Chasing the Falconers by Gordon Korman

Fugitives run away from justice. The Falconers run toward it. They are a most unusual pair of fugitives. In addition to being only 15 (Aiden) and 11 years old (Meg), they have never been accused of a crime. They are on the run to avoid being stuck back in juvenile prison, a place where they were kept by the government for their own safety. It was the only place the government could think to keep them where they could change their names and be hidden away from the media circus and notoriety that came from being the children of convicted traitors.

A fire at the juvenile detention center allows them an escape, and they decide to take it and no longer be “helped” by the government but to help their parents by staying out of the system and finding evidence to free their mom and dad.

Their parents were sentenced to life in a Federal prison for helping terrorist cells who used the profiling developed by these two college professors to escape justice themselves. The Falconers, though, were actually recruited by the CIA to work on these profiles that subsequently fell into terrorist hands. Their conviction for treason would never have happened if only the CIA agent who recruited them stepped forward. Strangely, he has disappeared.

Aiden remembers a picture that he took as a kid of this CIA agent: known as “Uncle Frank.” He hid it away in an old treasure box, and they head out to find it, avoid the authorities, all the while being chased by an assassin.

In this Book One of a series, it ends with the first clue being found, the assassin temporarily foiled, and the Falconer children still on the run…

A fun summertime read. The mention of the crimes committed by fellow detainees at the juvenile prison, (manslaughter, grand theft, arson), some bullying, and a punch thrown are minor. (The manslaughter charge is even later explained in the book as an act of self-defense.) The Falconers steal in order to survive but not without great compunction; they have no options as fugitives…

If only there were not the 2 casual uses of Go-, I would have given this a 3 Flag rating...

Rating: 2 Vatican Flags