Agent Zigzag

Nowhere is the phrase "stranger than fiction" more appropriate than in describing Agent Zigzag. Charming British conman Eddie Chapman turned himself into one of the best double agents his country ever produced. But for whom was he really working? None of his handlers seemed to be sure. His squirming loyalties allowed him to keep a family and a mistress, to remain alive despite interrogation by both sides, and earn an Iron Cross from Germany's Abwehr and a pardon from MI5 for blowing up a British factory. I was astonished by this tale, and left wondering if Chapman, in the… show more.

I love double agent operations. I sometimes refer to them as the caviar of counterintelligence because in my experience there is nothing quite as delectable as a good juicy double agent operation. The protagonist of this book, Eddie Chapman, is as good an example as there is of how a double agent operation should be run. Counterintelligence requires its adherents to outwit the opposition, and the British MI5 did exactly that in brilliant fashion during World War II as it duped the German Abwehr.    

The story of the double-agent Eddie Chapman – a flamboyant conman, crook, and womaniser – who gets recruited by MI5 and turns into a courageous wartime hero, reads like a thriller. It has all the elements of a great story, combining tales of daring adventure and espionage, and feels almost like the pages of a Le Carre novel, but is in fact a true story, meticulously researched and well presented.