The Oligarch’s Daughter
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The Poisoned Pen
Published by: Harper
Release Date: January 28, 2025
Pages: 448
ISBN13: 978-0063396012
About
From the New York Times bestselling author of House on Fire, a breakneck thriller that marries the dynastic opulence of Succession with the tense and disorienting spy craft of The Americans.
Paul Brightman is a man on the run, living under an assumed name in a small New England town with a million-dollar bounty on his head. When his security is breached, Paul is forced to flee into the New Hampshire wilderness to evade Russian operatives who can seemingly predict his every move.
Six years ago, Paul was a rising star on Wall Street who fell in love with a beautiful photographer named Tatyana—unaware that her father was a Russian oligarch and the object of considerable interest from several US intelligence agencies. Now, to save his own life, Paul must unravel a decades-old conspiracy that extends to the highest reaches of the government.
Rivalling the classic spy novels of the Cold War, The Oligarch’s Daughter is a breakneck thriller built for the frightening world we live in now.
Praise
"Any new novel by Joseph Finder is a ticket to reading pleasure, and this one is hands down his best ever."
—Stephen King
"Nobody does man-on-the-run, excruciatingly suspenseful thrillers better than Joseph Finder. . . Deep characterization, cliff-hanger suspense, and a wealth of information ranging from Russian spies to survival in the woods and in public spaces make this one of Finder’s best."
—Booklist (Starred Review)
"Joseph Finder has been one of the undisputed masters of the thriller genre for decades, and The Oligarch's Daughter is among his very best! It's a taut, emotional, and intelligent novel told at a breakneck pace that will keep readers fanning the pages till the end."
—Mark Greaney, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Chaos Agent, a Gray Man Novel
"Joseph Finder has written some of the finest spy novels of our time, and he just keeps getting better. The Oligarch’s Daughter, his latest, rockets the reader into the terrifying story of Paul Brightman, who innocently falls in love with a Russian oligarch’s daughter and finds his life brutally overturned—forced to live under a false name, pursued by Russian killers, and forced to confront a malevolent conspiracy within the US government itself. On display is Finder’s intricate and fascinating knowledge of spycraft, Russia, and intelligence. I highly, highly recommend this unrelenting thriller!"
—Douglas Preston, #1 New York Times bestselling co-author, with Lincoln Child, of the Pendergast novels
"Finder is back! Breakneck action, compelling guy-next-door protagonist and riveting modern day geopolitics equal a truly breathless Joe Finder thriller, let alone a dash of romance and one of the best wilderness action scenes ever. Come for the twisty plot, stay for the compelling character!"
—Lisa Gardner, #1 New York Times bestselling author
"This is Finder at his finest—a perfect everyman-in-peril story, first building an ominous drumbeat of menace, then exploding in action and intrigue and triumph. As good as it gets."
—Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Jack Reacher series
"The pages seem to propel themselves … Finder is a superb storyteller."
—David Baldacci
"The Firm on steroids—the kind of book the phrase page-turner was invented for."
—Linwood Barclay, internationally bestselling author of I Will Ruin You
"A pitch-perfect spy novel—flawless pacing, richly drawn characters, and a plot that never quits. These pages practically turn themselves."
—Karin Slaughter, New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling author
"The Oligarch's Daughter has that distinctive trait of classic thrillers: it captures this moment, when Russian oligarchs in gilded townhouses and superyachts occupy the imagination as Russian spies once did. Joseph Finder, one of the true masters of the genre, cracks open this world with an irresistible setup, a breathless fugitive-on-the-run story, and a villain menacing and memorable enough to power the whole thing. Don't miss this one."
—William Landay, New York Times bestselling author of Defending Jacob
Excerpt
Until that day, Grant had never killed anyone. He had thought about it before, of course, the way you imagine the worst thing you could do if you had to. You rehearse it in your dreams, in your unconscious. Inwardly, you debate.
How far would I go?
Grant’s girlfriend was helping him cook dinner, the night before it happened. She was Sarah Harrison. She taught first grade in the town’s elementary school and was sweet and gentle with a core of steel. He’d been attracted to her since the first time he met her, at the Starlite Diner five years ago. But there remained a distance between the two of them. Entirely his fault. He cared about her, but there was too much he couldn’t tell her about himself.
Sarah was making a salad while he kept watch on a chicken roasting in the oven. The kitchen of the old farmhouse was big and comfortable and cluttered—red-and-white linoleum floor, a tin-topped dining table, wood-paneled walls. He’d restored the house himself, mostly, doing the carpentry in his boat shop. The whole kitchen smelled of roasting garlic, an aroma Grant loved.
As she chopped, Sarah told him about her day. “This girl threw up on the stairs during dismissal, and I sent her out to her mom,” she said. “The mom was so pissed off she called the school to complain that her daughter had vomit on her shirt. ‘Why didn’t you clean her up before sending her out?’ she said. So I get yelled at, and meanwhile, I had to clean up this giant pile of barf.” Sarah was tall and slim and had shoulder-length chestnut-brown hair and cognac-brown eyes, and she was wearing her old UNH sweats, maroon with fraying cuffs. (It was a chilly evening.)
Grant tried not to laugh, but then she did, a rueful laugh, which made it okay.
“How was your week?” Sarah said. “Tim still refusing to pay you a deposit?” A local fisherman named Tim Ogilvy had brought in a bare-hull fiberglass boat for Grant to finish out but refused to pay until the work was done.
“Today I told him either he gives me a couple hundred bucks for materials or I’ll put his boat in the yard and chain her to a tree.”