A Very Good Hater — Reginald Hill

Years after WWII, a pair of veterans believe they've spotted a Nazi in disguise, in a thriller with “more surprise turns than most novels twice its length” (Kirkus Reviews).
 
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 . . .
 
“Reginald Hill delivers literate, complex, and immensely satisfying thrillers.” -- Orlando Sentinel
 
“Reginald Hill's stories must certainly be among the best now being written.” -- The Times Literary Supplement