Truth is Stranger than Fiction

But fiction sells. . .

Back in 2014, I pitched my book Hitler’s Aristocrats: The Secret Power Players in Britain and the United States Who Supported the Nazis 1923–1941 based on my belief that we had already entered a dangerous a period in international affairs similar to the world of the early 1930s. Why? Putin had invaded Crimea and a property developer, Donald Trump, had declared himself as a presidential candidate. I had met Mr Trump Property Developer and knew the lurid tales about him since I worked in hotel development in New York in the day. I’d seen for myself that he was readily susceptible to flattery and manipulation. My opinion was that he was a bully, narcissist, loathsome, and dangerous. But that was just me. Neither my editor nor my agent agreed. When I got the green light at long last in 2021 for Hitler’s Aristocrats – with history firmly behind us and Trump 2 potentially looming, I was equally certain the book would stand out as an allegory for the horrors of what Trump 2 could bring to Americans and the world.

Boy was I wrong! Hitler’s Aristocrats was non-fiction. Meaning historical fact. It was published at the beginning of the long slide of non-fiction and history (as opposed to what the Heritage Foundation and Project 2025 believes is real history) in the United States. And that bothered me. Surely America was smarter than electing him a second time?

Mr Trump, more than any other person, has changed my writing career. I now write fiction since non-fiction is dead in the USA unless you’re writing a self-help book or a Primer for Dummies.

So, I thought I’d share a fictional political thriller blurb and short synopsis this week – the kind of thing any aspiring writer of novels needs to write to attract a literary agent. I’ve changed names (sort of) to protect the guilty. For those who don’t know, my protagonist, Virginia Dare, was the name of the first European child born in North America who mysteriously disappeared before adulthood. Another allegory for the loss of innocence. Hm.

I’m sure this political thriller titled Kompromat would have been published back in 2014:

Back Cover Blurb for Kompromat:

The Russians have placed their man in the White House and surrounded him with their sleepers as his advisors. Through their past successes using kompromat the Russian President has upped his game and ensnared the wealthiest men, the most powerful American and British politicians, and their ‘princes of darkness’ into the international scandalous sex-trafficking and paedophile network masterminded by a man known only as JE. Virginia Dare, a former victim turned international investigative journalist has some of the evidence to expose everything but needs more. The FBI and other federal agencies have been compromised, so Virginia contacts the only person she knows she can trust: her dead father’s best friend, ‘Harry’, at MI6. Together they reveal a twenty-plus-year long plot to destroy the West.

I could go on. Usually blurbs are 150 words, but let’s stop at 124. Synopses are generally devoid of hyperbole and just tell the broad brushstrokes of the story. I apologise in advance if you think this synopsis has too much hyperbole. It is 834 words for three books, but only 496 words for book 1:

Synopsis:

In Kompromat, the first book in this series, the Russian president Ivan Nitupsky is an ex-KGB officer who honed his skills in kompromat alongside the East German Stasi before the breakup of the Soviet Union. He is dedicated to the re-establishment of his homeland’s former glory by reinventing history. Ivan knows that all men have weaknesses but to succeed he must cast his net widely and take over the US political arena. The one thing he can be sure of is any noteworthy American politician or CEO suffers from the Power and Greed Syndrome (PGS). The British are suckers for royalty. Ivan’s investment network outside Russia makes use of the convicted felon and former Attorney General under Nixon, John Mitchell. Through Mitchell and friends, Ivan is introduced to JE (pronounced ‘Gee’), an investment advisor and troubleshooter to the rich and famous. JE also has a penchant for sex-trafficking, underage girls and honeytraps. He’s an ace with the camera, too. Luckily, JE is Jewish which plays to the Russian belief – and Ivan hopes a world belief once again – that there is a Jewish plot to take over the world. (Future felon Mitchell, centre below. President Nixon, left.)

Ivan plays a careful long game and funds JE for years. Ivan instructs JE to gather kompromat on the man he wants to be president of the United States as early as 1980: let’s call the American DDT, like the outlawed insecticide. Enter: Virginia Dare who had been sexually abused while working at DDT’s hotel (she lied about her age to get a job as a masseuse) and was ‘stolen away’ by JE. JE and DDT seemingly fall out over this, but that’s just their cover story.

Kompromat is continually passed from Ivan to JE then on to DDT who reads Hitler’s speeches before going to bed, according to his wife, in preparation for his future. Russian sleepers, calling themselves the ‘new right political advisors’ in the USA, give kompromat to DDT against the main grandees in the Republican Party. Meanwhile, the Hollywood sex scandal ‘Me Too’ takes off against another ‘bad actor’ and Jew. Ivan spices up the instability of the American social structure and spreads the concept of ‘Woke’ through his agents. This is the signal to his sleepers in powerful positions to awake in support of DDT. They spread the message ‘Woke is Weak’. As part of the plot, DDT and JE agree that they should sever their relations but will keep in touch through Ivan’s sleepers.

Virginia and Harry discover enough material for JE to stand trial on sex-trafficking of underaged girls and he is convicted. Unfortunately, all international plans have flaws, and JE’s imprisonment comes at a bad time. It is decided by Ivan that JE must be eliminated to save DDT as he runs for president a second time. JE is found dead ‘of suicide’. DDT wins the election. Virginia wins her first Pulitzer Prize and Harry briefs GCHQ that worse is to come.

In Book 2: Virginia and Harry decide not to look into the death of JE. Instead, they investigate about the kompromat through JE’s procuress and ex-girlfriend Ghi Ghi (pronounced ‘Gigi’). Ghi Ghi is also convicted of sex-trafficking offenses and is sentenced to twenty-years in prison. She leaks to Virginia and Harry in a fit of anger that the full JE archive is in Ivan’s hands – so she’s not saying anything. She hints that they must follow the money – not the documents – if they want to break the case open. They follow the twists and turns around the world and are shocked by the ‘aristocrats’ involved. Through their endeavours, members of the Royal Family come into disrepute and are stripped of their titles. Virginia Dare is awarded a second Pulitzer Prize, and Harry briefs GCHQ that the scandal is much bigger than the Cambridge Spies story. But there’s still more. . .

In Book 3: DDT is back in the White House, wielding his sword against the Constitution and Bill of Rights. The scope of Ivan’s kompromat becomes clearer as millions of documents are reluctantly released, but none of the videos or other recordings that Virginia and Harry know still exist have surfaced. DDT aims to cancel the Midterms through a cunning plan: widespread insurrection across the USA thanks to ICE so he can legally stop the elections and seize power indefinitely.

In Britain, the Labour Party’s ultimate ‘prince of darkness’ comes under scrutiny for sharing national security documents with JE, and his ties to Ivan come to light. DDT – now on the verge of senility – tells the world that he and hundreds of Republicans are in the pay of Ivan. The United States has been disavowed by its post-Second World War allies, but the European Union is too weak to resist Ivan. Russia reconquers all its former territories and anyone who has worked against them is declared an enemy of the state. (Below image of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, left; Peter Mandelson aka ‘prince of darkness’, right).

There could be a book 4 (DDT redevelops Gaza into a Mediterranean resort for billionaires with the help of his ‘Board of Peace’), book 5 (Virginia Dare survives two assassination attempts from the Republican party), book 6 (DDT dies a natural death and is buried – along with the Constitution – in Arlington National Cemetery while America becomes a vassal state of Russia). But. . . there’s only so much sleaze even an inventive author of international crime thrillers can bear.

Of course, what I’ve written here is pure fiction. What I wrote in Hitler’s Aristocrats was pure fact. You might think it’s the other way around, but I couldn’t possibly comment.