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Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal by [Ben Macintyre]

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Ben Macintyre

Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal Kindle Edition

by Ben Macintyre (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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“Ben Macintyre’s rollicking, spellbinding Agent Zigzag blends the spy-versus-spy machinations of John le Carré with the high farce of Evelyn Waugh.”—William Grimes, The New York Times (Editors’ Choice)

“Wildly improbable but entirely true . . . [a] compellingly cinematic spy thriller with verve.”—Entertainment Weekly

NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY AND ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW AND THE WASHINGTON POST

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. In 1941, after training as 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 M15, the British Secret service, and for the next four years, Chapman worked as a double agent, a lone British spy at the heart of the German Secret Service. 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. Based on recently declassified files, Agent Zigzag tells Chapman’s full story for the first time. It’s a gripping tale of loyalty, love, treachery, espionage, and the thin and shifting line between fidelity and betrayal.

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387 pages
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English
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Crown
Publication date

September 4, 2007
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5548 KB
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From the Publisher


	Agent Sonya	Operation Mincemeat	Rogue Heroes	The Spy and the Traitor	Double Cross	A Spy Among Friends
	Uncovers the true story behind the Cold War’s most intrepid female spy	Chronicles the extraordinary story of what happened after British officials planted a dead body behind enemy lines during WWII	The incredible untold story of World War II’s greatest secret fighting force—Britain’s Special Air Force	The thrilling tale of Oleg Gordievsky, a Russian double agent whose secret work helped hasten the end of the Cold War	The untold story of one of the greatest deceptions of World War II, and of the extraordinary spies who achieved it	The unbelievable true story of Kim Philby, the Cold War’s most infamous spy

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Macintyre is the more graceful writer; Agent Zigzag has a clarity and shape that make it the more fluid account… I would give a personal nod to Macintyre’s as the better book… A review cannot possibly convey the sheer fun of this story… or the fascinating moral complexities.”
—New York Times Book Review

“[Agent Zigzag’s] incredible wartime adventures, recounted in Ben Macintyre’s rollicking, spellbinding Agent Zigzag blend the spy-versus-spy machinations of John le Carré with the high farce of Evelyn Waugh.”
—The New York Times

“Chapman’s story has been told in fragments in the past, but only when MI5 declassified his files was it possible to present it in all its richness and complexity. Macintyre tells it to perfection, with endless insights into the horror and absurdity of war….Eddie Chapman was a patriot, in his fashion, and this excellent book finally does him justice.”
—The Washington Post Book World

"Fact sounds like fast-moving fiction in this espionage saga of a man who was probably the most improbable double agent to emerge in World War II. ... The author has written an enormously fascinating book about an enormously fascinating man. The late Eddie Chapman would have been delighted to at last capture the limelight denied him by the restrictions of his wartime profession. The question now is, who will make the movie and who will play the lead? Too bad Errol Flynn is dead."
—Washington Times

“[R]ichly descriptive, marvelously illuminating, and just plain brilliant….One could not think of a better subject for Macintyre's curious mind than the man whom British intelligence dubbed Agent Zigzag in December 1942…. [A] plot - impossible and pointless to summarize - that is as briskly paced and suspenseful as any novel's. Macintyre's dilige...

From Publishers Weekly

London Times associate editor Macintyre (The Man Who Would Be King) adroitly dissects the enigmatic World War II British double agent Eddie Chapman in this intriguing and balanced biography. Giving little thought to the morality of his decision, Chapman offered to work as a spy for the Germans in 1940 after his release from an English prison in the Channel Islands, then occupied by the Germans. After undergoing German military intelligence training, Chapman parachuted into England in December 1942 with instructions to sabotage a De Havilland aircraft factory, but he surrendered after landing safely. Doubled by MI5 (the security service responsible for counterespionage), Chapman was used to feed vital disinformation to the enemy and was one of the few double agents to delude their German handlers until the end of the war. Meticulously researched—relying extensively on recently released wartime files of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service—Macintyre's biography often reads like a spy thriller. In the end, the author concludes that Chapman repeatedly risked his life... [and] provided invaluable intelligence, but it was never clear whether he was on the side of the angels or the devils. Of the two Zigzag biographies this fall (the other, by Nicholas Booth, is reviewed below), this is clearly superior. (Oct. 9)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From Bookmarks Magazine

Past writers have attempted to recount this fascinating bit of history, but lack of information and official censorship have kept the full story from being told. Thanks to Britain’s Freedom of Information Act, Eddie Chapman’s voluminous MI5 files are now available to the public, and Ben Macintyre has made full use of them in this riveting tale. Critics unanimously praised Macintyre’s talents: his fluid writing style, his ability to build suspense, and his biting humor. Vivid descriptions, deft characterizations, and exhilarating action scenes (as well as secret codes, invisible ink, explosives disguised as household objects, parachute drops, cyanide capsules, and beautiful women) put Agent Zigzag on a par with any great spy novel or thriller.
Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From Booklist

Macintyre's book is due in November. It's nearly 100 pages shorter than Booth's and therefore moves at a brisker pace. The author, who first heard of Eddie when he read his obituary, relies mostly on official documents and private papers; whereas wife Betty Chapman was Booth's collaborator, in Macintyre's book, she's merely another source. The book is less personal than Booth's; it reads more like an official history. It should also be noted that Macintyre's book may be the more precise of the two: where Booth says Eddie hailed from the town of Burnup Field, Macintyre has it as Burnopfield, and it appears Macintyre's spelling is the correct one. Similarly, Booth gives Eddie's full name as Arnold Edward Chapman, while Macintyre has it as Edward Arnold Chapman; again, Macintyre appears to be correct. (Although it should be noted that these and other discrepancies in Booth's book could be due to proofreading errors, and not mistakes of fact.) Pitt, David --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

About the Author

BEN MACINTYRE is a writer-at-large for The Times of London and the bestselling author of A Spy Among Friends, Double Cross, Operation Mincemeat, Agent Zigzag, The Napoleon of Crime, and Forgotten Fatherland, among other books. Macintyre has also written and presented BBC documentaries of the wartime espionage trilogy.

--This text refers to the paperback edition.

Review

“Macintyre is the more graceful writer; Agent Zigzag has a clarity and shape that make it the more fluid account… I would give a personal nod to Macintyre’s as the better book… A review cannot possibly convey the sheer fun of this story… or the fascinating moral complexities.”
—New York Times Book Review

“[Agent Zigzag’s] incredible wartime adventures, recounted in Ben Macintyre’s rollicking, spellbinding Agent Zigzag blend the spy-versus-spy machinations of John le Carré with the high farce of Evelyn Waugh.”
—The New York Times

“Chapman’s story has been told in fragments in the past, but only when MI5 declassified his files was it possible to present it in all its richness and complexity. Macintyre tells it to perfection, with endless insights into the horror and absurdity of war….Eddie Chapman was a patriot, in his fashion, and this excellent book finally does him justice.”
—The Washington Post Book World

"Fact sounds like fast-moving fiction in this espionage saga of a man who was probably the most improbable double agent to emerge in World War II. ... The author has written an enormously fascinating book about an enormously fascinating man. The late Eddie Chapman would have been delighted to at last capture the limelight denied him by the restrictions of his wartime profession. The question now is, who will make the movie and who will play the lead? Too bad Errol Flynn is dead."
—Washington Times

“[R]ichly descriptive, marvelously illuminating, and just plain brilliant….One could not think of a better subject for Macintyre's curious mind than the man whom British intelligence dubbed Agent Zigzag in December 1942…. [A] plot - impossible and pointless to summarize - that is as briskly paced and suspenseful as any novel's. Macintyre's diligent research and access to once-secret files combine here with his gift of empathetic imagination and inspired re-creation. He writes with brio and a festive spirit and has quite simply created a masterpiece.”
—The Boston Globe

"Superb. Meticulously researched, splendidly told, immensely entertaining and often very moving."
—John le Carré

“Macintyre [relates] his compellingly cinematic spy thriller with verve.”
—Entertainment Weekly (an “EW Pick”)

“Agent Zigzag is a true-history thriller, a real spy story superbly written. It belongs to my favorite genre: the ‘Friday night book’–start it then, because you will want to stay with it all weekend.”
—Alan Furst

“A portrait of a man who double-crossed not only the Nazis, but just about every other principle and person he encountered. In doing so, Eddie Chapman made all thriller writers’ jobs harder, because this spy tale trumps any fiction.”
—Men’s Journal

“One of the most extraordinary stories of the Second World War.”
—William Boyd, The Sunday Telegraph

“This is the most amazing book, full of fascinating and hair-raising true-life adventures…and beautifully told. For anyone interested in the Second World War, spying, romance, skullduggery or the hidden chambers of the human mind, it would be impossible to recommend it too highly.”
—The Mail on Sunday

“Speaking as a former MI6 officer, take it from me: there are very few books which give you a genuine picture of what it feels like to be a spy. This is one…. an enthralling war story.”
—The Daily Express

“Macintyre tells Chapman’s tale in a perfect pitch: with the Boys’ Own thrills of Rider Haggard, the verve of George MacDonald Fraser and Carl Hiassen’s mordant humor. . . . Hugely entertaining.”
—The [London] Observer

“If Ben Macintyre had presented this story as a novel, it would have been denounced as far too unlikely: yet every word of it is true. Moreover he has that enviable gift, the inability to write a dull sentence. An enthralling book results from the opening up of once deadly secret files.”
—The Spectator

“Splendidly vivid. . . . There are endless delightful twists to the tale.”
—Max Hastings, The [London] Sunday Times

“Ben Macintyre's rollicking, thriller-paced account…is a Boy's Own adventure par excellence and a gripping psychological case study of a man 'torn between patriotism and egotism.'”
—Time Out

“Macintyre succeeds in bringing Chapman vividly to life. It is unlikely that a more engaging study of espionage and deception will be published this year.”
—The Times

"A preternaturally talented liar and pretty good safecracker becomes a “spy prodigy” working concurrently for Britain’s MI5 and the Nazi’s Abwehr.

London Times newsman and popular historian Macintyre (The Man Who Would be King: The First American in Afghanistan, 2004, etc) reports on the life and crimes of the late Eddie Chapman using interviews, newly released secret files and, cautiously, the English spy’s less-reliable memoirs. Just launching his criminal career when World War II began, the dashing adventurer was jailed in the Channel Island Jersey. Volunteering his services to the occupying Fatherland, he was taken to France and schooled in the dark arts of espionage and the wicked devices of spies by the likes of convivial headmaster Herr von Gröning and spymaster Oberleutnant Praetorius. Then the new German agent signed a formal espionage contract (under which his expected rewards were to be subjected to income tax). Dropped in England’s green and pleasant land to commit sabotage, he instead reported directly to His Majesty’s secret service. There they called their man 'Agent ZigZag.' The Germans had named him “Fritzchen.” Little Fritz, with the help of a magician, fooled his Nazi handlers into believing he had wrecked an aircraft factory. After a crafty return to Germany, he made another parachute drop home to report on an anti-sub device and the accuracy of the new V-1 flying bomb. The energetic adventurer from a lower stratum of British society was being run by Oxbridge gentlemen and by aristocrats of Deutschland at the same time. Or perhaps he was running them. Adorning his exploits were several beautiful women and an Iron Cross. It is a remarkable cloak-and-dagger procedural and a fine tale of unusual wartime employment….

One of the great true spy stories of World War II, vividly rendered."
—Kirkus
--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

CHAPTER ONE

The Hotel de la Plage Spring came early to the island of Jersey in 1939. The sun that poured through the dining-room window of the Hotel de la Plage formed a dazzling halo around the man sitting opposite Betty Farmer with his back to the sea, laughing as he tucked into the six-shilling Sunday Roast Special “with all the trimmings.” Betty, eighteen, a farm girl newly escaped from the Shropshire countryside, knew this man was quite unlike any she had met before.

Beyond that, her knowledge of Eddie Chapman was somewhat limited. She knew that he was twenty-four years old, tall and handsome, with a thin mustache—just like Errol Flynn in The Charge of the Light Brigade—and deep hazel eyes. His voice was strong but high-pitched with a hint of a Northern accent. He was “bubbly,” full of laughter and mischief. She knew he must be rich because he was “in the film business” and drove a Bentley. He wore expensive suits, a gold ring, and a cashmere overcoat with mink collar. Today he wore a natty yellow spotted tie and a sleeveless pullover. They had met at a club in Kensington Church Street, and although at first she had declined his invitation to dance, she soon relented. Eddie had become her first lover, but then he vanished, saying he had urgent business in Scotland. “I shall go,” he told her. “But I shall always come back.”

Good as his word, Eddie had suddenly reappeared at the door of her lodgings, grinning and breathless. “How would you like to go to Jersey, then possibly to the south of France?” he asked. Betty had rushed off to pack.

It was a surprise to discover they would be traveling with company. In the front seat of the waiting Bentley sat two men: the driver a huge, ugly brute with a crumpled face; the other small, thin, and dark. The pair did not seem ideal companions for a romantic holiday. The driver gunned the engine and they set off at thrilling speed through the London streets, screeching into the Croydon airport, parking behind the hangar, just in time to catch the Jersey Airways plane.

That evening, they had checked into the seafront hotel. Eddie told the receptionist they were in Jersey to make a film. They had signed the register as Mr. and Mrs. Farmer of Torquay. After dinner, they moved on to West Park Pavilion, a nightclub on the pier, where they danced, played roulette, and drank some more. For Betty, it had been a day of unprecedented glamour and decadence.

War was coming, everyone said so, but the dining room of the Hotel de la Plage was a place of pure peace that sunny Sunday. Beyond the golden beach, the waves flickered among a scatter of tiny islands, as Eddie and Betty ate trifle off plates with smart blue crests. Eddie was halfway through telling another funny story when he froze. A group of men in overcoats and brown hats had entered the restaurant and one was now in urgent conversation with the headwaiter. Before Betty could speak, Eddie stood up, bent down to kiss her once, and then jumped through the window, which was closed. There was a storm of broken glass, tumbling crockery, screaming women, and shouting waiters. Betty Farmer caught a last glimpse of Eddie Chapman sprinting off down the beach with two overcoated men in pursuit.

• • •

There was much that Betty did not know about Eddie Chapman. He was married. Another woman was pregnant with his child. And he was a crook. Not some halfpenny bag snatcher, but a dedicated professional criminal, a “prince of the underworld,” in his own estimation.

For Chapman, breaking the law was a vocation. In later years, when some sort of motive for his choice of career seemed to be called for, he claimed that the early death of his mother, in the TB ward of a pauper’s hospital, had sent him “off the rails” and turned him against society. Sometimes he blamed the grinding poverty and unemployment in northern England during the Depression for forcing him into a life of crime. But in truth, crime came naturally to him.

Edward Chapman was born in Burnopfield, a tiny village in the Durham coalfields, on November 16, 1914, a few months into the First World War. His father, a marine engineer and too old to fight, had ended up running the Clippership, a dingy pub in Roker, and drinking a large portion of the stock. For Eddie, the eldest of three children, there was no money, not much love, little in the way of guidance, and only a cursory education. He soon developed a talent for misbehavior and a distaste for authority. Intelligent but lazy, insolent and easily bored, the young Chapman skipped school often, preferring to scour the beach for lemonade bottles, redeemable at a penny a piece, and then while away afternoons at the cinema in Sunderland.

At the age of seventeen, after a brief and unsatisfactory stint as an unpaid apprentice at a Sunderland engineering firm, Chapman joined the army, although underage, and enlisted in the Second Battalion of the Coldstream Guards. Early in his training at Caterham, he slipped while playing handball and badly gashed his knee; the resulting scar would provide police with a useful distinguishing feature. The bearskin hat and smart red uniform made the girls gawp and giggle, but he found sentry duty outside the Tower of London tedious, and the city beyond beckoned.

Chapman had worn a guardsman’s uniform for nine months when he was granted six days’ leave. He told the sergeant major that he was going home. Instead, in the company of an older guardsman, he wandered around Soho and the West End, hungrily eyeing the elegant women draped over the arms of men in sharp suits. In a café in Marble Arch, he noticed a pretty, dark-haired girl, and she spotted him. They danced at Smokey Joe’s in Soho. That night he lost his virginity. She persuaded him to stay another night; he stayed for two months, until they had spent all his pay. Chapman may have forgotten about the army, but the army had not forgotten about him. He was sure the dark-haired girl told the police. Chapman was arrested for going absent without leave, placed in the military prison in Aldershot—the “glasshouse” —and made to scrub out bedpans for eighty-four days. Release and a dishonorable discharge brought to an end his first prison sentence, and his last regular job. Chapman took a bus to London with £3 in his pocket, a fraying suit, and a “jail-crop haircut.” He headed straight for Soho.

Soho in the 1930s was a notorious den of vice, and spectacular fun. This was the crossroads of London society, where the rich and feckless met the criminal and reckless, a place of seamy, raucous glamour. Chapman found work as a barman, then as a film extra, earning £3 for “three days doing crowd work”; he worked as a masseur, a dancer, and eventually as an amateur boxer and wrestler. He was a fine wrestler, physically strong, and lithe as a cat, with a “wire and whipcord body.” This was a world of pimps and racecourse touts, pickpockets and con artists; late nights at Smokey Joe’s and early champagne breakfasts at Quaglino’s. “I mixed with all types of tricky people,” Chapman wrote later. “Racecourse crooks, thieves, prostitutes, and the flotsam of the night-life of a great city.” For the young Chapman, life in this seething, seedy enclave was thrilling. But it was also expensive. He acquired a taste for cognac and the gaming tables. Soon he was penniless.

The thievery started in a small way: a forged check here, a snatched suitcase there, a little light burglary. His early crimes were unremarkable, the first faltering steps of an apprentice.

In January 1935, he was caught in the back garden of a house in Mayfair, and fined £10. A month later, he was found guilty of stealing a check and obtaining credit by fraud. This time the court was less lenient, and Chapman was given two months’ hard labor in Wormwood Scrubs. A few weeks after his release, he was back inside, this time in Wandsworth Prison on a three-month sentence for trespassing and attempted housebreaking.

Chapman branched out into crimes of a more lurid nature. Early in 1936, he was found guilty of “behaving in a manner likely to offend the public” in Hyde Park. Exactly how he was likely to have offended the public was not specified, but he was almost certainly discovered in flagrante delicto with a prostitute. He was fined £4 and made to pay a fee of 15 shillings 9 pence to the doctor who examined him for venereal disease. Two weeks later, he was charged with fraud after he tried to evade payment of a hotel bill. --This text refers to the paperback edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000VSW7SO
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Crown (September 4, 2007)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 4, 2007
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 5548 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 387 pages
Lending ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #86,606 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #5 in Military History of Canada
- #7 in Canadian Military History
- #29 in Biographies of Espionage

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Ben Macintyre

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Ben Macintyre is a writer-at-large for The Times of London and the bestselling author of A Spy Among Friends, Double Cross, Operation Mincemeat, Agent Zigzag, and Rogue Heroes, among other books. Macintyre has also written and presented BBC documentaries of his work.

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A fantastic work of historical fiction, eminently readable, more history than fiction.

Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2018

Verified Purchase

This is the second book I have read by Ben McIntyre (the first was “A Spy Among Friends”, about Kim Philby) and I continue to be impressed. There exists a genre called ‘historical fiction’ in which an author writes a story that takes place sometime in the past, maybe in the same time frame as an important event, or maybe about some important historical figure. There are various levels of accuracy – sometimes there is nothing historical whatsoever other than the story takes place in the past. Or sometimes a story is a reenactment of actual events, grounded in reality and with evidence of significant research. Then there are the books written by masters of the genre who create highly readable, thoroughly engaging accounts of actual historical events that transport the reader into the era and read like the best modern day thriller (Steven Pressfield, Robert Harris, and David L. Robbins come to mind).

Ben McIntyre is one such author whose works are at the very top level of the genre. He has the rare ability to turn the results of his exhaustive, stunningly complete research into a book that reads like a top shelf novel but drips with authenticity at every turn. In “Agent Zigzag”, we learn of the exploits of Eddie Chapman, an Englishman with an extensive criminal record who becomes a spy for the Germans but ultimately becomes a double agent run by the British. Despite his past, he becomes quite successful, supplying information to the British, supplying disinformation to the Germans, and earning the respect of both sides while doing it. He is one of the few spies who actually provided information which helped turn the war in favor of the Allies. In fact, one of his British handlers stated that his exploits were so incredible that they were beyond conception for the writer of fiction.

The book starts with Eddie the criminal deserting his lunch date by jumping out of a window as the police close in on him, and ends with Eddie the spy encountering that same woman (whom he marries) in a different restaurant after the war is over. In between the lunch dates, he gets picked up by police, gets sentenced to jail, gets collected by the Germans, and learns tradecraft, bomb making, and wireless communications. He is parachuted into England, where he immediately goes to work for the Allies and commences to supply his German handlers with disinformation, perform various espionage tasks, and help in measurable ways to win the war. He even returns to the Germans, survives numerous interrogations, and proceeds to supply his English handlers with information straight from the heart of enemy territory.

The text is clear and readable, with proper grammar and structure. It is alive, however, and delivers the story at the pace of the best novel, but is peppered throughout with references to material obtained from MI5 archives, interviews, and other history sources. In fact, the last fifty plus pages are footnotes on the sources from which the material was obtained. If high school history texts were this well written, there would be a lot more historians around.

This book is quite entertaining and satisfying, and at the end you will have learned things about the covert side of WWII that you would never have known otherwise. And all along the way you will marvel at how one man can do so many things and live to tell about it. I recommend “Agent Zigzag”.

41 people found this helpful

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Randy M Lloyd

Insightful as well as entertaining

Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2015

Verified Purchase

As an adult I read non fiction almost exclusively, but years ago I was fond of reading spy novels. Trust me; not one of those old fanciful tales was half an engrossing as this one. I really believe that Hollywood could never craft a fictional screenplay as amazing as the story of Zigzag, and yet even as incredible as the story seems, the details unfold with startling credibility; as it is absolutely true. Sometimes truth is much more formidable than even the most skillful spinning of fantasy. This book is a perfect example.

I grew up hearing the anecdotal stories of war from my father and uncles, all of which served in WWII. As a kid I was riveted by the real life tales they had to share sitting around after a family meal. I have read quite a few non fiction books about divergent aspects of WWII many of which are heavy with details, seeming like a straight documentary. They are intriguing because they are history. This book is as insightful as any I have yet read in revealing the details of, and shedding light on the inner workings of, the historical events described, and yet was thoroughly entertaining at the same time. If you are a WWII aficionado you need to read this one.

6 people found this helpful

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Jason Page

Fun true spy thriller

Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2021

Verified Purchase

I’ve become such a huge fan of the author for his ability to make true spy action so much more interesting an exciting than fiction. Zig zag was so into the life of thrills that he started out in a life of crime and never truly gave it up. He became the only British subject to win an iron cross, the German military Medal of Honor, but did so while working as a double agent and his loyalty solely with Britain. A fun fast paced read that’s hard to put down.

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Cynthia Sally Haggard

He must have been charming...he had 3 girlfriends waiting for him in 3 different places!

Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2012

Verified Purchase

Ben Macintyre's AGENT ZIGZAG is a gripping account of a double-agent during World War Two, who must have been incredibly charming, because not only did he acquire three girlfriends waiting patiently for him in London, Oslo and the countryside of England, but he also managed to convince the German secret service that he was loyal to Hitler. Never once did he falter when closely questioned by various German officers. His courage and coolness are stunning when one considers what would have happened to him if his cover had been blown. And when one considers that at the time he was acting as a double-agent he was only in his late twenties.

I won't spoil the story by telling you what happens to Agent Zigzag (the brilliant name that MI5 gave him) aka Fritz or Fritzchen (the name that the Abwehr gave him) aka Eddie Chapman (his real name). But if you are suffering from insomnia and have nothing else to do, read this book. It won't cure the insomnia, because it's too exciting for that. But it will while away the hours. Five stars.

2 people found this helpful

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Ted

Outstanding!!

Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2012

Verified Purchase

I had read something of Zigzag's adventures in other books dealing with espionage. I chose this book in hopes it would be as informative and as interesting as "A man called Intrepid" and "Bodyguard of Lies". In my estimation it equals both of those works.
It is easily read and chronologicaly written so it's easy to follow the story line. No jumping back and forth from one event to the next. No tricky names of people and places making it hard to follow.
This is the real deal! Eddie Chapman is one of the great heros of the second world war. The part he played in that war is one of the great stories. Agent Zigzag by Ben Macintyre is an outstanding book. If you have any interest in true espionage and double agents, buy this book!

Ted

OK, my first review was in July 2012. Now its June 2013 and I just finished this book for the second time. It's equaly as good the second time around. You will not be disappointed! I hope this helps you decide.

Ted

2 people found this helpful

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Matthew H

A must read!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 4, 2017

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Ben Macintyre, a quite superb writer, has a knack of unearthing gems of stories. A previous book, A Foreign Field, told the remarkable tale of four British soldiers given sanctuary in a French village during the First World War after being marooned behind enemy lines. Now he has told the equally remarkable story of Second World War double agent Eddie Chapman.

Chapman, a criminal, sybarite and serial philanderer, found himself on Jersey when the Germans invaded and was transferred to a hellhole of a prison in Paris. The only way out of this benighted existence was to volunteer his services to the Abwehr as a secret agent. Eventually accepted, he was then parachuted into England, where he promptly landed flat on his face and then swiftly handed himself over to the police and volunteered to become a secret agent.

Get the picture? This was a man who first and foremost was driven by self-interest. Yet, as Macintyre makes clear, Chapman was not that simple a character. He developed a genuine affection for his Abwehr controllers. As for his many female conquests, he always professed undying affection, an emotion that was uniformly reciprocated.

Even his British secret service superiors, who, correctly, treated him initially with hostility and suspicion, succumbed to his undoubted charm and ability. Only when he volunteered to assassinate Hitler and go out in a blaze of glory did they curb his patent enthusiasm for espionage. That he was eventually sacked as an agent owed far more to another man's jealousy than to Chapman's failings.

Ben Macintyre tells Chapman's story with panache, affection and tremendous wit. In the course of Agent Zigzag, there are many charming and touching vignettes, none more so than the case of Praetorius, one of Chapman's Abwehr minders. A fan of all things English, but especially folk dancing, Praetorius eventually left the secret service and was appointed dance instructor to the Wehrmacht in the middle of the war. It makes you wonder why it took so long for the Germans to lose.

32 people found this helpful

Corby

The real 007...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 24, 2021

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A story based on real life,hard to belive watched the movie Triple cross starring Christopher Plummer and was so amazed that I got this book it was based on the real life of Eddie Chapman and was fact based, a story of a man who broke into houses and safes and ended up in prison,who then became a double agent working for Germany and Britain during the second world war.You start to realise where the idea for James Bond concept came from and was based on. Like Bond Chapman had nerves of steel and a eye for beautiful ladies as well as almost being found out a few times he still returned to carry out his missions,his final mission to help divert rockets aimed at London, amazing read.

2 people found this helpful

E Griffith

Interesting.....but....

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 31, 2021

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I’ve read several books by this author and they’ve always been fascinating reads. This starts off well too. Chapman was a pretty unpleasant criminal, but obviously a clever and charming one by the way he plays both the German and British secret services against each other and also his many lady friends. There’s no doubt he was an outlandish adventurer, brave even, but there was only one side he was interested in. His own. So in this way he’s not actually a very nice person and despite his derring do it’s difficult to warm to him. Despite a good start the book seems to run out of steam about two thirds through with little left to talk about. This was disappointing as previous books have continued to grip until the end. Nevertheless an interesting read about a character I knew nothing about during the dark days of the war.

One person found this helpful

Vicuña

Reads like a thriller. Fast paced and filled with compelling characters

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 5, 2017

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Ben Macintyre's real life account of spy, Eddie Chapman, reads like a thriller. Although packed with fact, the text is gripping and I was keen to know what happened next.

Source material is annotated and accessible and there's a veracity to the content which makes the story an exciting and relevant read. This book links well with others by the author, who writes with authority about espionage and duplicity in WWII. Chapman was a no mark crook who d beloved a taste for the high life. There's a strange naivety about the way in which disaffected individuals were 'turned'. Macintyre explores the way in which Chapman reached a position where he was content to maybe betray his country. But he also explores other possibility and the reader is left to judge the truth. Informed, intelligent, compelling and written with verve and a real sense of adventure.

7 people found this helpful

David Welford

Amazing Spy Story

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 24, 2020

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A friend recommend me to watch on I-player BBC Timewatch prog on Eddie Chapman with Ben Macintyre the Author of the book. At present it is available until 5th June 20 but no doubt it will be repeated , do watch it so see the interview with the real Eddie. So fascinated by this incredible true story I bought the book. I found it one of those books that is hard to put down and I read it in two days. As others have said its better than any fictional Spy Story...I doubt any Author could dream up such a complex plot line. Most exciting book I've read in a longtime.
The film of Eddie's exploits 'Triple Cross' was shown last Sept on BBC TV keep an eye out for repeat showings.

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