Shadows of a Hot Summer

"The Bender Gang" is a group composed of Ukrainians and others, who fought under the Germans during World War II. In this story, five men from the gang are attempting to make it to the border of Austria before Czechoslovakia accepts communist rule in the summer of 1947. They wind up hiding out in a remote village near the border, holding a farmer and his family hostage. At first the farmer tries to comply with their wishes, in order to save his wife and children. He goes so far as to kidnap the town's doctor to treat one of the group's wounded. When he fully understands the gang's ruthlessness and deceitfulness, he realizes that the only way for anyone he cares about to survive is for him to kill all five of the unmerciful men in whatever way he can.