The Expat

Michael Wang is a 26-year-old Princeton Grad who was working at General Motors. He was working diligently on an innovative self-driving car technology, which he thought would be appreciated by his bosses at work. However, to his disappointment, his hard work and innovative ideas were not recognized, leaving him disillusioned about his future at GM. But his life changes when he meets Vivian, who admires and appreciates Michael's work. She introduced him to her " uncle," who was involved in the self-driving car industry in China. The "uncle" lured Michael to quit his job at GM and take his innovation to China where Michael would have an opportunity to be successful. After he goes to China, he finds himself caught between dangerous industrial espionage and counterintelligence activities between China and the U.S.

I find the book fascinating, as Americans have heard much about industrial espionage between China and the U.S., and this story illustrates a possible example of what might happen in an actual situation. It brilliantly narrates the story of a talented but frustrated young engineer who naively walked into a multi-layered intelligence and counterintelligence environment, where he had to use his wit and courage to get himself out of danger. I learned so much and was astonished at the complexity of industrial espionage. This book is full of surprises, wit, and personal self-analysis in the backdrop of serious international tension between U.S. and China.