The Stench

Why would African villagers boil a horse? Konrad Reitzger, who learnt to steel himself against horrors as a soldier of the Third Reich and prisoner of war, is determined to solve the mystery. The village headman, whom Reitzger likes and respects, gives only an implausible and taunting explanation, which annuls the friendship between them. It is through recollections of his father whom he despised - a chemist who worked on the production of the gas used by the Nazis in the extermination camps - that Reitzger finds the answer, and is profoundly disturbed by its implications.