Agent Zig Zag is a spy story with a difference – it is true. With the passing of the fifty year embargo on MI5 World War Two papers author Ben Macintyre took the opportunity offered to produce an exciting book following a MI5 case. ‘Agent Zig Zag’ deals with the English double agent Eddie Chapman.

In the late 1930s Eddie led a team of successful safe breakers using the then new explosive gelignite. He was a smooth talking, flamboyant, completely immoral character who was particularly attractive to and by young women. He thrived on excitement.

In 1939 he was in Jersey Island hiding from the police when the Island was taken over by the Germans. He was rounded up and taken to an interrogation centre in France. Here the Germans realised that with his skills and with no great affinity to his country but hooked on excitement and money he had all the attributes to be a spy/saboteur.

He was offered a huge amount of money if he successfully carried out some specific spying and sabotage assignments. He readily agreed and was fully trained and then parachuted during the night into Northern England. However he had been horrified by the treatment in the prison of his Jewish friend and immediately turned himself in offering to work as a double agent.

At the detention centre after extensive questioning by MI5 they agreed to this. What followed was a sustained flow of misinformation and carefully planned bogus sabotages. The Germans were completely taken in and very pleased with his work. He was eventually recalled by an arranged passage via neutral Portugal.
He was paid and feted by the Germans and awarded the Iron Cross, the only English person to ever get this award. The given more training for a very secret mission and once again parachuted into England where he continued to double cross.

Both MI5 and the captured German SS papers were available. Along with studying these Ben McIntyre tracked down as many of the British, French and Germans as were still alive and spoke to them. Eddie was an immoral compulsive liar but also a charismatic charmer who thrived on danger. There were people on each side who never trusted him, as a result no matter where he was he was under surveillance by two ‘home team’ minders.

This is a highly readable book with page turning excitement, historic interest and a window into the huge innovative efforts put into misinformation being fed to the Germans.

Mike Beckett