Agent Zigzag

Eddie Chapman is a British criminal imprisoned in Jersey when German forces occupy the island. He offers his services to the Abwehr, receives training in sabotage and is sent to Britain with orders to destroy an aircraft factory. Instead, he approaches the British authorities and becomes the double agent codenamed Zigzag.

Working with MI5, Chapman helps stage the apparent success of attacks and feeds intelligence back to Germany while continuing a life shaped by crime, risk and complicated personal loyalties. Macintyre reconstructs how an unreliable adventurer became a useful instrument of Allied deception without disguising the harm Chapman caused to people who trusted him.