A compelling, immersive memoir of crime, punishment, and the redemptive qualities of love and atonement.
A cathartic memoir retracing the lives of the real men behind The Falcon and the Snowman espionage chronicle and the 1985 movie it inspired.
A trio of authors contributes to this historical narrative, which charts the later lives of falconer Christopher Boyce and his boyhood friend Andrew Daulton Lee, both of whom were convicted of delivering classified government documents to the Soviet Union in the mid-1970s. In the introduction, co-author Boyce, “far older than my sixty years,” offers his own first-person version of the events, including his treachery and “self-destructive descent into hell” after working at the National Security Agency and learning of duplicitous governmental actions against an international ally. He then explains how he was caught and sentenced to 40 years in prison (Lee received a life sentence). As compelling as this intimate opening treatment is, the remainder of the book is curiously dictated from the alternating perspectives of both Christopher and Cait Boyce beginning in 2005 and, via a meandering timeline, culminates with a where-are-they-now epilogue and a generous photo gallery. In vivid chapters brimming with immediate, unfettered narration, Boyce and wife Cait share the stories of their lives pre- and post-conviction. Readers learn the fascinating, intricately plotted details of Boyce’s daring escape from Lompoc Federal Penitentiary in 1980, his intention to fly in and break Lee out by helicopter, his recapture, and the horrifically violent and dehumanizing prison conditions he endured while locked away in a “concrete womb.” Boyce also interjects passionate testimony from his days as a security communications engineer as well as the reasons he betrayed the nation. His prison release in 2002 was orchestrated with Cait’s determined efforts, even though she initially only set out to achieve parole for Lee. Cait ended up triumphantly freeing both men and falling in love with Boyce as well, despite her devastating cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment. Fans of true crime will be riveted by the ultimate destinies of both men, though Lee’s journey isn’t afforded the same scrutiny as Boyce’s.
A compelling, immersive memoir of crime, punishment, and the redemptive qualities of love and atonement.Pub Date: Feb. 13, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-9915342-1-0
Page Count: 354
Publisher: Vince Font, LLC
Review Posted Online: Aug. 24, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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