Though Montagu is the main character, each member of this ensemble cast gets a thorough description. In a truly character-driven story, Macintyre pauses to profile each new character as he or she is introduced. Yet Macintyre said he found that Montagu’s book presented a “pretty sanitized” version of what happened, partially because he didn’t know all of the details and partially because some details had to remain secret in the 1950s. Montagu wrote his own book about the ruse in 1953 and called it “The Man Who Never Was.” It was turned into a movie in 1956. Montagu is part of a vast network of spies (which includes Fleming) who develop an unusual plan to throw off their German counterparts as the Allies prepare to invade Sicily in the summer of 1943. “Operation Mincemeat” follows naval intelligence agent Ewen Montagu, who was also a figure in Macintyre’s previous book, “Agent Zigzag: The True Wartime Story of Eddie Chapman: Lover, Betrayer, Hero, Spy.” Macintyre, an associate editor and writer-at-large at the Times of London, has developed an expertise on the side in British espionage. Fans of Ian Fleming and James Bond will find a lot to like in Ben Macintyre’s new World War II-era book, “Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory.”
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