Mark Allen Smith clearly likes to take chances. In his remarkably assured first novel, "The Inquisitor," he introduces one of the most unsettling, potentially alienating creations in recent ...

Mark Allen Smith was born Oct. 27, 1963, in Shreveport, La., and passed away on October 20, 2023, in Chattanooga, one week before his 60th birthday. He is preceded in death by his father ...

Mark Allen Smith’s thriller debut, The Inquisitor, introduces a lead character, Geiger, who’s paid to extract information using torture. What made you decide to make your protagonist a killer?