‘The Oligarch’s Daughter’ by Joseph Finder

Published by Head of Zeus Ltd,
13 February 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-83893058-5 (HB)

Paul Brightman is a well-regarded Wall Street trader with some impressive deals to his name when he meets Tatyana at an exhibition of her photography.   They fall in love and then Paul discovers that her father, Arkady, is a Russian oligarch.  Paul gets on well with Arkady and, with his blessing, marries Tatyana.  Their main difficulties centre on how to avoid a typical oligarch wedding (they get married in secret), but other gifts prove more difficult to refuse.  And then Arkady offers Paul a job in his own financial company.  What could go wrong?  Well, Paul soon begins to find out.

When the reader first meets him, Paul is living under an assumed name in a small New England town – for the past six years he has been a fugitive with a price on his head.  But his security is breached, and he runs for his life aiming to get to the New Hampshire wilderness to escape the Russians or whoever else might be after him.  As a boy, Paul’s father had taught him survival techniques and he recalls his father giving him instructions as he tries to employ these in his efforts to remain alive and at liberty.  His father’s reputation also ensures that he receives invaluable help in his flight.  Paul uses his somewhat rusty skills to deal with frightening and claustrophobic situations and is forced to rely on people who might not have his well-being at heart.  As he tries to understand what has been going on and who, among an increasing field, is responsible for the situation in which he finds himself, he starts to reveal some surprising and shocking answers.

The story is told in a series of current/past sections, as Paul’s life is patched together, and his experiences start to make some sort of sense.  It is well-paced, the tension being maintained by periods of fast–moving and high anxiety flight interspersed with slow, quiet and frightening periods of pursuit.  Apart from the revelations about who is actually after Paul, the background story, includes descriptions of oligarch life, and quietly emphasises the roles of family and family loyalties.  It’s an interesting book to read in current circumstances.
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Reviewer: Jo Hesslewood
Other books by this author:  House on Fire, Judgement, The Fixer, Guilty Minds, The Switch

Joseph Finder was born in Chicago  and spent his early childhood living around the world, including Afghanistan and the Philippines. In fact, Joe's first language -- even before English -- was Farsi, which he spoke as a child in Kabul. Finally, after a stint in Bellingham, WA, his family finally settled outside of Albany, NY.  After taking a high school seminar on the literature and history of Russia, Joseph went on to major in Russian studies at Yale. He then completed a master's degree at the Harvard Russian Research Center, and later taught on the Harvard faculty. He was recruited to the Central Intelligence Agency but eventually decided he preferred writing fiction.  In 2006 he won the International Thriller Writers Award for Best Novel for Killer Instinct. Now a bestselling thriller writer, Jo in addition to his fiction, does occasional work for Hollywood and has written on espionage and international affairs for a number of publications, including TheDailyBeast.com, Forbes, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The New Republic. He roots for the Boston Red Sox and lives in Boston with his wife, daughter, and a needy golden retriever, Mia, a dropout from seeing-eye-dog school.

http://www.josephfinder.com

Jo Hesslewood.  Crime fiction has been my favourite reading material since as a teenager I first spotted Agatha Christie on the library bookshelves.  For twenty-five years the commute to and from London provided plenty of reading time.  I am fortunate to live in Cambridge, where my local crime fiction book club, Crimecrackers, meets at Heffers Bookshop .  I enjoy attending crime fiction events and currently organise events for the Margery Allingham Society.