American Sons: The Untold Story of the Falcon and the Snowman

by Christopher Boyce

A gritty, heart-breaking true story of three people who overcame insurmountable odds.

This is the untold story of the Falcon and the Snowman that chronicles the subsequent events in the lives of convicted American spies Christopher Boyce and Andrew Daulton Lee.

In 1977, Christopher Boyce and Andrew Daulton Lee were convicted of selling U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union.

Boyce was sentenced to 40 years’ imprisonment.

Lee received a life sentence.

The story of their crime, as told in the book and movie The Falcon and the Snowman , starring Sean Penn, was only the beginning of their ordeal.

This book picks up where The Falcon and the Snowman left off, chronicling Boyce's daring 1980 prison escape and recapture.

An epic crime memoir, American Sons recounts how two of America's youngest convicted spies survived numerous murder attempts and spent decades of their lives in solitary confinement.

That was until a young, idealistic and brilliant para-legal named Cait Mills put them on the path to freedom.

Diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer, Mills’ stoic determination to conquer her illness and continue her work was the catalyst that would ultimately transform all three of their lives.

Written by Christopher Boyce, Cait Boyce and Vince Font, American The Untold Story of the Falcon and the Snowman takes readers on a twenty-five-year odyssey through the trials and tribulations of three individuals whose refusal to give up helped them survive the impossible.

Above all, it is an inspiring story of survival and redemption, in which courage, humanity and love triumph when all hope was lost.

American Untold Story of the Falcon and the Snowman beautifully captures both Chris and Cait’s voices and is crafted in a cinematic style which adds to the drama of this unbelievable tale.

Chris and Cait Boyce both live in Oregon. Cait is a practising legal professional with over 35 years' experience. She specializes in prisoner rights, is an advocate for LGBQT rights and is still fighting for the parole of non-violent criminal offenders. Chris remains an avid falconer and splits his time between flying his falcons, enjoying his freedom, and his house flipping business.

Vince Font recently founded his own editing and publishing service located in Ogden, Utah called Get My Story Published . He has also published several short stories and one novella, and is working on his second novel.

Chris, Cait and Vince remain close friends and have an official website for the book, which includes blogs and many articles about their story.

Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime, Biography, History, Espionage, Ebooks

355 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 19, 2013

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This new title is a worthy successor to the original "The Falcon and the Snowman" and sequel "Flight of the Falcon," two true-crime classics by the journalist Robert Lindsey about the case of Soviet spy Christopher Boyce. In 1977 Boyce and childhood friend Andrew Daulton Lee were convicted of selling top-secret documents about the American spy satellite program to the Soviet Union; Boyce subsequently escaped from prison and, while hiding out in 1980-81 in the Northwest, turned to robbing banks before his recapture and a second conviction in 1982.

That was as far as Lindsey's second book carried the story. This new book, "American Sons," is written by Christopher Boyce himself with co-authors Cait Boyce and Vince Font, to answer, as they say, the question of "What happened next?" What happened next, after Boyce re-entered prison with sentences totalling 68 years, was a descent into an American penal system in which Boyce was beaten by gang members, survived attempts on his life, saw fellow inmates murdered and was held in solitary confinement for years on end. Boyce's salvation came when a paralegal named Cait Mills, working to obtain parole for Lee, took up Boyce's case as well. Mills obtained parole for Lee in 1998 and finally Boyce in 2002 -- and after a romance kindled during the long fight for his freedom, married Boyce.

Anyone who read "Falcon and the Snowman" or saw the 1985 movie will want to read this book. But even if you haven't read those earlier books, this one is an engrossing, true account that challenges the reader to reflect on multiple themes: from the questions, echoing in current events with the Edward Snowden and Bradley Manning cases, about what is patriotism in a time when the government and our institutions threaten our civil liberties; to what constitutes justice within our badly flawed penal system; to the personal and civic values such as loyalty and perseverance that are revealed in this tale of long struggle. It's a good read with a multi-threaded story that both answers the "what happened next?" question and provides food for thought and discussion.

[Stephanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a bunch of lame excuses for a bunch of unbelievably stupid decisions made by a couple of guys (and written by at least one of the guys), about how, when faced with the consequences of their said unbelievably dumb decisions (and even dumber actions), they figured that they'd suffered a grave miscarriage of justice and it needed to be fixed.
OK, so that means it's basically like a whole lot of true crime writing. And haven't plenty of writers successfully managed to write about / tell the stories of people far worse, or even dumber, than these two guys?
Yes, and maybe this could have been good too, except for the sheer awfulness of the writing. It's impossible to get any feel for any of the characters and painful to plow through the clumsy pacing and wooden dialog. Boring, incomprehensible and whiny, this reads and looks like it was churned out by a couple of jr. high school dropouts in their basement (and printed on their mom's old printer, too - it's in a weirdly large font, like a term paper trying to make the minimum number of pages). Only plus to that is that at least there were fewer words of this sad drivel to slog through on each page.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book that I have been waiting decades for without realizing it. I have always wondered about Christopher John Boyce and to read about his life post 1977 in his and his wife's viewpoints has been a highlight in my reading life. He has once again touched my soul but this goes way beyond the impact he made on my life while in junior high school, on the ideals I formed. The imagery used and the emotions displayed drew me further into his story. To read about his experiences and what it took to get him free was amazing, but to also witness the love and trust that has allowed him to find peace has been phenomenal and just beyond words for me to express. I thank him, his wife, and his co-author for sharing this spectacular book.

[Ronnie Cramer · Rating 1 out of 5]

The protagonist and co-author (Christopher Boyce) is a man who, in a fit of pique, "decided to do as much damage to the American intelligence community as I could possibly do," which meant giving national security codes to the Soviets. Boyce and his co-conspirator Andrew Daulton Lee were caught and imprisoned; their story appeared in the 1979 book THE FALCON AND THE SNOWMAN. Co-author Cait Boyce (the former Kathleen Mills) was a lawyer for Lee who developed a schoolgirl crush on Boyce after seeing him on TV; they were married upon Boyce's release from prison. The story is sometimes interesting (and by extension, so are parts of this book), but it was an unpleasant chore to read 300 self-centered, self-serving, self-pitying pages by people so immature and utterly lacking in character.

[Scott Duffin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great book. I was growing up in Palos Verdes when all of this was going on. I believe what Chris is trying to tell is he regrets doing this not only to himself but really feels bad and responsible for involving Daulton Lee. In his own way he's asking for forgiveness.

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was interesting, but I found it hard to feel as sorry for these guys as they seemed to feel for themselves.

[Tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Complete

There should be a movie based on this book. A part 2 to falcon and the snowman. It would be awesome if snowman wrote a book.

[Richard Croner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a sad but very good true story. The thing I kept thinking about was how these two people did not understand the consequences of their actions. Stupidity, I don't think so. Young and very immature, yeah. The book is well written and very, very good.

[Patrick Gaebelein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now, I am biased. I detest traitors, and this is what Boyce and Lee were, they committed espionage and treason against their country. Boyce later escaped from Federal custody, and went on a 18 month bank robbery spree, after being recaptured, he was sentenced to an additional 28 years (add the to the original 40 he was sentenced to (Lee was sentenced to life).

So what do you get when you have two young men sentenced to long prison terms for selling secrets to the Soviet Union? Liberal activists trying to get them paroled. It is a compelling story, but no amount of words can detract from what they did, Lee was a notorious drug dealer in addition to a spying malcontent.

The two were eventually paroled, Sean Penn even hiring Lee (whom he portrayed in the movie) as his personal assistant. But the book paints them as these poor souls locked up by the mean government...screw em. It is quite possible the the information sold by these two cost lives, and it certainly endangered lives. I am a for second chances, but not for life without living up to consequence. These two were lucky to ever see the light of day, and should have been given death.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

A followup about what happened to the "Falcon and the Snowman", two Californians engaged in espionage in the 1970s with Russia. Convicted to long sentences for their treason, this book traces what happens, especially to Christopher Boyce (one of the convicted men), who breaks out of prison and remains at large for over a year. Boyce and his lawyer (now wife) are two of the three authors of this book.

There's a lot of posturing here, and eventually I found it dull. One chapter consisted exclusively of reprints of op-ed pieces that he wrote while in prison. Boyce is one of those people who things he's superior to everyone in the room, and that wears thin after a while.

[Michelle Schoenhofen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't sure what to expect with this book. I had seen the movie in the 80's & watched it again several months ago. It got me wondering about Chris & Daulton & wanting to know more about their story. I found this book on Amazon. I liked how the book would alternate chapters from Chris' perspective & then chapters of Cait's leading up to (& beyond) their meeting. Cait is really one tough lady to accomplish what would seem impossible (to get 2 high profile inmates paroled) while battling an aggressive cancer. I did enjoy the book. I hope everything works out for Cait, Chris & also Daulton.

[Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a constant reminder of the thrill of reading non fiction, you never know where it will take you. I had seen the movie and may have read the older book decades ago, this takes up where the others end with the convictions. A real page turner!

[Brook Bailey-armey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Open, honest and sincere, I'd recommend this enthralling true story for any non-fiction fan!

[rocky suppa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great

Great story of there two. This book goes into great detail of the prison lives of Andrew and Chris. Loved it

[A Cesspool · Rating 2 out of 5]

Christopher Boyce is a goddam liar; Because there’s absolutely

NO 
FCKING 
WAY

This Guy srsly ever contemplated jail breaking – via helicopter – his co-defendant/former buddy/partner-in-crime: Andrew Daulton Lee. It never happened, Nope Fcking Way; Not even accidentally – And yet the extent the authors go to somehow legitimize this romanticized nonsense is fantastically offensive.
Kinda surprised more reviews haven’t taken issue with this fictitious ruse (albeit, maybe publishers necessitated it, or some supplemental-variant, to qualify an advance?): Because They needed to humanize the story’s Aggravating Bank Robber protagonist-hero. Obviously it wasn’t enough for authors to entirely redact Boyce’s Bank Robbing spree, so they conjured this altruistic quest to redeem his goodwill, sacrificing his freedom, in hopes of restoring Daulton jumpstarting our empathy.
Nevermind Nobody in the universe could have convinced Andrew Daulton a jail break-out by helicopter was doable, bc the absolute reality is it would have been 💯 uncharacteristic of Daulton to NOT snitch out Boyce’s jail break fiction (and turn him in for the reward).

And You Know This

- - - - -
There’s actually a good reason why all of the lesser, co-stars in The Shawshank Redemption (1994) (all Red and Andy’s inner-circle inmates) are convicts of nameless crimes. Because nobody wants to empathize with statutory rapists or arsonists or vehicular manslaughters …and the like. Whether or not Boyce’s publishers likewise demanded they obfuscate his villainous background, audiences’ expectations were supplanted [of reading about Boyce’s robbery spree], with another narrative-device: with an impossible air-assault jailbreak.

Fcking bananas

Only equally ridiculous as this hogwash sub-genre-swap, is the superfluous sub-plot introducing the nameless reporter supposedly attempting to relay Chris’ breakout hoax to Daulton (through Cait); An embarrassingly, unimaginative attempt at a meet-cute, whose only purpose is to qualify their bullshit prisoner-heist fantasy.
- - - -

A little goes a long way

Christopher Boyce could author two extraordinary, best-selling-worthy, life events; Unfortunately both were already licensed to another, yielding:

The Falcon and the Snowman: A True Story of Friendship & Espionage (chronicling Boyce & Daulton failed espionage), and

The Flight of the Falcon: The True Story of the Escape & Manhunt for America’s Most Wanted Spy (Boyce’s post-conviction timeline aka prison break).

Whether American Sons is Boyce’s attempt at reclaiming his narrative(s) or just a stab at another screen-adaptation deal [for himself], the end product is pretty lean. The most engaging bits of American Sons is Boyce’s [for real] breakout and solitary confinement – constituting a little over half of the book’s 360 pages. If you’ve already read aforementioned Flight of the Falcon (only aftermarket availability, rather, still unavailable for digital/ebook audiences), there’s little new material here.

Skip this Lifetime Channel version and seek out Flight of the Falcon if you're really interested in reading...

The literary sequel to The Falcon and the Snowman that answers the What happened to Christopher Boyce and Andrew Daulton Lee after they were sent to prison?

[Melski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Saw the Hollywood motion picture movie, "The Falcon & The Snowman" (released 1985)

I knew the story script from the movie, drug smuggling, Russian spies, a twisted plot and the two men were imprisoned for a long time from judicial setting. Young men turned to old men when they were released, which Lee were sentenced to life. And Boyce had a hefty sentence of decades in prison. It was a miracle that (1) timing was right at the time for Cait Mills (who was the paralegal assistant, worked on the cases, got involved and through the many years, with her and the parole board's assistance, freed Boyce. Followed by, 2 years later, Lee was released from prison.

Sometimes, miracles do happen in the most unexpected ways. You don't see it coming, your life in prison was a dim light and you feel like you are in the blackhole that you feel you will never get out of there.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book written Boyce, sidekick Cait (Mills) Boyce, and with the help of another author, and the editing team who pull it through for this book to be published to shed light of some areas and real lights in real life; that was not included in the movie.

Boyce is not a bad man, but he did get caught in fast times being young-unwise didn't made good choices/decisions to make fast bucks. The saddest moment was he got his dad involved, in which his loving dad helped him get a job when he was 22, worked for the FBI agency. Through training, Boyce gained some work skills, he was later transferred to another dept (this dept was where he got himself into trouble, he had security to access Russian files, confidentiality data) his twisted mind took him to another level (Boyce coaxed his friend, Dalton Lee into a crime that will forever be unforgotten and turned into history).

And only until Boyce became an old man, he reflected his stupidity and youthfulness what he had done, that he wished he didn't take those steps and actions; sometimes regrets awakens a man's mind that he could have, would have, and why didn't he stayed on the right path and took a wrong turn (this book American Sons) is all that and more.

When Lee got out of prison, he wanted nothing more to do with Boyce, his Catholic church boyhood best friend; it could be that because Lee seems or might be in love with Cait Mills, and Mills fell for Boyce instead, and in between crime commitments and in between two lovers, it became a Bermuda triangle the threesome.

Lee might hold hate or anger and/or both resentments toward Boyce when he was released from jail. A young guy turned into an old man. Boyce and Lee's youthful times can never return, no one can turn back time or clock.

Both men moved on (on their own) although reading the book towards the ending; it sounded like Boyce would very much like to repatch friendship with Lee. By the same token, Lee also accepted that if Lee wants nothing to do with him. It is what it is.

I would highly recommend this book. At times, some chapters are dark, but that's life when in prison. It also shed some light what it is like, when your freedom is taken from you, your life is hung on a thread. You see life very differently from your once upon a time (normal life) v. (prison life) and the ugliness in prison and behind prison walls and cells. It gives a different perspective.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars, but rounding up because it was fairly well written. As far as how interesting or compelling it was, I'd rate it in the 3 to 3.5 star range because there was no big surprising revelations in the book, but 4 stars because it's well written.

I've both read the book and watched the excellent movie adaptation of The Falcon and the Snowman, and you could say this is the sequel to that book in a sense. A lot of the book is about Boyce's time in prison and how brutal it was, you definitely don't come out of it having a good feeling about how archaic and inhumane our prison system is. There's also a fair amount on the lawyer Cait who basically comes to the rescue of both Daulton and Boyce, and how she worked hard on getting them finally paroled. All of that detail and backstory was at least mildly interesting for the most part.

Overall there's nothing super surprising in the book, but if you liked Falcon and the Snowman then this book is worth a read. One thing I wish the book had gone into - more of his "life on the run" and that bank robbing spree. He covers the first part of that section of his life including the escape, and then how get got caught 18 months later, but the middle part is missing. I guess because another book - The Flight Of The Falcon - an early follow-up to Falcon and the Snowman covered all that in great detail so maybe he didn't feel the need for a total re-hash.

PS: One thing I thought of reading this book - Seeing that my politics are at least nominally on the Left (for the most part), I was semi-sympathetic to Boyce's view on our intelligence community and how creepy and Orwellian it is while he worked at TRW. He discovered that we may have been backstabbing our Australian allies by interfering in their politics down there via CIA "dirty tricks", Australia being one of our staunchest allies in the world. But then why respond to this by handing over secrets to the Russians? Why not hand it over to Australia, make a trip to the Australian embassy (they have a consulate office in L.A., not far from where he worked), and spoon-feed them some of this info? This is why my sympathy only goes so far with Boyce and Daulton, their motives are a muddled mess - part noble and part greedy. Their answer to my point here was that they were young and naive and just were so pissed off that going to the Russians they figured would screw over the U.S. the most. I don't know, not really buying it. It's true if they'd have taken my advice then yes they still would have been convicted of espionage, but they would've gotten much lighter sentences versus handing over secrets to our arch-enemy (at the time, and to a lesser extent still) the Russkies.

And yes, the other option was going to the press, maybe on some "deep background" kind of deal, but Boyce chalked this up to being ineffective. I get it, but still... why then go to the Russians?

[Michael Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

About 40 years ago, inspired by having seen the movie (with its glorious soundtrack by Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays), I read the original account by Robert Lindsey: The Falcon and the Snowman: A True Story of Friendship & Espionage. It was an engaging tale, and the follow-up, The Flight of the Falcon, was also good. For some reason, I happened to think of these today and soon discovered the existence of this third book, written not by Lindsey but by Chris Boyce himself (and the woman who is now his wife, who was integral in his and Daulton Lee's parole petitions).

So I read it. It's quick and informative, answering the question "whatever happened to..." quite satisfactorily. It is presented in a kind of piecemeal fashion, jumping back and forth in time and switching authors (neither Chris nor Cait are experienced authors), so I didn't find it up to the literary standard of the first two books. Nevertheless, Boyce's life has certainly been eventful enough to fill these three books. This didn't feel superfluous at all. Doubtful it would ever happen, but a movie sequel wouldn't be the worst thing.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you were intrigued by The Falcon and The Snowman (Novel and/or Film) back in the 1980s, then you've probably always wondered what happened to Christopher Boyce and Daulton Lee. American Sons has all the answers. It basically picks up where that original and mostly true story of F&S left off: Everything that happens to these two young men AFTER they were arrested for Espionage in 1977.

While expectations would naturally be that the crimes committed are the most interesting story to tell and this is just a prison story, you'd be wrong. I know I was. So very much happens after they are convicted and most of it is very surprising. This autobiography has it all -- from espionage, drug deals, the KGB, The CIA, the demise of a friendship, a prison break, an international manhunt, survival in the wilderness, a string of bank robberies, the recapture and excessive punishment to follow, and a love that blooms between on of these men with a beautiful and feisty paralegal who succeeds in getting both paroled and a second chance to get freedom right.

[Bridget · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the early 80’s all of our family and friends were called to verify that my brother is trustworthy enough to have high clearance in the AF. We didn’t hear much from him for a while after that.
When we did, he said he couldn’t talk about his job out at Lockheed. Only told us to read Falcon and the Snowman.
I was little so I never did but I think remember a few months later him landing in prison in Fl. There were calls back and forth and to this day I cannot get a record of his service in the Airforce. It’s like he went *poof*. He has since passed. Those were the worst years of his life. He trained his German shepherd to sniff out and remove the bugs planted in his house everyday. He was never the same after that period.
I hoped this book would shed more light on his work and it didn’t (Falcon and the snowman did), but it did shed light on why he was picked. They obviously didn’t look into his lifestyle.
Thank you for writing this book. I will read it whenever I want to feel close to him.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible

I had read the other 2 books back in the 1990s, so I wasn't really sure how much new information I would get out of this book. What makes this book special is that the reader is given a more complete look into the mind of Boyce. I really feel almost like I got to know Boyce very well just from his description of the prison system. The fact that he managed to spend the amount of time that he did in prison and 1) came out alive and 2) adjusted well to the outside world really says something about his character. Kudos to him and to his lawyer for him in her continued advocacy for him. Clearly she met her obligations as a lawyer to zealously advocate for her client

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this audible book up based on a conversation with college students pursuing aerospace engineering degrees and a friend here in Southern California just quickly referencing the "Falcon and the Snowman" story - I felt compelled to not be in the dark about this Southern California-based history. This book is NOT what was the movie, but written later so with some perspective (I'm sure some would assume revisionist history) and I was glad for that perspective because there was room for some additional insight with the lens of time. Very well told.

[Patricia Carolan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unputdownable

This book kept me up several nights and not just because of some of the nightmare scenarios. The effortless flow of writing from various points of view and the downright poetry especially about the falconry kept me enthralled to the very end. Suspenseful writing too considering we already know the outcome.

[carl d ballinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Books are better than movies

I saw the movie, that Chris look like hero while daulton looked like a idiot. After reading the book I have come to realize, while both were guilty. They showed what is wrong with a country that uses this complexi to suit them and not to help America or any country!

[kim zamora · Rating 4 out of 5]

The turmoil of regret and youth

I believe this is a great book for this year of 2024. It exposes how ignorance can take you down a path the consequences is not worthy to avenge. Ones Ideals can be exactly that Ideals that at our youth we may be willing to take a chance to proof then only to reap years of sorrow.

[Jane Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

True Crime

Interesting book about the years after The Falcon and the Snowman for Lee and Boyce. It tells of Boyce's escape, their paroles, and Boyce's marriage. Good follow-up for those who enjoyed the original book.

[Adam Mahler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Riveting story

I had never heard of this story before reading this book. I now want to learn even more about the people in the book and the stories i read. Was an excellent read.

[Jim Mcmanus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good although it does skim over the bank robberies and Boyce's time on the run.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually rather interesting

[Gregg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written but it is really just a tale of unrealized potential and human psychology.