“The Hangman” is the best book by Pavel Kohout, a famous Czech writer and playwright. The novel was translated into many languages, brought the author worldwide fame, and in 1990 was published in Czechoslovakia, which had rejected totalitarian ideology. A sharp plot, a precisely measured combination of convention and specificity, the magnificent language of the novel, the rare erudition of the author, and most importantly, the shocking theme of the novel, which meticulously and knowledgeably depicts the workdays of modern professional executioners - all this made P. Kohout’s novel “The Executioner” a worldwide bestseller.