Agent Zigzag

A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal

by Ben Macintyre

Hardcover, 384 pages

English language

Published Sept. 4, 2007 by Harmony.

ISBN:: 978-0-307-35340-5

(5 reviews)

Eddie Chapman was a charming criminal, a con man, and a philanderer. He was also one of the most remarkable double agents Britain has ever produced. Inside the traitor was a man of loyalty; inside the villain was a hero. The problem for Chapman, his spymasters, and his lovers was to know where one persona ended and the other began.In 1941, after training as a German spy in occupied France, Chapman was parachuted into Britain with a revolver, a wireless, and a cyanide pill, with orders from the Abwehr to blow up an airplane factory. Instead, he contacted MI5, the British Secret Service. For the next four years, Chapman worked as a double agent, a lone British spy at the heart of the German Secret Service who at one time volunteered to assassinate Hitler for his countrymen. Crisscrossing Europe under different names, all the while weaving plans, spreading disinformation, and, miraculously, keeping his stories straight under intense interrogation, he even managed to gain some profit and seduce beautiful women along the way.The Nazis feted Chapman as a hero and awarded him the Iron Cross. In Britain, he was pardoned for his crimes, becoming the only wartime agent to be thus rewarded. Both countries provided for the mother of his child and his mistress. Sixty years after the end of the war, and ten years after Chapman's death, MI5 has now declassified all of Chapman's files, releasing more than 1,800 pages of top secret material and allowing the full story of Agent Zigzag to be told for the first time.A gripping story of loyalty, love, and treachery, Agent Zigzag offers a unique glimpse into the psychology of espionage, with its thin and shifting line between fidelity and betrayal.From the Hardcover edition.

5 editions

Christo reviewed Agent Zigzag by Ben Macintyre

A book with a slow burn, and a lot of details about espionage during WWII

4 stars

Content warning Well, not really spoilers, since we know going in he's a double agent, but still, I'm telling some of the bits that really hooked me in this book.

This book was given to me by my stepfather after a visit. It didn't really draw my attention, and I had one false start reading it almost exactly a year ago. It didn't really grip me the first time through. The main character, Eddie Chapman, a charming thief, didn't strike me as sympathetic, making it hard to get absorbed in the book, especially since this is not fiction, but more of a biography of Eddie's time as a spy for the UK.

I was hooked when Eddie, having been trained in explosives and sabotage by the Abwehr in France, parachuted into England and immediately turned himself in, I was hooked: that was a plot twist I had not expected.

The details about how the UK managed its double agents was an unexpected bonus in this book, highlighting how they had to manage what information Eddie could give the Germans which would support the illusion that he was working for the Abwehr while not actually giving them anything useful.

The whole ruse they concocted to make it look like they had blown up the Mosquito factory was excellent, complete with magic tricks to make it look real from the air if the Germans managed to photograph the site.

The use of 2 double agents to misdirect the targeting of the V-1 and V2 bombs on London was both brilliant and cold, since it conned the Germans into targeting south of London, which still endangered people.

The preparation for Eddie's return was also an excellent bit, where they trained him to tell as much truth as possible relating to the events that had happened so that during interrogations by the Germans he would not get caught in lies.

While I wouldn't give it 5 stars, it definitely is well written, entertaining, informative, and something I might reread at a later date if I need the material for a #TTRPG game.

Didactylos reviewed Agent Zigzag by Ben Macintyre

Review of 'Agent Zigzag' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Loses a bity of impetus towards the end, though good to get it all rounded off. Amazing tale full of all manner of situations, glimpses of a bygone age.

Another example of how the personalities involved can mess up and make a plan.....

I was struck by how little often went on, and how utterly chaotic stuff often was.

Well worth a read, easily followed.