A Dangerous, Forbidden Love – The Oligarch’s Daughter

Paul Brightman was killing it on Wall Street, making deals that impressed his bosses and made millions for his firm. Attending a charity affair, he’s attracted to a young woman he mistakes for a member of the service staff. Tatyana tells him she’s an artist and was born in Russia. Paul has had other girlfriends, but no one like Tatyana. Soon they’re a couple, spending time in Tatyana’s eclectic West Village apartment. They go on double dates so Paul can introduce her to his friends. But the turning point happens when Tatyana takes him to a party at her father’s New York City mansion. Tatyana is a struggling artist, but she’s also the oligarch’s daughter, and Paul succeeds in upending his life.

Six years later, Paul is living in New Hampshire as Grant Anderson, a boat builder. Forced to flee for his life after being an FBI informant, he keeps a low profile, paying for everything in cash and revealing little to his girlfriend, Sarah, or anyone in the small town. Somehow, he’s discovered and it’s kill or be killed. Now Paul/Grant is on the run. Not knowing who is after him, the Russians or the U.S. Government, he can’t trust anyone. 

Joseph Finder (Photo Credit: Joel Benjamin)

Joseph Finder taps into the public’s fascination with oligarchs, the Russian ones and now the ones we have cropping up in the U.S. No matter where they live, oligarchs amass their wealth by cozying up to heads of state or those with political power.

Tatyana’s father, Arkady Galkin, big and bald, may not look impressive, but he’s a powerful and dangerous man. His Upper East Side home consists of two town houses put together with lots of gold glitz and even a swimming pool. While Tatyana has always played down wealth, preferring her small apartment to living in her father’s mansion, when she’s in his presence, Paul can detect an attitude change. She’s thrilled that her father likes Paul and even more excited when Arkady asks him to handle some of his investments. 

Paul’s boss is wary about managing money for an oligarch. Paul, however, has no choice. Refusing would insult Arkady and may even end his relationship with Tatyana. Paul manages to double Arkady’s money, and is offered a job working for the oligarch’s firm. Now that he’s engaged to Tatyana, working for the family business doesn’t seem like much of a stretch. It will be a decision he will come to regret.

Paul has been on the FBI’s watchlist for a while. When he’s approached and asked to spy on his future father-in-law, he can’t say no. At first it’s just little jobs, but when Arkady asks Paul to come to Moscow with him, the stakes get higher. Tatyana comes on the trip and is eager to have Paul meet her mother who is divorced from Arkady. Paul uses the times when Tatyana is with her mother to carry out his FBI assignments. But the stress starts to show and Tatyana, and Arkady, too, grow suspicious.

Depending upon the FBI to help him is another mistake. The agents supervising him can hardly protect themselves, and when several of them are murdered in a brutal fashion, Paul knows he must disappear, not even telling Tatyana where he’s going.

Finder alternates the narrative between present time, focusing on Paul/Grant’s frantic race to stay ahead of his assassins and prove his innocence, and six years earlier, laying out how Paul slowly became enmeshed in a criminal operation. Paul’s father is a survivalist and taught his son how to make it in the wilderness. Even though Paul hasn’t seen his father in years, he still remembers those lessons and they end up saving his life.

The Oligarch’s Daughter is a compulsive read. There are heart-stopping moments when Paul is seconds away from being discovered planting a bug or hiding a tracker. And when someone he had hoped would help him instead calls the cops, his disappointment is devastating. 

The Oligarch’s Daughter
Joseph Finder

Top photo: Bigstock

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About Charlene Giannetti (765 Articles)
Charlene Giannetti, editor of Woman Around Town, is the recipient of seven awards from the New York Press Club for articles that have appeared on the website. A graduate of Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Charlene began her career working for a newspaper in Pennsylvania, then wrote for several publications in Washington covering environment and energy policy. In New York, she was an editor at Business Week magazine and her articles have appeared in many newspapers and magazines. She is the author of 13 non-fiction books, eight for parents of young adolescents written with Margaret Sagarese, including "The Roller-Coaster Years," "Cliques," and "Boy Crazy." She and Margaret have been keynote speakers at many events and have appeared on the Today Show, CBS Morning, FOX News, CNN, MSNBC, NPR, and many others. Her last book, "The Plantations of Virginia," written with Jai Williams, was published by Globe Pequot Press in February, 2017. Her podcast, WAT-CAST, interviewing men and women making news, is available on Soundcloud and on iTunes. She is one of the producers for the film "Life After You," focusing on the opioid/heroin crisis that had its premiere at WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival, where it won two awards. The film is now available to view on Amazon Prime, YouTube, and other services. Charlene and her husband live in Manhattan.