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Overall Summary
A British journalist, Ben Macintyre, wrote a book called Agent Zigzag that chronicles the story of Eddie Chapman. He was an Englishman who served as a German spy before becoming a double agent for the British Secret Service. Due to his erratic behavior and personality, his handlers nicknamed him “Agent Zigzag.” According to The New York Times, this book combines the espionage techniques from John le Carré with the high farce of Evelyn Waugh.
Macintyre begins in late 1942, when Chapman is already a German spy on his way to Britain. He plans to sabotage the de Havilland Aircraft Factory there. However, British intelligence has cracked Enigma codes and intercepted messages from Germany about Chapman’s status as a spy. They know he will be parachuting into Britain soon.
The story then goes back to 1939, when a young boy named Nick Chapman was part of a group called the Jelly Gang. They would crack open safes using gel explosives. While he had done many illegal things in his life, he never used violence. After one robbery where the safe exploded and blew up an entire building, Chapman was arrested by undercover police who were trying to arrest him for fourteen years in prison on the mainland. He escaped through a window with his future wife, Betty Farmer. To avoid going to jail for so long, Chapman committed another crime that could get him sent off to Jersey instead of being in prison on the mainland.
After a year in prison, the Germans invaded the Channel Islands. Chapman and his friend Anthony Faramus applied to be spies after they were told that if they worked for Germany, they would get off the island. The two prisoners were taken to France where their lives were threatened by Captain Stefan von Groning who warned them that if they turned themselves into the British, he would kill their friend. He also said that if Chapman did not work as a spy for Germany, then he would have to serve out his sentence in prison.
Chapman is trained in weapons and sabotage by the Professor. The Professor helps him plan an attack on a factory, but things don’t go as planned, so he turns himself into the authorities. British intelligence was already aware of Chapman’s presence because they were tracking German intelligence. While being interrogated by MI5 agents, Chapman offers information about German spies that can be used to verify his identity.
With the help of a stage magician, British intelligence creates an elaborate ruse to make it seem as if a factory were heavily damaged. The plan works and Chapman becomes von Groning’s favorite spy. After another faked attack on a merchant ship in Portugal, the Germans send Chapman to Nazi-occupied Norway where he poses as a teacher in Oslo. While there, he photographs German officers and transmits the photos to the British. He also falls in love with Dagmar Lahlum from Norway while still having Freda Stevenson back home in England for support (as well as his other lovers).
The Germans send Chapman back to England, but he provides them with false reports of V1 rocket landing locations. His poor efforts at keeping a low profile get him involved in greyhound race doping scandals and other criminal activities. Eventually MI5 dismisses Chapman, pardoning him for his pre-war criminal activities and paying him six thousand pounds.
After World War II, Chapman marries neither Dagmar nor Freda. Instead, he marries Betty Farmer and stays in touch with von Groning. He even invites his former Abwehr handler to his daughter Suzanne’s wedding. Chapman dies of heart failure at the age of eighty-three. The book ends with Chapman and von Groning singing together in a garden.
