The Man with the Silver Beretta
or Redemption
Nov 2023
'Popeye wasn't inherently bad, he just enjoyed killing.'
Jhon 'Popeye' Velásquez is a ruthless killer – the MedellÃn cartel's top assassin with almost two hundred hits to his name.
​
'People who acted against Ramón were enemies, and Ramón had no time for enemies.'
Ramón Escobar is a dangerous psychopath who has double-crossed the cartel. He is hiding out in the Bolivian rainforest and he knows Popeye is coming after him.
​
Surprised by a mysterious guardian angel, attacked by a Bolivian death squad, informed on at every turn, Popeye begins to question his life as an assassin when he slowly realises he is being played.
​
This time the cards are stacked against him and he is going to need more than his silver Beretta to survive.
​
Author Note
This one was fun to write (not that the last one wasn't) and the storyline changed a lot as the character 'Popeye' developed. What started out as an Apocalypse Now plot – a lone assassin hunting down an enemy in the rainforest – changed into what made Jhon Velásquez kill over two hundred people, then renounce his life as a sicario and look for redemption.
​
It's based on interviews he gave before he died in 2020. He was certainly a divisive figure, and many of his victims never forgave him, despite his efforts to make amends.
Reviews
★★★★★
Silver Beretta strikes gold - Hudson Store Press
​
'The latest instalment in Paul Kelly’s Colombian cartel thrillers starts with trademark ferocity and doesn’t let up until the final gasps of another chilling drama. A ruthless killer hunts a dangerous psychopath like a shark hunting a pack of piranhas. With all the grit and brutal reality of Narcos, it’s already a great read. But it’s worth reading ‘Redemption’ with your Tarantino glasses on – the violence is theatrical, the language is deliberately close to comic book, the hit-man hero is like a Latin American reservoir dog and death by liposuction is a spectacular way to go.'