A Very Good Hater

In postwar England, Goldsmith and Templewood see each other once a year at reunions of their regiment. Goldsmith is a local politician now, while Templewood is a gregarious salesman with a taste for the ladies. They lead different lives but have one thing in common: They vividly remember Nikolaus Hebbel of the SS, and they would both like to see him dead.

Now they find themselves together, watching a man staying at their hotel in London, checked in under the name Neil Housman. They're sure he resembles Hebbel-something in the mannerisms, the expression. They ponder whether their memories of twenty years ago are reliable. They follow the man in hopes of confirming his real identity-and finding out what he's up to. The question is whether they will discover the truth before or after they kill the suspected Nazi war criminal . . .