What is Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal about?

Eddie Chapman was a safecracker, con man, and professional criminal who became Britain's most remarkable double agent during World War II. Agent Zigzag is Ben Macintyre's account of Chapman's extraordinary career: trained by German intelligence as a saboteur, parachuted into Britain to blow up a de Havilland aircraft factory, and immediately turned by MI5 to feed false intelligence back to the Abwehr. The Germans thought they had an asset; the British had a double agent codenamed Zigzag.

What makes Chapman's story unusual even among wartime espionage is his character. He was not an ideological convert, not a patriot, not a professional soldier. He was a criminal who charmed his way into the confidence of both sides while remaining loyal to nothing and no one except the moment. Macintyre traces this with careful enjoyment — Chapman was magnetic, unreliable, genuinely brave, and incapable of staying still. He also genuinely seems to have found the war the most satisfying period of his life.

The technical core of the book is the faked sabotage of the de Havilland factory. MI5 staged a convincing explosion with concealed camouflage netting and theatrical bomb damage while the factory continued to operate at full capacity. German aerial reconnaissance confirmed the damage. The Abwehr awarded Chapman the Iron Cross — the only British subject to receive it — and the deception held.

Macintyre draws on previously classified MI5 files to give the story documentary depth. The result is both a history of an operation and a character study of a man who existed most fully when playing multiple roles simultaneously. Chapman survived the war, returned to crime, and died in 1997. The files that tell his real story remained sealed until after his death.