Colombiano

The author, well known for his first book [b:Marching Powder 43082 Marching Powder Rusty Young https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1356460260s/43082.jpg 42519], telling to story of an inmate in Bolivia's San Pedro jail, has since spent eight years in Colombia. He worked under cover for the US Government in counter terrorism, interviewing a wide range of people from soldiers and hostages, to those displaced by the fighting. According to the author, the most heartwrenching stories were those of the child soldiers recruited by the two main terrorist organisations - FARC and Autodefensas.This is a violent, cruel storyline, and the author states it is a work of fiction which is based on the true story of an ex-child soldier. In the authors own words: “Some parts of this story are real. Most are fictionalised and informed by my own experiences and historical research. These children's pasts were complicated and painful. Their stories affected me deeply and changed my life. I felt they needed to be told.” It is reasonable to assume the author based his story on an amalgamation of different peoples stories, and he was right to be upfront about the fictional nature. It allows the reader to forgive some of the more dramatic aspects.Despite being almost 700 pages long, this is still a fast moving, high octane story. Set in Colombia after the removal of Pablo Escobar, it revolves around the civic unrest, corruption where money controls the situation, the cocaine trade and the guerilla insurgents fighting the military and the police, and a private militia. But more it is the impact of this on families and loved ones of the soldiers.The story is told in the first person, from the perspective of our protagonist, Pedro, who at the start of the book is 15 years old, and is forced to watch his father executed by the guerillas. If this sounds a little too violent for you, chances are you won't get through more than 20 pages before determining this isn't for you. While naive, and easily influenced, Pedro is a character is is easy to sympathise with, aching for his revenge on those who murdered his father, his path is not straight forward. The story is captivating. It twists and turns, doesn't fail to deliver surprises, and of course revels in revenge and the violence of the life of a paramilitary.Five stars for fiction is pretty rare for me, but so is cracking through a 700 page book in 4 days, and enjoying it from cover to cover.5*Many thanks to Havelock & Baker Publishing for a copy provided in return for a review.