Book Review: Agent Zigzag by Ben Macintyre

Fact, it is said, is often stranger than fiction. With 'Agent Zigzag', Ben Macintyre captures a story that is incredibly unbelievable yet true.

Admittedly, I have a bias for World War books, but Macintyre brings alive the story of Eddie Chapman beautifully - a conman recruited as a spy by the Germans, then recruited as a spy by the British to mislead the Germans - as part of which he landed up in war torn Germany again. Incredibly, Chapman ended up becoming the only British spy to win German honors - with the Iron Cross. 

'Agent Zigzag' is fast paced, funny and in what is a rarity for spy stories, completely true - all of which make it a compelling read. Before there were James Bond or George Smiley, there was Eddie Chapman - a slippery but undeniably charming "triple-crossing" spy.