Toby Muse- KILO: INSIDE THE DEADLIEST COCAINE CARTELS—FROM THE JUNGLES TO THE STREETS

Veteran journalist Toby Muse has witnessed up close each level of the cocaine underworld, fueled by the appetite for cocaine in America and Europe. In KILO: INSIDE THE DEADLIEST COCAINE CARTELS—FROM THE JUNGLES TO THE STREETS, he takes the reader inside Colombia’s notorious drug cartels to offer a never before look at the drug trade. Following a kilo of cocaine from its production in a clandestine laboratory to the smugglers who ship it abroad, he reveals the human lives behind the drug’s complicated legacy. With a 16 page insert of exclusive photos, KILO is particularly timely as the world, and the United States, struggles with a record harvest of cocaine that has resulted in purer drugs and led to a spike in overdoses. Reporting on Colombia for the world’s most prestigious networks and publications, Muse gained unprecedented access to the extraordinary people who survive on the drug trade—farmers, smugglers, assassins—and the drug lords and their lovers controlling these multi-billion dollar enterprises. He also spent weeks with the US Coast Guard as they tried to stem the flow of drugs, seizing tons of cocaine on the vast Pacific Ocean. Uncovering stories of violence, sex, and money, he shows the allure and the madness of cocaine. And how the War on Drugs has been no match for cocaine. Piercing this veiled world, KILO is a gripping portrait of a country struggling to end this deadly trade even as the riches flow. A human portrait of criminals and the shocking details of their lives, this is a chilling, unforgettable story that takes you deep into the belly of the beast.