THE SCIENTIST AND THE SPY

A true story of industrial espionage in which a Chinese-born scientist is pursued by the U.S. government for trying to steal trade secrets. IN BOOKSTORES NOW.

In September 2011, sheriff’s deputies in Iowa encountered three ethnic Chinese men near a field where a farmer was growing corn seed under contract with Monsanto. What began as a simple trespassing inquiry mushroomed into a two-year FBI operation in which investigators bugged the men’s rental cars, used a warrant intended for foreign terrorists and spies, and flew surveillance planes over corn country—all in the name of protecting trade secrets of corporate giants Monsanto and DuPont Pioneer. The Scientist and the Spy recounts this unusually far-reaching investigation, which pitted a veteran FBI special agent tasked with fighting a national-security priority against Florida resident Robert Mo, who after his academic career foundered took a questionable job with the Chinese agricultural company DBN in order to support his family. As the investigation took a series of unexpected twists and turns, the FBI agent was forced to reckon with an unexpected outcome, while Mo ended up questioning everything he valued.

Industrial espionage by Chinese companies is a catalyst for the United States’ recent trade war with China and one of the top counterintelligence targets of the FBI. But efforts to stem the problem have been largely ineffective. Through previously unreleased FBI files and her reporting from across the United States and China, Hvistendahl describes a long history of shoddy counterintelligence on China, much of it tinged with racism, and questions the role that corporate influence plays in trade secrets theft cases brought by the U.S. government. With compelling characters and vivid scenes, The Scientist and the Spy is both an important exploration of the issues at stake and an engrossing read.

PRAISE FOR THE SCIENTIST AND THE SPY

Mara Hvistendahl’s compelling account of the drama reads in parts like a spy thriller, replete with car chases, phone-tapping and aerial surveillance as agents track the shovel-carrying suspects across America. —The Economist

A compelling whodunit. . . [A] captivating and well-researched book. —Howard French, The Wall Street Journal

A fascinating, timely book that is global in scope…complete with evocative, cinematic detail. —Claude Peck, Star Tribune

Before there was a trade war, there was industrial espionage. To understand today’s fight between the U.S. and China, you need to understand the seeds of the conflict, and this book is on the money. A non-fiction thriller for our times. — Ian Bremmer, author of Us Vs. Them: The Failure of Globalism 

The Scientist and the Spy is as compulsively readable as espionage thriller and as darkly troubling as any morality tale. Told with empathy, insight, and remarkable detail, the author shines a clear light on the increasingly relentless federal investigation, its Chinese targets, and the powerful government and business interests that drive the story to its fascinating conclusion. —Deborah Blum, author of The Poison Squad: One Chemist's Single-Minded Quest for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

Not since Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest has a cornfield produced so much excitement…Hvistendahl makes industrial espionage both understandable and riveting….It's presented clearly and vividly, thanks to Hvistendahl’s background as a science journalist here and in China; to her exquisite pacing; and to her narrative skills….Hard to put down and harder to stop thinking about. —Booklist, starred review

You will learn more about China from this thrilling, real-life drama than you will from a whole stack of China-related books by lesser talents. Mara Hvistendahl has given us an utterly original, provocative, and revealing tale of the relationship between China and the United States—and what a tale it is. Intrepid, humane, and always tough-minded, she writes with the lucid precision of a science writer and the flair of a seasoned spy novelist. —Evan Osnos, author of Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China

[A] fascinating and well-researched study from Hvistendahl…Those looking for insights into the current tensions with China will be rewarded. —Publishers Weekly, starred review

The Scientist and the Spy vividly illustrates that things happening in China today can be stranger and more spellbinding than in a thriller. Mara Hvistendahl’s solid research and science background make it such a convincing and thought-provoking book, which is a must-read in the context of the present trade war between the United States and China. —Qiu Xiaolong, author of Death of a Red Heroine

Mara Hvistendahl is the most fluid of writers and the deepest of reporters, so The Scientist and the Spy unfurls with the style and pace of a thriller, yet it also illuminates the politics behind a key American national security concern. —Peter Bergen, author of Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for Bin Laden from 9/11 to Abbottabad

The Scientist and the Spy is a riveting tale for our times. It addresses some of the most important issues of our era, such as the Chinese drive to innovation in technology and industrial espionage, but does so through all-too-human characters with vulnerabilities, flaws, and often agonizing choices to make. If you enjoyed Bad Blood, you'll find this fascinating. —Rana Mitter, author of Modern China: A Very Short Introduction

A capable work of cat-and-mouse espionage that suggests that industrial spying is just business as usual. —Kirkus Reviews