Thrillers aren’t really my thing, but I love novels set in Russia or involving Russians, especially when the author actually knows something about Russia, its language, and its history—long-ago or recent. The Oligarch’s Daughter certainly meets those criteria. Joseph Finder was kind enough to answer my questions about his latest novel in this interview, so read on to find out more.
You have written many thrillers. What inspired this one?
I was fascinated by the rise of the billionaire Russian oligarch in the United States and the United Kingdom, the merchant princes who left Russia and acquired the grandest real estate in London or New York, the biggest yachts and private jets, who donated vastly to universities and museums and hospitals. They were the new Medicis—at the same time as hostilities with Russia were increasing. I found that an interesting paradox. And I wondered what it might be like to marry the child of one of these oligarchs—how your life would change.
The first character we meet is Grant Anderson. What can you tell us about him, as we become acquainted with him in that opening chapter?
We know very little about Grant as we meet him—just that he’s a shipbuilder and carpenter, that he’s been living in this small town in New Hampshire for five years, and that his relationship with his girlfriend, Sarah, is difficult because he’s so private. He’s a man of mystery. By the end of the first chapter, we see something more alarming about Grant—that he’s quite capable of taking care of himself.
Grant is soon on the run. What do readers need to know about these events?
We need to know that Grant is on the run from some unspecified Russians, that they want him dead. And we don’t know why, though gradually we’ll find out. We learn that he’s escaping through the woods of New Hampshire, forest that he knows fairly well, and that he has to leave his girlfriend behind, that he has provided for her safety and hopes she listens to his instructions, or else she could get killed as well.
Grant has a higher level of survival skills than one might expect—because of his father, it turns out. How did that come about?
Grant has long been estranged from his father, an eccentric loner who lives in the woods, ever since his mother’s death. But one thing he credits his father with is teaching him how to live and survive in nature, something his father learned in Vietnam. Of course, it’s been years since his father taught him these skills, and naturally he’s rusty. He makes mistakes, some of which endanger his survival.
Part 2 throws us back six years to a meeting with Paul Brightman, a young man starting his career on Wall Street. Tell us a bit about him.
Paul Brightman is a young finance guy who’s attending a charity fundraiser and meets a woman he thinks is one of the cater-waiters—and is immediately attracted to her. Paul is bright and charismatic and ambitious, but he’s a little uncomfortable at stuffy fundraisers and is looking for an excuse to cut out of there.
At the party where we encounter Paul for the first time, he runs into Tatyana Belkin. How does she present herself in those initial meetings?
Tatyana comes from a Russian background, and Paul learned a little Russian in college, so he tries it out on her. She lives in a modest apartment in the East Village and is a talented photographer. Tatyana is so refreshingly different from the women Paul has met or been fixed up with that he finds her immediately appealing—as well as cute. They hit it off right away. He assumes she’s working as a waitress and doesn’t have a lot of money.
But as hinted by the title, that’s not quite the whole story, as Paul soon discovers. What has Tatyana concealed from Paul, and why?
As Tatyana will eventually reveal to Paul after they’ve gone out for months, her father is a billionaire Russian oligarch who lives in the largest private townhouse in Manhattan. Tatyana didn’t want Paul to know because she’s afraid her extraordinary wealth will screw up their relationship—and indeed it does.
The Oligarch’s Daughter has just come out. Are you already working on a new book?
Oh, yes. I’m always working on a new book. I’ve been working on this one, the beginning of a new series, for a few years already. But it’s hard to write when you’re just about to publish a book. So you do what you can.
Thank you so much for answering my questions!
Joseph Finder is the New York Times bestselling author of sixteen previous suspense novels, including The Switch, a stand-alone thriller, and Guilty Minds, the third to feature “private spy” Nick Heller. Joe’s novels High Crimes (1998) and Paranoia (2004) have been adapted as major motion pictures. A founding member of the International Thriller Writers, Joe is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Association of Former Intelligence Officers. Find out more about him and his books at https://josephfinder.com.
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