DESERTED

TWO SOLDIERS. TWO TRAITORS. ONLY ONE TRUTH?

The Russian: Captain. Pilot. He defects with a state-of-the-art helicopter-and the blood of his comrades on his hands.
The Price: $500,000.
To the Ukrainians, he is a hero. To the Russians, he is a murderer. But in a courtroom, the truth is never what it seems.

The Ukrainian: Major. Tank Battalion Commander. Recipient of the Gold Star-Ukraine's highest military honor. He broke his oath for the love of his family.
To the Ukrainians, he is a traitor. To the Germans, he is a criminal.

WHAT ARE THEY TO YOU?

A German defense attorney caught in a maelstrom of government power plays and intelligence agency crossfire-while his own loyalties threaten to pull him into the abyss.

A battle erupts that Tryggvi Marnitz must fight far beyond the confines of a German courtroom. In a war where truth is the first casualty, justice becomes a deadly risk.

"The metal belongs to the state; the courage belongs to the man. The state can reclaim its metal-but to undo the rest, it must destroy the man himself."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Veikko Bartel doesn't just write legal thrillers-he has lived them. A graduate of a Soviet elite military academy, Bartel served as a First Lieutenant and was wounded in action multiple times. For over two decades, he was one of Germany's most prominent criminal defense attorneys, drawing from the experience of hundreds of murder trials. In DESERTED, he bridges the gap between his deep understanding of the Eastern military machine and the intricate mechanics of Western law. He is not an observer; he is an insider who knows the depths of power and betrayal firsthand. He doesn't just describe the abyss-he has stood on its edge.