Hardcover. London, Picador, 1st, 1996, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. An unread copy of the authors second novel. Jeremiah Bembo, the landlord of a local pub, never talks about his former role as the most respected and feared of Her Majesty's executioners. Until an old friend asks a simple question, prompting him to go back to the beginning, and to turn over the events of 1964. During the war an accident leaves him with one moving eye, warm and watchful, and one still eye, unflinching and unfeeling. The two halves of his life grow apart as, on occasions dictated by the law, Jem travels the country to fulfil his duties as executioner. But the balance becomes increasingly difficult to maintain as a murder is committed which touches his own life. Clean copy.