The Spy Who Couldn't Spell: A Dyslexic Traitor, an Unbreakable Code, and the FBI's Hunt for America's Stolen Secrets

(Hardback)

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Before Edward Snowden's infamous data breach, the largest theft of government secrets was committed by an ingenious traitor whose intricate espionage scheme and complex system of coded messages were made even more baffling by his apparent dyslexia. In this fast-paced, true-life spy thriller, Yudhijit Bhattacharjee reveals how the FBI unravelled Brian Regan's strange web of codes to build a case against a man who nearly collapsed America's military security.

Reviews

Praise for The Spy Who Couldnt Spell

An excellent, highly engrossing account of the search for a man who was cunning, avariciousand a dreadful speller....It is a pleasure to be in the hands of a writer who so skillfully weaves his assiduous research into polished prose....The Spy Who Couldnt Spell presents an estimable, thoroughly enjoyable overview of espionage in the digital age.The Wall Street Journal

Yudhijit Bhattacharjee has brought to light an intriguing tale of espionage and betrayala tale filled with twists and turns and powerful revelations.David Grann,New York TimesBestselling Author ofThe Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon

Brian Regan was an all too human spy, a trailblazer in the digital agea mole who managed to squirrel away thousands of classified documentsand a brilliant, dyslexic cryptologist who was caught in part because he couldnt spell. Yudhijit Bhattacharjee has penetrated the FBI and other parts of the intelligence community to write this fantastic true storya captivating, gracefully-written narrative that is destined to become a classic in the history of code-breaking.Kai Bird, Pulitzer Prize-winning Author of The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames

The cat-and-mouse espionage tale at the heart of The Spy Who Couldnt Spell is so strange and so riveting that you cant help but marvel at every turn. Enriched by years of painstaking reporting and a keen eye for detail, Yudhijit Bhattacharjee's true-life page turner explores not only the complexities of modern spycraft, but also the ways in which humans can lose their moral bearings. This is a book to be savored as an expertly crafted thriller, and pondered as a nuanced meditation on the banality of evil.Brendan I. Koerner, Author of The Skies Belong to Us and Now the Hell Will Start

A riveting, fast-paced account of how modern computer forensics and cryptography, combined with old-fashioned detective work, caught a most unusual spy. The Spy Who Couldnt Spell is a real page-turner.David Wise, Author of Tiger Trap: America's Secret Spy War with China

The Spy Who Couldnt Spell is a propulsive read about an insider whose betrayals wed do well to remember. Yudhijit Bhattacharjee combines his talent as a top science writer with a gimlet eye for intrigue to sculpt a rich, suspenseful narrative.David Willman, Pulitzer Prize-winning Investigative Reporter for the Los Angeles Times and Author of The Mirage Man: Bruce Ivins, the Anthrax Attacks, and Americas Rush to War

Like the FX showThe Americansin a contemporary setting, or a John le Carr novel,The Spy Who Couldn't Spellis the dramatic nonfiction story of the pursuit, capture and conviction of United States spy Brian Patrick Regan....Alongside news of WikiLeaks, Snowden disclosures, the Panama Papers,The Spy Who Couldn't Spellis as real as it gets. Cryptography, hard drive scrubbing, server spoor tracking, old-school surveillance tails and wiretaps, psychological profiling and high-definition courtroom drama: Bhattacharjee tells a story that would make a kickass movie. ShelfAwareness

Readers...will thoroughly enjoy this fast-moving account of a failed spy who, despite his incompetence, easily filched thousands of secrets.Publishers Weekly

The author offers a compellingly seedy portrait of Regan, motivated to contemplate treason due to debt, career stagnation, and marital malaise....A well-written...tale of thwarted amateur treason underscoring the disturbing vulnerability of today's intelligence systems.Kirkus Reviews

In his first book, Bhattacharjee...will leave readers wondering whether classified information from the U.S. government is always vulnerable to being sold, for the right price....Readers interested in spy thrillers, cybercryptology, and the history of U.S. espionage will find this book to be both entertaining and helpful in understanding todays complex landscape of leaked classified information.Booklist

What distinguishes this real-world chronicle from similar others...is the authors humane perspective...Recommended for spycraft buffs and general enthusiasts of U.S. intelligence operations and psychosocial factors behind espionage.Library Journal (starred review)

A gripping tale and a powerful case for spell check.Esquire

Author Bio

Yudhijit Bhattacharjee is an award-winning writer whose features and essays on espionage, cybercrime, science and medicine have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, Wired and other U.S. magazines. Yudhijit spent 11 years as a staff writer at the weekly journal Science, writing about neuroscience, astronomy and a variety of other topics in research and science policy. His work has been anthologized in the Best American Science and Nature Writing series. Yudhijit has an undergraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, and a master's in journalism from The Ohio State University. He lives in a suburb of Washington, D.C., with his wife, his two children and a big red dog.