the 80s.
The author didn't have a very clear stance, or perhaps the audiobook narrator muddied it. But the author seemed to revere the drug, and didn't seem scornful or feel much horror over the vicious violence of the cartels.
Overall, quite interesting, the end dragged a bit. ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 of 5.
I'm about 31% into this book and it reads like a love letter to cocaine and has a reverent awe for extreme me, excessive violence. Or maybe that's just the way the narrator for this audiobook reads it.
Author of "Gomorrah" takes a look at the larger issue of drug trafficking through its most persistent product, cocaine. Savianos style may be quirky to some but given its length and breadth I found it well worth the read.