“The Oligarch’s Daughter” by Joseph Finder is not my usual genre of reading – it is a spy/thriller/mystery novel and was a great change of pace for me. There were quite a few twists and turns in this story about Russian oligarchs and their involvement with governments and world finance. There are dual timelines in the novel – current day and 5 years in the past. The chapters are fairly short and the characters are believable and interesting. I couldn’t wait to see how it ended!
Grant Anderson is a talented boat builder in a small town in New Hampshire. He keeps mostly to himself, and enjoys the outdoor, quiet life. But one day, his life is upended when an enemy from the past tries to kill him. Grant goes on the run, not knowing who to trust, including friends and law enforcement. We discover that 5 years ago, Grant was really Paul Brightman – a financial broker for a Wall Street company, who did very well for himself. He met Tatyana, a beautiful, talented photographer – unaware that her father was a Russian oligarch. As Paul and Tatyana quickly built their relationship, Paul’s life began to spiral out-of-control. His father-in-law, Arkady Galkin, was not a man who accepted ‘no’ for an answer, and he was very persistent in his expectations for Paul. When murders began occurring, Paul escaped that life by changing his identity to Grant Anderson and by going into hiding as best as he could. Now, as Grant Anderson, he is on the run in the woods of New Hampshire and must find a way to get his life back.
“The Oligarch’s Daughter” definitely kept me turning the pages and was fast paced with terrific main characters. This spy thriller kept me wondering what Grant/Paul would do next and if he could evade the oligarch’s security, the KGB, the FBI and the CIA . . . and which of them were actually trustworthy!