Mark Allen Smith is a successful television and documentary film producer and screenwriter. His experience investigating features for the acclaimed ABC-TV news magazine program, 20/20, planted the seed for his debut thriller when he was involved with a story dating from the 1970s about the remarkably brutal torture and murder of a 17-year-old in Paraguay, the last true dictatorship in the Western Hemisphere. He was further inspired to action by the shocking death of Lisa Steinberg at the abusive hands of her adoptive father; this event uncorked ongoing interest in the corrosive effect of physical and psychological pressure on children and other innocents. His journey of research convinced him that the novel was his best way to bring his story to the largest possible audience. A long-time resident of Westchester County, he now lives in New York City’s Harlem with his wife and a blended family of six children. |
