Operation Mincemeat- Ben Macintyre

World war 2 is a novelists delight- there are a treasure trove of tales that are dug out of the archives and are well worth the re-telling. This book takes on one astounding piece of an intelligence victory (Allied of course) and covers the planning and the aftermath of the project. The premise is simple - use a ruse to convince the Germans that the target of attacks is Greece and Serbia, rather than Sicily as was widely expected and being prepared for. The implementation was innovative- use a corpse loaded with false papers with conversations between key leaders to show that the planning was directed towards Serbia and Greece. The author quite convincingly brings about the difficulties in planning as well as the attention to detail that the British had to bring in, a classic example was the difficulty in procuring the right corpse for the occasion - one which hadn't decayed too much as well as conveyed the impression of a British officer. The build up of the cast of characters also is well done, with a rather eclectic and charismatic individuals thrown up in the process. The German side also has its share of diabolical and pompous villains built up. There are a few delightful sojourns into double agents as well as the Soviet influence among the British spies.But this is where the story begins to peter out dragged down by the core premise being too simple to hold out for an entire novel of this size. Some of the aspects around the planning are covered a bit too much in detail and could have done with some cutting down. The build up on the German spies doesn't lead to much and there isn't great conviction in the assertion that this was one intelligence victory which was the turning point of the war. There's a nagging feeling this book could have been so much more - waiting for the movie version though