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stevenyenzer's review
3.0
I think I've been on a spy kick lately because espionage seems to indicate a certain amount of normality. Anyway, The Spy Who Couldn't Spell is never quite as thrilling as it seems to want to be, but I did find it to be a fascinating account of a would-be spy and his failed attempts at selling secrets. Brian Regan tried very hard and did a lot of things "right," but also made a lot of seemingly silly mistakes. It was also interesting to read about how the FBI investigated him, especially since I had just read Gray Day, a (much worse) account of the Robert Hanssen investigation.
literarylover37's review
3.0
I received this book from Goodreads Giveaways.
I enjoyed this story. I thought it was interesting how much could be accomplished by someone who was an inept as Regan was. The book was well written and it was a fascinating piece of modern history.
I enjoyed this story. I thought it was interesting how much could be accomplished by someone who was an inept as Regan was. The book was well written and it was a fascinating piece of modern history.
dumisa's review
3.0
More cryptology than I needed to understand the circumstances but still a thrill.
momreaderh's review
4.0
Interesting, easy, fairly quick read. Made me pretty angry though that the spy in here got life (which he should have), but Chelsea Manning, who stole (per the book) 700,000 pages only served a couple of years.
deltajuliet83's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting story and I really liked some of the background info on code breaking, the NRO, and catching spies.
apatrick's review
5.0
A real-life spy story! Very cool! I had never heard of the events in the book, which happened around 1999 to 2001 or so. It made me want to read more of the same. I gotta figure out which is the best book on Robert Hanssen.
Anyway, this is just jaw-dropping. Bhattacharjee does an excellent job of describing enough of the cryptography without getting bogged down. The guy's story is pretty fascinating. He's humanized, but not coddled. He was bullied as a kid, but that's not presented as an excuse for his actions. Nobody is that simple. People are complex and have complex motives. This is also a good 360-degree portrait of events. In addition to exploring the biography of the spy himself, Bhattacharjee tells the story from the point of view of the people trying to solve the case and find out the who and what.
Anyway, this is just jaw-dropping. Bhattacharjee does an excellent job of describing enough of the cryptography without getting bogged down. The guy's story is pretty fascinating. He's humanized, but not coddled. He was bullied as a kid, but that's not presented as an excuse for his actions. Nobody is that simple. People are complex and have complex motives. This is also a good 360-degree portrait of events. In addition to exploring the biography of the spy himself, Bhattacharjee tells the story from the point of view of the people trying to solve the case and find out the who and what.
fuguballoon's review
adventurous
informative
mysterious
fast-paced
5.0
I'm surprised how many people struggled with this book. For me, it had a very fast pace, the writing was tight (except for one chapter about cryptography that dragged a bit), the topic was super interesting, and I found all of the subjects engaging.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism
jodyladuemcgrath's review
5.0
This is the story of Brian Regan, an ex-military man working for the NRO, who decided to sell classified information to Libya, Iraq, Iran, and China. It is also the story of the joint effort of the FBI, CIA, NRO, NSA, and various other agencies who assisted in the capture and conviction of Regan, as well as the retrieval of all of the classified information which had been taken.
This is a non-fiction story, but don't let that fool you into thinking it is going to be a dry telling of facts. This book read like a spy novel. It also reminded me of "Catch Me if You Can." It is riveting. It changes throughout the story to tell the story of Regan, and the story of the men and women tasked with catching him. It was riveting!
There is a lot of information given in this book that could be difficult to understand, but Mr. Bhattacharjee gave the hard stuff to the reader in small easy to understand sections. He didn't attempt to dump it all on the reader at once, which made it much easier to follow.
I highly recommend this book to fiction and nonfiction fans alike. Don't forget to read the acknowledgement at the end of the book. It is heartwarming and heartbreaking.
* I voluntarily read an Advance Reader Copy of this book and have given an honest review *
This is a non-fiction story, but don't let that fool you into thinking it is going to be a dry telling of facts. This book read like a spy novel. It also reminded me of "Catch Me if You Can." It is riveting. It changes throughout the story to tell the story of Regan, and the story of the men and women tasked with catching him. It was riveting!
There is a lot of information given in this book that could be difficult to understand, but Mr. Bhattacharjee gave the hard stuff to the reader in small easy to understand sections. He didn't attempt to dump it all on the reader at once, which made it much easier to follow.
I highly recommend this book to fiction and nonfiction fans alike. Don't forget to read the acknowledgement at the end of the book. It is heartwarming and heartbreaking.
* I voluntarily read an Advance Reader Copy of this book and have given an honest review *