Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal
by Ben Macintyre
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Book Summary Information
Author: Ben MacintyreEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-08-12
ISBN: 0307353419
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Broadway
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780307353412
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal
Book Review: A Non Stop True Spy Thriller!
Summary: 4 Stars
About half-way through reading this book, I commented to a friend that they should make a movie out of it. I did a quick search on Google and found out that one was on track for 2010. Agent Zigzag, the true story of a British double agent that infiltrated Nazi Germany and greatly helped the Allied cause during the Second World War, is that good. Ben Macintyre, takes us through the life of Eddie Chapman, a career criminal who used his good looks and and smooth talking to woe women, criminals, cops, spies and everyone in between.
Always one step ahead of the police, he enjoyed the good life as a successful criminal, involved in safe cracking and many burglaries. Then in 1940, things changed. On the Isle of Jersey, he was finally caught. While in prison, the war broke out and the island was under Nazis rule. After his release, he offered his services to the Germans as a spy, mostly out of boredom. Nothing happened. Later under accusations of sabotage, he and a friend were falsely charged and were later transferred to a prison in Nazi Occupied France. A few months later the Germans took him up on his offer and his life of intrigue, double-crossing, love and betrayal as a spy had begun.
The book takes us through Chapman's training in France, his missions to Great Britain, Portugal, Germany and Norway. The cast of characters are real as are the daily dangers this hero faced. I say hero because he was one. He changed sides immediately on his drop into Great Britain, and became probably the best spy in the Allies efforts during the war. Along the way he loved and betrayed many women, but in the end we see the passion and honesty of this man. A complicated character, sometime hot, sometimes cold, one is unsure of his true motives-but in the end his actions saved thousands of lives. Hunted and admired by many on both sides, Eddie Chapman was always one step ahead of danger and always kept the most important thing in focus-'the mission'. Agent Zigzag, is a fun read. I could not put this book down.
Having a basic knowledge of dates and events of the war will be helpful to put things in perspective, but it is not necessary since the author recaps them quite well. Of note is that many of the British intelligence Service agents in M15, were directly and indirectly involved in the creation of the characters and ideas in many of the James Bond 007 movies. As Tin Eye Stephens, Agent Zigzag's superior at M15 said, " Fiction has not, and probably never will, produce an espionage story to rival in fascination and improbability the true story of Edward Chapman, who in only in war could invest with virtue and that only for its duration". Equal or better to most great spy stories, this one is a cut above-because it is true.
Robert Glasker
Espionage Books
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