Agent Zigzag

A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal

By: Ben Macintyre

Narrated by: John Lee

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.

©2007 Ben MacIntyre; (P)2007 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Great story

I listened to this after having been blown away by The Amateur Spy, which is probably fhe best espionage story I ever read, fiction or nonfiction. This book is absolutely worthwhile, but I was disappointed to learn at the end that I had just heard an abridged version. I wanted the full book!

Fascinating look at espionage in Word War II

The story provided a fascinating insight into the workings of the spy agencies of England and Germany during WWII. A cast of interesting characters, written in a very engaging manner and well presented. Highly recommend.

Why is this book abridged?

This is a very good story and I am baffled - and disappointed - that Audible saw fit to abridge. Had I known it was abridged, I wouldn’t have bought the book, but I did fully enjoy the story.

Spy novel/story with little personality

The monotone nature of the narrator was plodding at times and did little to keep your interest. Not at all like previous McIntyre books I’ve read, so not sure if it was intentional or not.

Is it a novel? Is it a newspaper article? No, its

MacIntyre has been criticized for rehashing a story previously told by others (both here and in Operation Mincemeat) and while this is technically true I doubt anyone has written these most intriguing stories with as much style as MacIntyre. His writing flits from reportage to crime novel to historical document to romance in the space of a single page. The narrator, John Lee is superb, maintaining a good pace which enhances the tension of the story. Definitely worth buying, but you'll struggle to turn it off - make sure you have lots of vacation time.