I Am the Famous Carlos

A Novel Based on the Life of Carlos the Jackal, the World's First Celebrity Terrorist

De: Christina Hoag

Narrado por: Andre G. Chapoy

He was the most wanted man in the world for decades. Carlos the Jackal, the Venezuelan-born terrorist, carried out a wave of attacks across Europe in the 1970s and 1980s. A ruthless self-proclaimed revolutionary and notorious womanizer, he claimed to fight for the Palestinian cause and communist ideology, but also worked as a mercenary for rogue regimes and organizations.

After bursting onto the world stage with the 1975 OPEC siege in Vienna, where he took 60 hostages and killed three people, he managed to evade capture for two decades. Finally arrested in a daring raid in Sudan in 1994, he was brought to justice in France, where he is serving three life sentences for his reign of terror. This is the riveting story of how a pudgy Caracas schoolboy became the world’s first celebrity terrorist.

©2023 Christina Hoag (P)2023 Christina Hoag

crime/history

Great book, very good book about a historical crime. A must listen to book if your into crime history. The narrator does an amazing job.

Terrorism in soap opera format, perfection

This dramatized telling of events takes place between the mid-1960's and the mid-1990's, spans several countries and geopolitical philosophies all while establishing a personal connection to the story's main antagonist and his quest for fame and remembrance. With a steady and exciting pace, we follow Carlos from childhood to adulthood to incarceration and are treated to his flair for presentation and his indulgence of women and drink. The dialogue and settings create an easy to digest history of terrorism through direct actions and social engineering. A splendid lesson told in a captivating manner. [Disclosure: I received this title for free and read at 1.75x.]

Behind the scenes of a prolific professional terrorist

This is an interesting historical novel that, according to the afterword, accurately depicts the historical events in the life of Carlos the Jackal, and only conversations and private moments were created by the author. This novel is good for history readers and historical fiction fans who are interested in late 20th century global politics and terrorism. I am a true crime fan, and I wanted to learn about a terrorist I had never heard of since I don’t know a lot about 70s and 80s history. The novel taught me about the life of Carlos and his prolific career as a professional terrorist, best known for taking dozens of hostages at an OPEC meeting in Vienna. It is interesting that although Carlos claimed that he terrorized to liberate oppressed peoples according to his Marxist ideals, he loved to live a wealthy lifestyle.

Bits of the book were exciting, but other parts were dry and expressed the tedious day-to-day operations of Carlos’s business details and personal life. The novel is written in third person omniscient perspective, which is a good choice. However, I would have welcomed an occasional emotional and thrilling first person perspective from some of Carlos’ victims.

The narrator Andre G. Chapoy did a wonderful job. He has a lovely voice and is very talented at many accents. His enunciation, timing, and everything were excellent.

I requested and received a free audiobook copy from the author, and I voluntarily wrote this honest review.