The Oligarch’s Daughter, Joseph Finder Interview

Huge thanks to Joseph Finder and Heather Drucker at Harper Collins for early access to Finder's new novel The Oligarch's Daughter. This genre is relatively new to me and I fear I just set my expectations high! See the full, original blog post on The Strand Magazine website.

Buy the book directly from Blackwell's HERE.

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Synopsis:

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.

Rivaling 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.

Interview:

1. The inclusion of the Canary Doorbell Camera anchored the novel as set in the present day. Where do you stand in regard to using such modern technology as a plot device? Does it potentially reduce the ‘timeless’ quality of a storyline?

Ah, interesting question. I think that such modern-day details do anchor a story in the present and as such are narratively useful.  Same with mobile phones, I think to avoid them is to create an airless, artificial-seeming world that the reader will bump up against. I don’t worry that it reduces “timelessness”, I think it makes the world more real and immediate.

2. Where does your detailed knowledge of survivalist techniques come from? Did you do much research regarding this or was it all in your head already?

I was a Boy Scout, once upon a time, but I definitely researched this. I remember trying to start a fire by rubbing two sticks together and not having much success. So I found a couple of wilderness guides in New Hampshire who got together with me and taught me some techniques for surviving in the woods, including how to make a fire using a knife and a flint. Which I learned how to do.  Much easier than rubbing two sticks together. They told me what my hero, Paul, would have in his go-bag when he was forced to go on the run.

3. On that note, I really enjoyed how Paul’s survival knowledge came primarily from his father but also, as he sheepishly admits, from watching television shows. I’m a fan of The Outdoor Boys on YouTube and now firmly believe if I was dropped in the middle of Alaska I could give this whole surviving thing a red hot go. Do you consider yourself a survivalist or at least a keen outdoors person? Could you start a fire without a match/lighter? (I like to think I could but I’m not convinced!)

No, I’m good at the research and making it feel as real as possible to my readers, but I have to admit I am definitely not a survivalist. Nor even a keen outdoorsman. I like the comforts of home.  Paul Brightman feels the same way when his father, a survivalist, tries to recruit him into the survivalist lifestyle. Not for him. (And yes, I can start a fire without a match or lighter now. As long as I have a flint and a knife.)

4. I understand you have spoken with ‘oligarch adjacent’ people. Do you have any impressive anonymous stories? I’ll start. I’m from Cornwall in the South West of the UK. There is a mansion in Falmouth that an ‘oligarch’ purchased, rumour has it (confirmed by a close friend) that said ‘oligarch’ had an exact replica of the mansion built next door, down to the bedsheets, cutlery and all, purely to use the basement as a wine cellar.

The notion of two townhouses in Manhattan on the Upper East Side put together is very Russian oligarch. I also tracked down the captain of a superyacht who is often hired by Russian oligarchs to captain their yachts. He told me some great stories about the oligarchs he works for and what their passengers are like and what their yachts are like, replete with tanks full of lobsters and even submarines on board. The level of wealth these oligarchs displayed is extraordinary. They tend to show off their wealth in a way that American billionaires do not.

5. Speaking of wine, I noticed and cherished your various mentions of specific vintages and once in a lifetime wines and other alcohols. As an aspiring Bordeaux expert (it’s good to have a goal), I particularly loved the mention of the *somewhat pricey* 1989 Pétrus Pomerol. Have you had the opportunity to try this wine? If so, thoughts? Is it worth it? Also, beyond that, do you have another impressive favourite red or perhaps a whisky?

I've not actually tried a 1989 Petrus Pomerol but have heard it’s quite good. I do love Bordeaux wines, often drink Chateau Talbot’s wines, but I guess I’m more expert on California reds, especially cabernets. I recently had a great cab from Fantesca called All Great Things.

6. The true Arkady Galkin was a Russian Scientist, who passed away in 2017. What was your thought process for borrowing the name of a real person? Is this a nod to Paul stealing the identity of someone who couldn’t voice a complaint? It was certainly effective as I found the name really stuck in my head!

I actually didn’t know that – didn’t know there was a real Arkady Galkin! Thanks for pointing it out.

7. Furthermore, I thought it was genius of Paul/you to steal the identity of a coma patient. Do you know whether people/spies etc. really do this? If so I would like to volunteer my name for a top spy to use when I am long gone!

I talked to a number of experts in how to disappear, go off the grid, and I was told that taking the name of someone who’s in a nursing home long term is the safest thing to do. Apparently the old way that Frederick Forsyth did in Day of the Jackal — where you take the name of a child who died young and send away for his birth certificate and thereby get a passport — no longer works. It’s become harder to steal an identity. But not impossible.

8. A friend used to work on a Russian Superyacht and had to sign an NDA (of course). Allow me to ask the really important questions, if you are allowed to say…have you ever been on a Superyacht and if so can they truly fit an entire iMax cinema?

I have not been on a superyacht, but the superyacht captain I talked to told me that some of these yachts do have iMax cinemas on board along with wine cellars and lobster tanks and saunas and so on.

9. How did you research the level of detail you wrote about in the case of the bullet and the bullet wound, or did you already have this knowledge? If so, how?

I have a few medical experts in my proverbial Rolodex, particularly one old friend who runs an ER in Los Angeles and sees a lot of bullet wounds, and he told me what a bullet wound would feel like and how to remove it surgically — in the wilderness, not in a hospital!

10. What was your thought process behind keeping the chapters so short and snappy? Also, how do you ensure switching between time periods remains clear for the reader but keeps them in the dark just enough to leave some red herrings? I enjoyed this snappy format. It seems authors seem to be writing ever longer and longer chapters or ‘parts’ of a novel in an attempt perhaps to reinvent the wheel.

I really think everyone’s attention spans have shrunk in the age of the internet and TV, and therefore shorter chapters work better for most readers. I myself love small, bite-sized chapters where you’re reading late at night and you say, just one more chapter, it’s short... As for alternating timelines, that was kinda complicated, because I wrote each timeline separately and then had to figure out how to cut the two together in a way that made sense and wasn’t too confusing. It took some narrative engineering. But I thought it worked – at least, I hope it did.

11. I can tell you're a person of taste, from your Churchill and Lermontov references to your mention of Schitt’s Creek. Beyond your well known interest in and knowledge of Russia, spycraft, and the world of intelligence, what or who inspired you to write novels generally? Did you enjoy reading similar books as a child or youngster? What authors do you read now? Were or are there any people in your life you can see reflected by any of your fictional characters - intentionally or otherwise?

Thank you! I actually wanted to become a writer before I became interested in Russia. When I was around 10 I fell in love with a kid’s novel called The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet, loved it so much that I wrote to the author, Eleanor Cameron, and pestered her with all kinds of questions. We eventually had a back-and-forth pen-pal relationship for years. And that was my first realization that behind every novel was a human being making these narrative decisions. And I thought, I’d like a job like that.

Now I read widely, especially when I’m not writing. I read a lot of suspense fiction but also literary fiction, particularly fiction about families (I came from a family of 7 so I’m interested in family relationships). I read plenty of excellent suspense writers, from Stephen King to David Baldacci to Lee Child to Gillian Flynn to Dennis Lehane to Nelson DeMille to Michael Connelly . . . it’s a very long list, and I’ve left plenty out. My fictional characters are usually separate from people in my life, and yet on the other hand all of my fictional characters are based to some extent on people I’ve known.

12. Finally, Paul proves his espionage capabilities with the simple inclusion of, not just a plan B and C, but also a plan D. Considering that spycraft is largely (at least to me!) based on character rather than just experience and training, do you think you would make a good spy? If so, why?

No, I don’t think I’d make a good spy.  I’m too indiscreet – too much of a blabbermouth. But Paul Brightman – now, he’s good. That’s why he’s fictional: I can make him as good as I want.

Interview conducted by Becca Hughes.

Product Details

Published: January 28, 2025 by Harper Collins

ISBN: 9780063396029