Saturday 10 November 2012

Double Cross

Double Cross by Ben Macintyre is a book I have been waiting for to come out in paperback after reading his earlier book Agent Zigzag. I wasn't disappointed.

The book is mainly about the British run double agents during the second world war and their role in deceiving the Germans. Deceptions including sowing confusion about where and when the D-Day landing would take place. It isn't quite 'warts and all' and does take quite an affection view of the spies and spymasters, but does point out some of the mistakes that the Allies made - including how everything could have been destroyed because of a refusal to circumvent the animal quarantine laws. Actually, one of the heroes of the book (and in some respects a surprise one) was an Anglophile German playboy Johnny Jebsen. Who initially comes across as an crook and chancer; but who may have actually protected the secret of the network of double agents even under skilled interrogation and until his death likely outside a concentration camp.

The book is well written book that is paced well and kept my attention. Agent Zigzag and Operation Mincemeat only got a brief mention in this book, and this pleased me because the author hadn't taken the easy way and rehashed his earlier books.

After reading this book and Agent Zigzag I am going to have to read Operation Mincemeat!


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