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The Inquisitor by Mark Allen Smith
Aug. 10th, 2012 10:34 pmThe 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 …
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
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 …
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
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.
