COMMEMORATIONS by HANS HERLIN
Translated by ERIC MOSBACHER
293 pages. St. Martin's Press. $8.95.
When Hans Berlin, 49, resigned as managing editor of Molden, one of Germany's largest publishing houses, he wanted to write a novel about Nazi skeletons in the national closet. With questionable taste, he also hoped to make it "entertaining." The result is this slick, ambiguous thriller. Hans Pikola, 50-year-old world-weary photographer turned hit man, stalks the even more world-weary war criminal, Karl Boettcher. The motive, revealed through flashbacks, provides romantic interest, undertones of incest—plus a gloss of social commentary in...