Sometimes fact is stranger than fiction! This may be a cliche, but, in the case of this autobiography, I think it is reasonable to say. The author, Roberto Sendoya Escobar brings the reader through some of the extraordinary situations he has found himself over his lifetime, as well as some of the notorious people his life has brushed up against.
This book was originally published on August 6th 2020, this review was written in August 2021, having had the book on my ‘to read’ pile for a criminal amount of time (I originally bought it in December 2020).
Pablo Escobar is still one of the worlds most notorious drug lords, who was almost single handedly responsible for the the spread of Cocaine use around the world. Before he was shot dead in 1993, Pablo Escobar was one of the worlds ten richest people, and controlled 80% of the global cocaine drug trade.
This book is the story of his first born child, who was adopted at a very young age and was brought up as Phillip Witcomb, he was rescued in the aftermath of a raid on a house in a small village, just outside of Bogota, Colombia, by the MI6 agent in charge of that mission. Over his lifetime, the author’s biological Father Pablo tried to kidnap him on a number of occasions. As he grew up, both of the author’s fathers were working together to try and control both money laundering and the drug trade in Colombia. His adoptive father working for the British Government, his biological father working for his own ambitions and interests. The author is sent to boarding school in England for a while in an effort to protect him, but England is very different to Colombia, and the two locations were not only thousands of miles apart, but, they were also a lifestyle apart, which made it hard to adjust for a young child.
We are brought to the bedside of the adoptive father as he passes on the last remaining secret to his son, a secret that is shared with the reader, there are clues in the book that give the reader an opportunity to try and find the ‘Escobar Millions’.
This book is a story that absolutely needed to be shared with the world. As someone who enjoys biographies and true crime, I absolutely loved this book. I finished this book in two sittings, and I could have done it in one, had I had the time. I love reading about what other people’s ‘normal’ is. In the authors case, is remarkable in its levels of Hollywood drama. I would be incredibly surprised if some Studio has not already green lit this book for production. I enjoyed the way this book was written, it was well paced, and at no point did the author get bogged down in superfluous amount of details in some of the amazing events in the book. You were given just enough details to be able to envision the events, which is a great skill to have. I really felt for the little boy who was living through some truly bizarre situations.
I believe it is the authors first book and there is nothing that I can say I found disappointing or lacking in this book. It’s not a very long book, and each word is used to maximum efficiency. I liked it so much that I gave a copy as a gift to my Mother.
If you like biographies, true crime, autobiographies, or anything of that nature, I think you might enjoy this book and I would highly recommend it. If you enjoy more sci-fi, horror based stories, this is not for you.
I wish the author Roberto/Phillip a peaceful and happy future. Thank you for sharing such an amazing story with us.
You Know When You 