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The Flight of the Falcon: The True Story of the Escape and Manhunt for America's Most Wanted Spy
 
 
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The Flight of the Falcon: The True Story of the Escape and Manhunt for America's Most Wanted Spy [Paperback]

Robert Lindsey (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)


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Book Description

July 1, 2003
Christopher John Boyce was a son of affluence and privilege whose disaffection with America led him to sell to the Soviets sophisticated and highly secret spy-satellite information.
Eventually uncovered and arrested, Boyce was convicted of espionage in Los Angeles, California, on June 20, 1977, and sentenced to forty years in a maximum-security federal penitentiary. Soon after his imprisonment, Boyce--the man prosecutors said had done more harm to the security of the United States than any Soviet agents since the Rosenbergs--escaped.
Boyce was to become America's most wanted fugitive and the focus of an unprecedented, massive manhunt for eighteen months. Scores of FBI agents and U.S. Marshals sifted through hundreds of false leads. They traveled countless miles back and forth across America, to South Africa, through the isolated jungles of Central America. They were called on the carpet by Congressional committees for the often-publicized and embarassing lack of reults.
Although THE FLIGHT OF THE FALCON is a thrilling chase and suspense story, it is also a fine study of character and psychological drama--the metamorphosis of an idealistic young man into a coarse and violent criminal fugitive.



Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Christopher John Boyce was a son of affluence and privilege whose disaffection with America led him to sell to the Soviets sophisticated and highly secret spy-satellite information. Eventually uncovered and arrested, Boyce was convicted of espionage in Los Angeles, California, on June 20, 1977, and sentenced to forty years in a maximum-security federal penitentiary. Soon after his imprisonment, Boyce - the man prosecutors said had done more harm to the security of the United States than any Soviet agents since the Rosenbergs - escaped. Scores of FBI agents and U.S. Marshals sifted through hundreds of false leads in their search for Boyce. They traveled countless miles back and forth across America, to South Africa, through the isolated jungles of Central America. They were called on the carpet by Congressional committees for the often-publicized and embarrassing lack of results. The Flight of the Falcon is a thrilling chase and suspense story, and a finely wrought character of the metamorphosis of an idealistic young man into a coarse and criminal fugitive.

About the Author

ROBERT LINDSEY is the author of several books, including The Falcon and the Snowman (page 126), the story of Boyce and Andrew Daulton Lee, who were both convicted of selling information to the Soviets. He worked as a reporter and editor at the San Jose Mercury-News and The New York Times, and also served as the Los Angeles bureau chief for The Times.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Lyons Press; 1st edition (July 1, 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1585747718
  • ISBN-13: 978-1585747719
  • Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #535,420 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

8 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Muy bien!, July 29, 1998
By A Customer
I honestly could not put this book down. It was fascinating. Christopher Boyce, convicted spy, escaped from prison and managed to elude the police for something like 18 months! Whoa! Robert Lindsey, who also wrote The Falcon and the Snowman about Boyce and Daulton Lee's actual crimes and trials, came to know Boyce after his incarceration and recounts the events as told to him by Boyce without bias but with a keen, critical eye. A truely fascinating book.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars The last third is great, April 1, 2008
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This review is from: The Flight of the Falcon: The True Story of the Escape and Manhunt for America's Most Wanted Spy (Paperback)
You know how this book is going to end, but despite that, it is impossible to put it down - as long as you make it to the last third. The beginning 20 pages tells the tale of Chris Boyce's escape from prison (He is the former USSR spy brought to fame by the movie "Falcon and the Snowman.") The next 180 pages or so starts off well but then bogs down as it presents all the false-leads that law enforcement got stuck with in their going-nowhere-fast manhunt for him over the next 12-18 months. The final third presents Boyce's perspective of where he was hiding until they caught him at the end, and although you know it will end in his capture, it is an amazing and addictive read.

As a humorous aside, I love the idea of FBI agents and US marshalls driving around Port Angeles WA in the summer of 1981 looking for him, openly drinking cans of beer as they drive around town. Federal law enforcement officials drinking AND driving simultaneously on a national manhunt. How times have changed. Did you have to drink from an open container as you drove around Port Angeles in 1981 in order to maintain your cover as a federal agent?
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Great story well told, July 25, 2011
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This review is from: FLIGHT OF FALCON (Hardcover)
The follow-up to The Falcon And The Snowman was just as fascinating and well written. It was a very personal look at many interesting characters - good guys, bad guys and many in between.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
TWO HANDS REACHED UP, AS IF FROM A GRAVE, and pushed aside the grate. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
escaped spy, counterfeiting case
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Christopher Boyce, Marshals Service, Los Angeles, South Africa, Costa Rica, United States, Tysons Corner, Larry Homenick, San José, San Francisco, Christopher John Boyce, San Diego, Duke Smith, Tom Hill, Bob Dighera, Bonners Ferry, Howard Safir, New Jersey, Tony Perez, Frank Riley, Port Angeles, Soviet Union, Chuck Kupferer, Mexico City, Brian Hill
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