Book Review: Hunted by the FBI and Russian Oligarch, a hedge fund manager flees into the wilderness
Paul Brightman, a former hedge fund manager, has been keeping a low profile, changing his name to Grant Anderson and making a modest living as a boat builder in a small New Hampshire town. But Paul fears it's only a matter of time before he's found.
The FBI is hunting him. The CIA would like a word. And a wealthy Russian oligarch has put a price on his head. One of the oligarch's thugs is the first to find him. Barely escaping with his life, he flees into the northern New England wilderness.
Five years earlier, when Paul was working on Wall Street, he fell in love with and subsequently married a beautiful photographer named Tatanya, unaware at first that her father was a Russian oligarch with ties to the Kremlin.
In 'The Oligarch's Daughter,' his 17th thriller, Joseph Finder alternates two suspenseful timelines — the present as Paul struggles to stay alive and the recent past in which we learn how he got into this fix in the first place.
In the former, he finds himself relying on skills he absorbed from his estranged father, a reclusive survivalist living off the grid in the wilds of the Allegheny Mountains.
In the latter, he accepts his new father-in-law's offer of a job, gets pressured to make illegal investments based on inside information, and becomes alarmed when two of his co-workers disappear. The FBI recruits him, he gets caught spying, and he has to run for his life.
With a master's degree in Russian studies and his membership in the Association of Former Intelligence Officers, Finder is very much at home with this tale of what some are now calling the new cold war. The writing is tight, the suspense is unrelenting, and the romance between Paul and Tatanya is well handled as well.
The plot is complex, even by thriller standards, but the author handles it so well that the reader is unlikely to get lost. However, it has so many twists and surprises that he might have been better served by eliminating a couple of them.
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Bruce DeSilva, winner of the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Award, is the author of the Mulligan crime novels including 'The Dread Line.'
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AP book reviews: https://apnews.com/hub/book-reviews
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Los Angeles Times
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Business Insider
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American Military News
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Schmidt said the scene was 'chaotic,' 'absolutely horrific and shocking.' Her father sustained a second-degree burn and was released from the hospital Sunday evening. Videos posted to social media show a woman lying on the ground while people pour water on her, as smoke and screams erupt from the area. Another video shows the shirtless man holding the bottles and shouting. In the background, bystanders can be seen huddled over someone on the ground. 'He's right there, he's throwing Molotov cocktails right there,' one person can be heard saying to police in one video. Police then handcuffed the man near the fountain in front of Boulder's courthouse. Later, a Reddit user posted photos and videos of a woman with a burned leg sitting on the lawn with paramedics, another person being loaded onto a stretcher, and people gathered in front of the building, now blocked with crime tape. In a statement, Run for Their Lives said its 'greatest concern at this moment is the well-being of the members of our group, most especially those who have been hospitalized.' 'We are dedicated to our mission that this is an international humanitarian crisis and that no one should ever be taken hostage and kept underground in tunnels without basic humanitarian needs and aid,' the group wrote. 'Broader wave of hate' In a statement Sunday, Gov. Jared Polis, who lives in Boulder, called the attack a 'heinous act of terror.' National Jewish organizations condemned the attack and linked it to other recent violence that's unfolded in the United States in response to the war in Gaza, including the killing of two Israeli embassy staff members in Washington, D.C., and the fire that tore through the residence of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish. World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder said in a statement that the Boulder attack was part of a 'broader wave of hate.' 'It is not just the Jewish community that suffers,' Lauder wrote. 'This violence tears at the very fabric of our societies. We call on law enforcement and government leaders — at every level, in every state, in every country — to act decisively.' Israel's campaign in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 250 others. The group still holds 58 hostages — which Sunday's walk was meant to protest. Around a third of the hostages are believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israel's military campaign has killed over 54,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The offensive has destroyed vast areas, displaced around 90% of the population and left people almost completely reliant on international aid. Horrified and enraged Xale Chartier was heading to a downtown parking structure when he saw first responders lining 13th Street on Sunday afternoon. His first thought was that there was some kind of mass-casualty incident. By the time Chartier got to the courthouse, a few people were still being treated by paramedics and he could see an oily residue on the ground, along with flags and shoes scattered nearby, he said. 'It was a very grim and unsettling scene,' Chartier said. 'I grew up in Boulder and I've never experienced anything quite like that.' Alexandra Posnack, 19, was at her Boulder home about five minutes away from Pearl Street when friends at the scene started texting her that someone had thrown a Molotov cocktail at the group holding the weekly demonstration calling for the release of Israeli hostages. 'I'm horrified and I'm also enraged, and I will be back here next week to protest with my big-ass Israeli flag,' she said. Brandon Hoover, 28, said the attack doesn't seem real. He and his girlfriend were walking down Pearl Street when suddenly there were flames and 'the smell of flesh,' he said. 'I thought, 'Holy crap, that could have been any one of us on Pearl Street,'' Hoover said. '…Once you see something that traumatic, it's going to stick with you.' Hours later, the scene was still being swept by hazmat, canine and bomb disposal teams, Redfearn, the Boulder police chief, said. Parts of Pearl Street, including the 1200 through 1500 blocks, had been evacuated. The order remained in effect along the Pearl Street corridor from Broadway to 15th Street and from Lawry Lane to Spruce Street as of 8:11 p.m. That section of the mall remained closed to the public as police cleared the area and investigated a 'vehicle of interest,' Redfearn said. Boulder resident Henry Bonn-Elchones, 18, was downtown getting lunch with friends when he saw smoke and burn marks and an Israeli flag on the ground by the courthouse. He never heard an explosion. But he said first responders and law enforcement swarmed the area and later watched as two older women were loaded into ambulances. 'Hate-filled acts' Local political leaders condemned the attack on Sunday. 'Hate-filled acts of any kind are unacceptable,' Polis said in a statement on social media. 'While details emerge, the state works with local and federal law enforcement to support this investigation.' U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, who represents Boulder in Congress, called for Americans to stop the spread of antisemitism. 'Tonight, as many prepare to mark the Shavuot holiday, our Jewish community has been subjected to yet another brutal and horrific act of violence,' said the congressman, whose district includes Boulder. 'We stand with the Jewish community — today and always — and will be united in supporting the victims and their families, and to redoubling our efforts to stop antisemitism.' Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser wrote in a statement that the attack appears to be a hate crime and that he had offered his office's support to Boulder District Attorney Michael Dougherty. 'People may have differing views about world events and the Israeli-Hamas conflict, but violence is never the answer to settling differences,' he wrote. '… We all have the right to peaceably assemble and the freedom to speak our views. But these violent acts — which are becoming more frequent, brazen, and closer to home — must stop and those who commit these horrific acts must be fully held to account.' ___ © 2025 MediaNews Group, Inc. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.