Agent Zigzag by Ben Macintyre is the true story of Eddie
Chapman, a criminal-turned-spy and his role as “Agent Zigzag” during WWII. As always with Macintyre’s books, the characters
here are first rate, with Chapman coming across as a character with a capital
C. He fascinated almost everyone he came
into contact with, from the women who fell for his blue eyes to the man who
“ran” him as an agent for MI5. This was
a man who made his living as a thief, but who also courted friendships with
people like Noel Coward and a young filmmaker who went on to direct the first
James Bond movie.  |
| Eddie Chapman/Agent Zigzag |
Macintyre has a knack for taking footnotes in history and
turning them into riveting non-fiction. The author does a terrific job of
sketching out both time and place, wherever that time or place might be. Whether he’s recounting the story of Eddie’s
early crimes, the night he was arrested while dining with a date or his growing
frustration in prison, there’s always an emotional underpinning to the scenes,
and they spring from the pages in three dimensions. The writer intersperses contemporary
documents with his own narrative, so that we read accounts of Eddie’s crimes
and exploits. It gives a true immediacy
to the events and brings us into his story.
Stephan Graumann, the aristocratic German spymaster who
"runs" Eddie in Germany is very much the antithesis of the clichéd
German spy. He’s an educated and
intelligent man. (And as we learn from
the author’s graceful side trips into context, we know that the Abwehr was
antithetical to Nazi culture. Headed up
by Admiral Canaris, who would later be executed for his part in a plot to kill
Hitler, the German intelligence service sought to serve the country without
serving the Fuhrer.)
The backdrop of events is elegant. In fact, it’s about as far removed from
modern-day spycraft, with its anonymous rooms and bland personalities as it is
possible to be. The Villa de la
Bretonniere is an irresistible setting for Eddie’s schooling.
