The Inquisitor by Mark Allen Smith
Aug. 10th, 2012 10:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Meet Geiger: a professional torturer with a strict code of honour, a mysterious past, and a dangerous conviction …
Geiger has a gift: he knows a lie the instant he hears it. And in the business of “information retrieval” that gift is invaluable. The truth is everything.
Geiger’s clients count on him to extract the truth from even the most reluctant subjects. Unlike most torturers, Geiger rarely draws blood, but he does use a variety of brutal techniques, both physical and psychological, to push his subjects to a point where pain takes a back seat to fear. Because only then will they tell him what he needs to know.
There is only one line that Geiger refuses to cross: he will never work on a child. So when his partner, former journalist Harry Boddicker, unwittingly brings in a client who wants Geiger to interrogate a twelve-year-old-boy, Geiger responds instinctively. He rescues the boy from his captor, removes him to the safety of his New York City loft, and promises to protect him. But if Geiger and Harry cannot quickly discover why their client is so desperate to learn the boy’s secret, they themselves will become the victims of an utterly ruthless adversary …
Geiger’s an information retriever (read: torturer) who’s strict moral code means he’ll never torture a child. His business partner is Harry Boddicker, an ex-journalist and recovering alcoholic who deals with the clients, which include government entities, criminals and high-worth individuals.
When their client Matheson asks Geiger to work on twelve-year-old Ezra to discover what’s happened to secrets stolen by Ezra’s father, Geiger instead rescues the boy. But doing so puts Geiger and Harry in terrible danger because Matheson’s at the heart of a conspiracy that will do anything to protect itself. Now Geiger and Harry must discover the client’s secrets for themselves, even though doing so means risking their lives …
Mark Allen Smith’s debut novel is a conspiracy thriller that revolves around an anti-hero torturer. If you can get past the fact that you’re being asked to root for someone who hurts and terrifies people, then this is a perfectly competent story that rockets along at a fast pace. Unfortunately, I found the glorification of torture to be distasteful and it stopped me from really engaging with the story.
The big weakness is actually Geiger, a taciturn loner with a limp whose mysterious past is so absurd as to be laughable. Geiger’s focus on psychological rather than physical torture didn’t endear him to me (especially as he’s not above using physical pain as a last resort). His superhuman resilience defied credibility and it’s not until he experiences torture from the sharp end that he rethinks his life choices. He never connects with Ezra (who’s little more than a kid in peril) and were it not for his battle of wits with Matheson (whose single-minded determination and ruthlessness if interesting if underdeveloped) I wouldn’t have continued with the book.
Although Harry is a stereotypical recovering alcoholic, self-hating journalist, he’s got initiative and at least acknowledges the dubious morality of what he does. His relationship with his sister Lily (who suffers dementia) gives him a clichéd, if well handled motivation for getting the mess sorted.
The plot itself is well paced and while the conspiracy element has been done to death and the need to keep the secret never quite made sense it is at least crisply told.
All in all, it’s a clichéd but competent read and if you can get past the torturer anti-hero this would probably make a decent beach novel.
The Verdict:
Mark Allen Smith’s debut novel is a conspiracy thriller that revolves around an anti-hero torturer. If you can get past the fact that you’re being asked to root for someone who hurts and terrifies people, then this is a perfectly competent story that rockets along at a fast pace. Unfortunately, I found the glorification of torture to be distasteful and it stopped me from really engaging with the story. I’m not sure I’d rush to read Smith’s next book, but I wouldn’t turn it down either.
THE INQUISITOR was released in the UK on 10th April 2012. Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the free copy of this book.
Geiger has a gift: he knows a lie the instant he hears it. And in the business of “information retrieval” that gift is invaluable. The truth is everything.
Geiger’s clients count on him to extract the truth from even the most reluctant subjects. Unlike most torturers, Geiger rarely draws blood, but he does use a variety of brutal techniques, both physical and psychological, to push his subjects to a point where pain takes a back seat to fear. Because only then will they tell him what he needs to know.
There is only one line that Geiger refuses to cross: he will never work on a child. So when his partner, former journalist Harry Boddicker, unwittingly brings in a client who wants Geiger to interrogate a twelve-year-old-boy, Geiger responds instinctively. He rescues the boy from his captor, removes him to the safety of his New York City loft, and promises to protect him. But if Geiger and Harry cannot quickly discover why their client is so desperate to learn the boy’s secret, they themselves will become the victims of an utterly ruthless adversary …
Geiger’s an information retriever (read: torturer) who’s strict moral code means he’ll never torture a child. His business partner is Harry Boddicker, an ex-journalist and recovering alcoholic who deals with the clients, which include government entities, criminals and high-worth individuals.
When their client Matheson asks Geiger to work on twelve-year-old Ezra to discover what’s happened to secrets stolen by Ezra’s father, Geiger instead rescues the boy. But doing so puts Geiger and Harry in terrible danger because Matheson’s at the heart of a conspiracy that will do anything to protect itself. Now Geiger and Harry must discover the client’s secrets for themselves, even though doing so means risking their lives …
Mark Allen Smith’s debut novel is a conspiracy thriller that revolves around an anti-hero torturer. If you can get past the fact that you’re being asked to root for someone who hurts and terrifies people, then this is a perfectly competent story that rockets along at a fast pace. Unfortunately, I found the glorification of torture to be distasteful and it stopped me from really engaging with the story.
The big weakness is actually Geiger, a taciturn loner with a limp whose mysterious past is so absurd as to be laughable. Geiger’s focus on psychological rather than physical torture didn’t endear him to me (especially as he’s not above using physical pain as a last resort). His superhuman resilience defied credibility and it’s not until he experiences torture from the sharp end that he rethinks his life choices. He never connects with Ezra (who’s little more than a kid in peril) and were it not for his battle of wits with Matheson (whose single-minded determination and ruthlessness if interesting if underdeveloped) I wouldn’t have continued with the book.
Although Harry is a stereotypical recovering alcoholic, self-hating journalist, he’s got initiative and at least acknowledges the dubious morality of what he does. His relationship with his sister Lily (who suffers dementia) gives him a clichéd, if well handled motivation for getting the mess sorted.
The plot itself is well paced and while the conspiracy element has been done to death and the need to keep the secret never quite made sense it is at least crisply told.
All in all, it’s a clichéd but competent read and if you can get past the torturer anti-hero this would probably make a decent beach novel.
The Verdict:
Mark Allen Smith’s debut novel is a conspiracy thriller that revolves around an anti-hero torturer. If you can get past the fact that you’re being asked to root for someone who hurts and terrifies people, then this is a perfectly competent story that rockets along at a fast pace. Unfortunately, I found the glorification of torture to be distasteful and it stopped me from really engaging with the story. I’m not sure I’d rush to read Smith’s next book, but I wouldn’t turn it down either.
THE INQUISITOR was released in the UK on 10th April 2012. Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the free copy of this book.
