A Conversation with with Joseph Finder
Celebrating The Oligarch's Daughter
I’m delighted for the chance to speak with award-winning, New York Times bestselling author Joseph Finder. Dubbed a “master of the modern thriller” by The Boston Globe, Joe is a longtime Russia aficionado and an expert in Russian spycraft and international affairs. It’s been five years since Finder’s last novel, House on Fire. He’s back in a big way with The Oligarch’s Daughter—a breakneck thriller that marries the dynastic opulence of Succession with the tense and disorienting spycraft of The Americans. The Oligarch’s Daughter harkens back to classic spy novels by John le Carré and Graham Greene and is something of a literary guidebook to the New Cold War — the frightening world we find ourselves living in now. The early buzz for this book is incredible. Booklist and Library Journal have both raved about it with starred reviews, and Stephen King tweeted saying everyone should read it.
The novel hits stores everywhere tomorrow—Tuesday, January 28th—and lucky us to have the chance to chat with Joe just before he hits the road on book tour this week. In fact, if you’re in the Atlanta area, go meet Joe in person this coming Saturday, February 1st at 1:00 PM where he will be in conversation with F&F’s own Mary Kay Andrews and Karin Slaughter at FoxTale Book Shoppe. You can get event details HERE.
In The Oligarch’s Daughter, Paul Brightman is a man on the run with a bounty on his head trying to evade Russian operatives who seem to predict his every move. That’s a tiny bit of what the book is about. Tell us more. And then, in true Friends & Fiction fashion, what is the book really about?
It’s really a love story combined with a chase novel. It’s the story of an American guy in New York who falls in love with a beautiful photographer not knowing she’s actually the daughter of a billionaire Russian oligarch. And by the time they’re engaged to be married, it’s too late to do anything about it. And then the FBI gets involved! And our hero’s life turns upside down.
What’s it really about? It’s a glimpse into a secret world. What’s it like to marry into a world of incalculable wealth? What if your father-in-law is an incredibly secretive, incredibly powerful and scary and highly suspicious man? And you dare to start reporting on him to the FBI? What would happen to you?
Russia is your area of expertise. Yet, you haven’t written a novel about Russia in years. Why now?
Because I wanted to write something fresh and interesting and I was tired of the same-old Russia-as-bad guy stories. I was watching some of the richest men in Russia, billionaires, buy up some of the biggest mansions in London and New York, acquire the biggest yachts, become merchant princes in the U.S. and U.K. and donate hospital wings and university libraries, and I thought, this is fascinating. They were buying up sports teams and newspapers. I mean, the son of a KGB agent-turned-oligarch sits in Parliament, in the House of Lords! This was a story that hadn’t been told before and I wanted to find a way to tell it in fiction.
Was this book begun prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? How did that war come to bear on your writing and the crafting of this story?
The war in Ukraine almost caused me to abandon the book! I started The Oligarch’s Daughter before the war started, when the oligarchs of the sort I wrote about were nearly royalty. And then Russia invaded Ukraine and suddenly the oligarchs were non-persons, sanctioned, forced to leave the U.S. and other western cities. I thought, Oh crap, this story doesn’t work anymore. Until I realized that I could do two separate timelines, one before and one during the war, and it would make the story so much deeper and richer.
What research did you have to do for this novel? Do you know any Russian oligarchs? Been aboard any superyachts?
I didn’t talk to anyone who’d call himself an oligarch, but I talked to people you might call “oligarch-adjacent.” That is, people who know or worked for oligarchs and were willing to talk. I got some great details that way. I also tracked down a superyacht captain, who’s often hired to pilot superyachts for Russian oligarchs—and who was willing to talk. He was a great source, because he usually had dinner aboard the ship with his oligarch clients and passengers, and he knew everything about what these amazing boats were like and what kind of food they’d serve. He told me that on several yachts he worked on, there were actual submarines inside the yachts’ tender garages.
You spent a long time crafting this novel and a long time with these characters—Paul, Tatyana, Arkady—living in your head. What inspired them? And do they feel real to you by now?
Paul started for me with the idea of a guy living under an alias in a small town in New Hampshire, living in hiding, on the run. Was that even possible these days, I wondered, with CCTV cameras and Google and Facebook? And if it was possible, who would he be hiding from? Who was he? How would he be able to live in hiding for five years? What kind of skills would he have? So Paul grew that way until I had a full biography figured out, a full personality profile, until he became a full-fledged person to me. And then I wondered who, and why, he’d fall in love with a photographer named Tatyana who is herself sort of living in hiding—many of her friends have no idea she’s the daughter of a Russian oligarch. I wondered what she was like, what her childhood was like, what it was like growing up in such a wealthy family. Her father, Arkady, was based on a couple of real-life oligarchs, but also based on some older Russian men I’ve met. I really enjoyed creating the character of Arkady, who is genial and down-to-earth and plain-spoken but also mercurial and brilliant and kind of scary. They feel totally real to me by now.
You have a degree in Russian studies from Yale where you graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. You have a graduate degree from Harvard’s Russian Research Center. You speak several languages including Russian. You serve on the Council on Foreign Relations. Tell us—with a background like this, did the CIA ever come calling?
Oh, sure. The CIA recruited me, as they recruit people with my background, and for a while I was interested, I’ll admit it. Until I realized that if I went to work for the CIA I’d be sitting at a cubicle translating Soviet economic journals from Russian to English and becoming an expert on the sorghum harvest in Uzbekistan or something. And that just struck me as boring. Far more interesting if I made it up.
You are a founding member of International Thriller Writers, an organization that has now been around for two decades. Tell us what role ITW has played in your career and why community is so important to writers?
ITW is an incredible organization that I wish had been around when I was starting out. I didn’t know anyone, didn’t know any agents, didn’t know how to get published. I didn’t even know how to write a novel. Now this organization exists that connects aspiring writers with established, bestselling writers, that offers classes and lessons for writers just starting out or in mid-career. Now I think of ITW as my way to pay it forward, to help younger writers the way older writers helped me along the way.
Two of your novels have been made into major motion pictures. High Crimes was adapted into the hit 2002 movie starring Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman. Paranoia became the 2013 film starring Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, and Liam Hemsworth. Tell us what that process was like seeing your work adapted for the screen. And what was your involvement in the process? Any nibbles from Hollywood on your new book?
It’s cool, of course, having a book adapted into a movie. It’s a fascinating process, because you have to take a 400 page book and reduce it to a 120 page double-spaced script, which involves cutting all kinds of scenes and characters and making a coherent reduced form of a much longer narrative. Not that I did that; the screenwriters did. When I wrote the novel High Crimes, I had a picture of Morgan Freeman above my desk just so I could get his voice down—and how amazing to have the actual Morgan Freeman play the role in the movie! I wasn’t involved in adapting either of those movies; writers more skilled than I in screenwriting did it. Yes, The Oligarch’s Daughter has been optioned to a great production company for a TV series, but I’m not allowed to divulge details yet. Soon, I hope.
What are you working on next? Do readers have more Russian spycraft to look forward to? Are there more Nick Heller thrillers in the pipeline?
I’m writing the beginning of another series, with a continuing character, set in the U.S., and with some Russian spycraft involved. I’m sure I’ll be getting back to Nick, a character I love writing, soon.
You’re headed out this week on a big book tour. What are you most looking forward to with getting back out on the road for The Oligarch’s Daughter?
Most of all I’m looking forward to connecting with readers, which I haven’t done in five whole years, which for me is an eternity. I love talking with readers about what they most enjoyed about the book, what questions they might have. We sit alone in a room writing these books, so it’s a rare privilege to get to meet the readers, and I always enjoy it.
Tell us how our community can connect with you online. And can they order autographed books anywhere if they miss you in-person on your book tour?
I’m pretty available online. You can sign up for my newsletter HERE. And connect with me on Facebook, @josephfinder. And on Twitter, @joefinder. And Instagram, @josephfinderbooks. You can buy autographed copies from these bookstores HERE. And see all my tour stops HERE.
About the Author
Joseph Finder is the New York Times bestselling author of fifteen suspense novels, including House on Fire, The Fixer, and Suspicion. Two of his novels have been adapted into major motion pictures—Paranoia (starring Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman) and High Crimes (starring Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman). Four more have won the industry’s top best novel awards—Killer Instinct (the International Thriller Writers Award), Buried Secrets (the Strand Critics Award); Guilty Minds (the Barry Award), and Company Man (the Barry Award). Finder lives in Boston, Massachusetts.
About the Book
“Any new novel by Joseph Finder is a ticket to reading pleasure, and this one is hands down his best ever.”—Stephen King
“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
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 spycraft 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 U.S. intelligence agencies. Now, to save his own life, Paul must unravel a decades-old conspiracy that extends to the highest reaches of the government.
Rivaling the classic spy novels of the Cold War, The Oligarch’s Daughter is built for the frightening world we live in now.
Stay in Touch!
Subscribe to our PODCAST.
Join our FACEBOOK group.
Follow us on INSTAGRAM.
Subscribe to our YOUTUBE channel.
Find details about everything F&F on our WEBSITE.
Shop our guests’ & hosts’ books in our shop on BOOKSHOP.
Join the F&F Official BOOK CLUB with Brenda & Lisa.
Upgrade to our PAID Subscription for bonus content from our hosts and guests.
 | A guest post by
|
New author for me and the book sounds fantastic! Thanks for the interview, Meg!