Special Agent: My Life on the Front Lines as a Woman in the FBI

by Candice Delong

Book Overview

For 20 years, Candice DeLong was on the front lines of some of the FBI's most memorable and gripping cases. This remarkable account of courage and grace under pressure offers the dramatic and often... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786867078
• ISBN13: 9780786867073
• Release Date: April 2001
• Publisher: Hyperion Books
• Length: 303 Pages
• Weight: 1.28 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.3" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Solid story-telling with humor

This isn't the best book I've ever read but it's a fun and interesting read about her career in the FBI. She wisely chose stories from her career (which must have been difficult with so many years of experience) and always included down-to-earth humor and humility when appropriate. When she entered, the FBI was still adjusting to having women agents but she remained strong, taking the high road on many occasions when she was not treated fairly. As a result, her career flourished and her life is a story worth hearing. She is truly a trailblazer. Just nobody call her Candy.

A both stunning and candid look into the life of a woman in the FBI

Candice DeLong's father wanted her to do something besides going into the FBI. He didn't view it as a femine thing to do. However, she went for it, passed the FBI Academy at Quantico's high standards with flying colors, and proceeded to embark on a rewarding career as a woman in a field dominated by men. She candidly discusses her work on cases and her personal life during those 20 years. She is able to address the sometimes sexist views held by her male peers without causing tension. I highly recommend this book. It provides both a good look into the FBI, and good information that every person should know.

Enlightening plus....

Read this along with the memoir, Seductive Poison and found both quite eye opening. Although the two women authors, DeLong and Layton of Seducitve Poison were on opposite sides of the barrel, so to speak, both tell a riveting story of life on the inside of an all-consuming organization. DeLong on the side of the law and Layton running from it, then back into its cradle.

A great read on an interesting subject

This book was simply captivating, plus it reminded me how hard it was to be treated with respect in the early 80's as a working woman. Not that Special Agent DeLong whines about it at all - she merely states it like it was, and sometimes still is. The cases on which she worked were of such interest and variety that I couldn't put this book down. Even those with a passing interest in law enforcement would do well to read this book. Ms. DeLong is the kind of lady you'd like to have as a friend and a neighbor. She is a great example of a courageous single mom and working woman. This would be a great book for young women, late high school to college age, who are trying to figure out what they want to do professionally.

I Led Three Lives

This is the most inspiring book I have read about a woman's career since I became familiar with Ms. Jane Goodall's books about her pioneering work in Africa with chimpanzees. Many people will see Ms. Candice ("don't call me Candy") De Long as a real-life Clarice Starling (the FBI agent in Hannibal). I think she is more impressive than that. This fascinating book recounts her three lives as a psychiatric nurse who worked with violent patients and did home health care for poor people, an FBI special agent (specializing in profiling of repeated, sexually violent offenders) from 1980 through 2000, and as a divorced mother raising a son alone. Each side of her life is equally impressive, and she is the kind of person we all should admire. She has always done her duty, and we are all the better for that. While many pioneering women in "men's" professions often were given "token" roles, Ms. De Long wanted and went to where the action was. During her career, she rescued a child from a pedophile abductor, captured a terrorist who had murdered three men, and caught a Class A fugitive. She was also present and part of many famous investigations. Her memoir will give you a much better idea about crime and how the FBI and DEA combat it. The book also contains many lessons for how women and children can avoid becoming crime victims.When J. Edgar Hoover died in 1972, there were no women field agents. By 1980, around 4 percent of the agents were women. At her retirement in 2000, this had risen to 15 percent. Ms. De Long sacrificed a lot to become an agent. She had to leave her young son for 16 weeks for the initial training. She missed a lot of evenings and weekends with him to do surveillance. The training included a lot of harrassment (female and general). For example, she was made to fire a shotgun so often in one day that she developed a permanent injury that kept her from being able to use that shoulder for firing a shotgun again. Another time, she had to box a large man who knocked her out cold. Her starting salary was half what she had made as a nurse. She could accept that. "I wanted to lead a heroic life." She certainly did succeed in that objective. She took the men on at their own game, and was proud of being called one of the "b_____s with badges." Her signature was the fedora she always wore at the Bureau.Some of the famous cases she worked on included the Tylenol tampering, being part of the surveillance team on the Unabomber leading up to the arrest of Ted Kaczynski, and the brothel closings in Chicago. She correctly says relatively little about her personal life. But some of the anecdotes will keep you laughing for days. When she was asked to be a hot dog mother in her son's third grade class, the children noticed that she was packing. She got a lot more respect after that, and was invited back to talk about her work. Another time, she accidentally noticed a surveillance suspect while driving around and tailed her. T