Jörg
H. Trauboth, born in 1943 near Berlin, logged over two thousand flight
hours as a Weapon Systems Officer Instructor in the Luftwaffe, flying
PHANTOM F-4F / RF-4E and TORNADO fighter jets, and over 3000 hours in
light aircraft. At the age of fifty, he left the service with the rank
of Colonel in the General Staff. He received training as a Special Risk
Consultant from the English Control Risk Group and served as Managing
Director Germany, dealing with extortion and kidnapping cases in South
America and Eastern Europe. Shortly thereafter, he founded his own
consulting firm, quickly establishing an outstanding international
reputation. Trauboth protected his clients with a 24-hour task force
during product extortions, product recalls, kidnappings, and image
crises. He was the first President of the European Crisis Management
Academy in Vienna and President of the American Yankee Association.
He
is known as a respected expert in the media on security-related topics.
He volunteers as an emergency counselor and is a member of the Crisis
Intervention Team (KIT Bonn) of the German Foreign Office. He is a
private pilot, married, with two sons and three grandchildren.
In 2002, Trauboth wrote the now out of print standard work “Crisis Management for Company Threats”.
In
2016 the follow-up work was published with Jörg H. Trauboth as editor
in collaboration with five authors: “Crisis Management in Companies and
Public Institutions”.
Terror
expert J. H. Trauboth presented his debut novel in 2015 with the
Germany thriller “Three Brothers”. (Available in English). In 2019
“Operation Jerusalem” followed and in 2020 “Omega”. The trilogy is about
the former elite soldier Marc Anderson and his team. With these three
self-contained thrillers, Trauboth is rated by many readers as the
“German Tom Clancy.” The trilogy is available as a printed edition,
eBook and audio book.
His
first detective novel, “Jakobs Weg” (German), followed in 2021. The
highly explosive topic of “sexual abuse of children” is processed
sensitively in a scenario on the Way of Saint James and at the end
offers contact options for those seeking help.
In
2022, the novella “Bonjour Saint-Ex” was published (German) in which
the passionate pilot Jörg H. Trauboth turns the last flight of the
legend Antoine de Saint Exupéry into an exciting literary event.
Readers
wanted a sequel to the Marc Anderson series. In 2023, ZarenTod – Das
Ende der Präsidenten was published, a highly topical political thriller.
The Russian president and new tsar, Ivan Pavlenko, suddenly shows his
true face during the war in Ukraine. He wants the old Soviet Union back.
The world is on the brink. The influential oligarch, Alexei Sokolov,
wants to prevent Ivan’s megalomaniac plans and is planning a fundamental
new beginning for Russia. To achieve this, the Russian president must
be removed. But the plan goes awry. Ex-elite soldier Marc Anderson
intervenes. Will Czar Ivan die? What will become of Europe? The book 8/
2024 in English „The Death of the Kremlin Czar” is the fourth political
thriller in the Marc Anderson series.
Website & Social Media:
Website ➜ https://trauboth-autor.de/english/
Twitter ➜ https://twitter.com/JorgTrauboth
Can you tell us what your book, The Death of the Kremlin Czar, is about?
The Russian president and self-proclaimed new Czar, Ivan Pavlenko, is
revealing his true colors in the Ukraine war—he seeks a direct conflict
with NATO. Russia and the world teeter on the brink of disaster.
Influential oligarch Alexei Sokolov, determined to stop Ivan’s
megalomaniacal ambitions, envisions a new beginning for Russia.
But for his plan to succeed, the Russian president must die. There's
just one problem: Alexei’s lover is Yulia, Ivan’s partner. Sensing
betrayal, Ivan grows suspicious. While en route to Moscow, the plane
carrying Alexei and Yulia is hijacked. Crisis teams in Berlin,
Washington, and Kiev are
drawn into the escalating drama. Fighter jets scramble, their pilots
prepared to shoot the plane down if necessary. A struggle erupts in the
cockpit, leaving the Boeing without a pilot. On board is former elite
soldier Marc Anderson, who, together with Alexei, must attempt an
emergency landing in Vilnius to save the hundred passengers. But as the
clock ticks down, the question looms: will the plane land safely, and
will the world finally be free of its aggressor?
Can you tell us a little about your main and supporting characters?
The book is part of the Marc Anderson thriller series. Marc, a former
elite soldier in Germany’s Special Forces, now runs his own security
consulting firm. Despite being only 39, his legendary missions with the
SEALs have earned him a formidable reputation. He isn’t a Rambo type,
but a thoughtful and sensitive character, revealing different facets of
himself. In this book, he grapples with self-doubt, questioning whether
he can fly a plane at all, but ultimately rises to the challenge. I’m
sending him on a hero’s journey, inspired by the framework of American
mythologist Joseph Campbell.
His wife, Jelke, is a reserved, somewhat fragile woman, but she steps up at a critical moment to help Marc.
Ivan Pavlenko mirrors the current Russian president as we know
him from the media: short, power-obsessed, intelligent, ruthless, and
deeply insecure. His vulnerability lies in his immense pride, which
becomes his Achilles' heel. Like all dictators, he craves equal footing
with global power players but lives in constant fear, making him a
paranoid and extremely dangerous individual.
Alexei Sokolov, an oligarch and favorite of the Russian
president, has grown wealthy under his protection. But since the war in
Ukraine, he’s begun to doubt the president’s mental stability and plots
to kill him in order to seize power with a small faction. Alexei is
clever, well-read, and Western-oriented, though somewhat naive—thinking
his affair with Ivan’s partner, Yulia, will go unnoticed.
Yulia, Ivan’s partner and mother of two boys, is an
attractive, passionate woman who’s deeply in love with Alexei. She lives
with him and her sons in Monaco, having chosen to stay with Alexei
despite her fear of Ivan’s retribution. In the surprising climax, Yulia
reveals unexpected inner strength.
US President George F. Summerhill is a fictional character who
embodies the ideal traits of a sovereign national and world leader.
Throughout the Marc Anderson series, he remains the most consistently
admirable president.
Kryptos, the CIA director, is an eccentric character with a
more supporting role, but crucial to the plot as he aids Alexei. The
president relies heavily on Kryptos, knowing that if he fails, the
presidency could unravel.
Ukrainian President Bohdan Sapronov is modeled closely after
the real-life president—once an actor, now a fierce defender of his
nation, completely reliant on Western support.
Similarly, German Chancellor Kai Schuster is portrayed as a weak leader with poor crisis management skills, walking a fine line to avoid provoking the Russian president.
Summary: Most of the characters are thinly veiled versions of
real-world figures, with only the names changed. It’s like reading a
newspaper, leaving you to wonder why the real story doesn’t end like
this fictional one.
Your book is set across Europe as well as Moscow and Washington. Can you tell us why you chose these locations?
The book is a political thriller set against the backdrop of the war
in Ukraine, which is why its action unfolds across European capitals, as
well as in Moscow and Washington. The love scenes between Alexei and
Yulia take place aboard an oligarch's yacht in Turkey. The yacht also
houses a submarine, where Alexei and CIA Director Krypot plot an
assassination of the Russian president. For my romantic readers, I’ve
chosen a small, picturesque hotel in the Apennine mountains of Italy,
where Yulia and Alexei share their final night of love after an
emergency helicopter landing, before heading to Russia.
How long did it take you to write your book?
I initially spent six months researching and flew my small plane, a
Grumman Tiger AA5B, to Kiev, Crimea, Poland, and the Baltic states.
Berlin, Moscow, and Washington were already familiar to me from my
professional work. Once I started writing, I was completely in the flow,
and the book was completed in about four months.
What has been the most pivotal point of your writing life?
At the end of a kidnapping case, where I was advising the family of
the kidnapped daughter, I was overwhelmed by the experience and decided
to turn the story into a novel. The result was Three Brothers, a
book that was so successful it became the start of the Marc Anderson
series. And the magic of continuing the story hasn’t stopped since.
What kind of advice would you give up and coming authors?
That depends on your goal. Are you writing for yourself, your family,
or the public? I write for the public, always following a plan. It's
important to know the beginning and the end; don't write without
direction, as the risk of losing both yourself and your reader is high.
Crafting good literature is an art. Learn to write in a captivating
language and master the literary tools to engage your reader from start
to finish.
Be meticulous with facts. In today's Google-driven world, mistakes
are never forgotten. Once you've finished your book, give it to someone
you trust for feedback. Don’t hesitate to use AI to enhance your
language and correct mistakes—nothing more.
Remember, when you're finally satisfied with your work, the real
challenge begins: marketing. Whether you have a publisher, buy
services, or handle it on your own, know that doing it all by yourself
makes achieving great success more difficult. But don't be discouraged.
No one can take away the fact that you've created something truly
special. Best of luck! If you have questions, I will be happy to answer:
trauboth.autor@gmail.com
Inside the Book
Title: The Death of the Kremlin Czar
Author: Jörg H. Trauboth
Publication Date: August 26, 2024
Pages: 443
Genre: Thriller
Russian
President and new Czar Ivan Pavlenko suddenly shows his true colors
during the war in Ukraine. He wants the old Soviet Union back. The world
is on the brink. The influential oligarch Alexei Sokolov wants to
prevent Ivan’s megalomaniacal plans and is planning a fundamental new
beginning for Russia. To achieve this, the Russian president must die.
How will the US President react to the CIA’s proposal to support the
oligarch, who has a romantic relationship with the Russian President’s
partner, Yulia?
The
poison attack is perfectly prepared, but the Boeing with the oligarch
Alexei Sokolow, his lover and over 100 passengers on board is hijacked
by a Ukrainian terrorist and is supposed to crash over Berlin after
knocking out the crew by shooting. Former elite soldier Marc Anderson is
on board with his family and takes over with Alexei. The two flight
amateurs try to get control. Will the landing and the assassination
succeed or will the Kremlin Czar strike back brutally after realizing
the role of Yulia?
The Death of the Kremlin Czar is available at Amazon (U.S. edition) and Amazon (German edition).
