Snatched: From Drug Queen to Informer to Hostage

Porter (Blow) offers another fascinating look at the international drug trade with this account of the dramatic life of a woman he identifies only as Pilar. She’s born in Colombia to an upper-class family; her career as a flight attendant for Braniff airline leads to a fateful 1974 meeting with Ernesto Henao, the first of her two drug-smuggling husbands. Ernesto involves Pilar in his business, and she soon begins swallowing packets of cocaine to transport to Miami. Following a stint in prison, Pilar divorces Ernesto, only to marry Steven Cinnante, his former business partner. She attracts the attention of the Drug Enforcement Administration, and she ends up cooperating with them. Her unique access makes her invaluable as part of long-term intelligence gathering aimed at dealing the South American cocaine trade a fatal blow—Pilar is one of the few informants actually “talking to the kingpins directly about how to handle their currency.” In Porter’s hands, Pilar’s story will easily hook readers from start to finish; the book reads like an action-packed movie script. But the author eschews persuasiveness for pacing, with no straightforward explanation of how he corroborated information that came directly from Pilar or otherwise deemed it credible. (Apr.)