Cover image of "The Quantum Spy," a novel about high tech in intelligence

David Ignatius writes a column twice a week on foreign affairs for the Washington Post. That’s his day job. But he moonlights as a spy novelist. In eight conventional spy thrillers published from 1987 to 2011, he detailed the give-and-take in the intelligence game between the United States and its adversaries. Then, beginning in 2014 with The Director, Ignatius shifted focus from spycraft and political intrigue to the role of high tech in intelligence. The Quantum Spy (2017) was the second of his four novels to date that explore the impact of developments at the frontiers of science and technology on the work of the US intelligence community. In The Quantum Spy, Ignatius ably converts the mysteries of quantum mechanics into hard-hitting facts with real-world implications. He writes like a science journalist working at the top of his game.

The highest-stakes arms race of all

Building a functioning quantum computer represents one of the most elusive goals for technologists today. It’s the equivalent of achieving Artificial General Intelligence. Which is why China and the United States are investing vast sums and engaging armies of scientists in the quest. Attaining a breakthrough in quantum computing could make it impossible for the other nation to keep any secrets. Because a quantum computer could break any conceivable encryption almost simultaneously—even any that might take a conventional computer millions of years to crack. There is no arms race between the two superpowers with higher stakes. And that race is the subject of Ignatius’s nail-biting thriller.

The Quantum Spy by David Ignatius (2017) 329 pages ★★★★★

Photo of an experimental IBM quantum computer, one of the highest-profile targets of high tech in intelligence
An experimental IBM quantum computer. Image: IBM – ZDNet

A long, twisty tale full of surprises

The two senior intelligence officials at the heart of Ignatius’s story are John Vandel, the CIA’s Deputy Director of Operations (the Clandestine Service), and General Wu Huning of the Chinese Ministry of State Security. Two other individuals play instrumental roles as well. Dr. Ma Yubo, one of China’s leading computer scientists and an authority on quantum computing. And Lieutenant Harris Chang, a Chinese American former Army Ranger now working for the CIA. Tension builds steadily as these four men interact. One will die. A second will watch with disbelief and shock as his role in the conflict between the two nations destroys his reputation. And one of the others will emerge triumphant. But the reader will learn which of them will win only after a long, twisty, up-and-down tale full of surprises.

About the author

Photo of David Ignatius, author of this novel about high tech in intelligence
David Ignatius. Image: author’s website

David Ignatius has won awards for his twice-weekly column for the Washington Post, for which he is also an associate editor. He’s been covering the Middle East and the CIA for nearly forty years. Ignatius has written twelve widely read novels, all but one of which are spy stories.

Ignatius was born in 1950 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the son of a former Secretary of the Navy and President of the Washington Post. He is of Armenian descent on his father’s side, while his mother is a descendant of the early colonial preacher Cotton Mather. He studied political theory at Harvard College, graduating magna cum laude. Later he earned a diploma in economics from King’s College, Cambridge. Since 1986 he has been at the Washington Post, having worked as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal and as an editor at other national publications.

For an informative story about how Ignatius became a novelist, see the bio on his author website.

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