DeLong, Candice 1952-

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DeLONG, Candice 1952-

PERSONAL:

Born 1952; divorced; children. Education: B.S. (nursing).

ADDRESSES:

Home—California. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Hyperion, 77 W. 66th St., 11th floor, New York, NY 10023.

CAREER:

Retired FBI agent and former nurse. Northwestern University Hospital, Chicago, IL, maximum-security psychiatric ward, head nurse; Federal Bureau of Investigation, Chicago, IL, special agent and member of Chicago Point Terrorism Task Force, San Francisco, CA, branch, head field profiler, c. 1980-2000. Served as liaison to FBI Behavioral Science Unit, Quantico, VA, and was member of Child Abduction Task Force.

WRITINGS:

Special Agent: My Life on the Front Lines as a Woman in the FBI, Hyperion (New York, NY), 2001.

SIDELIGHTS:

When Candice DeLong retired from the FBI in 2000 and published her memoirs, it was natural that the media would play up comparisons between DeLong and Clarice Starling, the fictional FBI agent in the Hannibal Lecter books and films. After all, in her twenty years with the Bureau, DeLong dealt with rapists, child molesters, serial killers, the Unabomber, and the Tylenol Killer case, and she served as a profiler for the San Francisco branch and acted as a liaison to the famous Behavioral Science Unit at Quantico. But while Special Agent: My Life on the Front Lines as a Woman in the FBI is packed with procedural details about crime-fighting, at its heart is DeLong's personal story. It is the story of a single mother who, in 1980, left her long-time job as a psychiatric nurse to join the male-dominated FBI. She was one of the few women to be admitted to the FBI in the 1980s and, as a result, was subjected to the hostilities of fellow male agents who felt women did not belong in the FBI.

Overall, the critics enjoyed DeLong's memoir. A reviewer for the Concerning Women Web site considered Special Agent, "A remarkable account of courage and grace under fire," and a Publishers Weekly critic agreed that "this is a valuable look at the procedures and rituals of a notoriously cloistered organization," told with "a lightness and humor rarely associated with the 'Feebies.'" A reviewer from Kirkus Reviews said, "DeLong adds a solid entry to the library of real-crime literature," and Mary Carroll of Booklist felt that while Special Agent is "Dry in style… those thinking of an FBI career will like the nitty-gritty detail."