My Amazon Review of David Ignatius' "The Quantum Spy: A Thriller"

Spy vs. Spy

David Ignatius, the Washington Post’s national security columnist, has written quite the spy novel whose backdrop is the ongoing war between the CIA and the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS). In this case MSS develops a mole in the CIA whose work involves funding contractors engaged in the development of quantum computers, a revolutionary computing technology that allows photons (Qubits)to superposition themselves in such a manner as to simultaneously be switched on and off. Instead of the current binary system of 0 and 1, the qubit can be both 0 and 1 at the same time.  There are primitive quantum computers in existence today, but once they are scaled up there is no encryption technology that cannot quickly be broken. Thus the first nation that develops such a technology will truly become the sole global super-power.

Thus the stakes are high. Ignatius’ protagonist is Harris Chang, ex-Army and now a CIA operations officer. He is tasked to find the mole. Along the way he sets up a Chinese scientist in Singapore, visits a lab in Seattle, spends quite a bit of time in CIA black sites in Washington D.C. as well as the Langley headquarters, meets up with an MSS operative in Mexico City and the book ends with a fast paced denouement in Amsterdam.

The book also deals with Chang’s ethnicity and how MSS uses that to put him under suspicion in the CIA. He maybe all-American, but to some in the CIA his loyalty is questioned.

We learn quite a bit about CIA tradecraft along the way. We also learn that the U.S. is likely at a disadvantage relative to China because there are far more Chinese students studying in America than there are American students studying in China. Simply put they know more about us than we know about them and there more than a few Chinese students studying computer science in the U.S. 

Although the book is slow at times, I recommend “The Quantum Spy” for those readers interested in what the post-Cold War spy versus spy is like.

The full Amazon Review appears at: https://www.amazon.com/review/R2KQ0RRVEDR0WY/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

readers interested in what the post-Cold Wa