Unbelievable story, great performance

The story of Agent Garbo and the whole D-Day deception is too crazy to be true - but it is true! I love reading and learning about the secret agents and deception plots of the Second World War. The characters are incredible, a strange mix of prototypical playboy spies and down and out castoffs, killer femme fatales and con artists. The deceptions themselves are so intricate and crafty that it seems impossible to pull off - dozens of fake agents running around England giving almost accurate information to the German officers, though they are all just the creation of one double agent (Garbo) and his team of MI5 handlers.

I read and really enjoyed Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies by Ben MacIntyre, another overview of the D-Day double agents and deception work. This book, however, provides far more in depth coverage of the main double agent in England, Juan Pujol, and his backstory leading up to the war. I felt it gave a lot more insight into the German side of the equation as well, as it follows only one set of handlers and you get the chance to understand their motives and (seemingly dumb and naive) decisions. As an example, you wonder why the Germans were so forgiving of their agents' mistakes and false information while being so trusting of any information passed to them, and Talty explains with good political theory that the German officers were willing to believe what they wanted to hear. It is, in many ways, as simple as that: the reports fulfilled what they believed and wanted to believe (and what Hitler wanted to hear) and so they thought it must be true.

Juan Pujol as a character is great, though I found the stories of his work and those working around him strangely more interesting. Though Garbo is a once in a generation character for sure - a failed chicken farmer and self-made war refugee who creates his own personality to dupe the Germans into getting him to England just so he can fight them in an ideological anti-fascism crusade - it is the unfathomable network of fake characters with complete backstories, as well as the reactions he creates and manages to German information that can be used to gain information while pretending to give it. It's hard to explain, just read the book!

I highly recommend this book for people interested in the Second World War, especially the espionage element and the creative stories often hidden in the shadows of the major battles. The story is amazing, the characters incredible, the outcome far from what you'd expect.

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