The Manchurian Candidate
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| The Manchurian Candidate | |
 1st edition |
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| Author | Richard Condon |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Thriller novel |
| Publisher | McGraw-Hill |
| Publication date | 1959 |
| Media type | print (hardback) |
| Pages | 311 pp |
| ISBN | NA |
The Manchurian Candidate (1959) by Richard Condon, is a thriller novel about the son of a prominent US political family who has been brainwashed into being an unwitting assassin for the Communist Party. The novel has twice been cinematically adapted, in 1962 and 2004.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Captain Bennett Marco, Sergeant Raymond Shaw, and the rest of their infantry platoon are kidnapped during the Korean War in 1952. They are taken to Manchuria, and are brainwashed to believe that Sgt. Shaw saved their lives in combat — for which the Army awards him the Medal of Honor.
Meanwhile, back in the ’States, years after the war, Marco, now an intelligence officer, begins suffering the recurring nightmare of Raymond Shaw murdering two of his comrades, all clinically observed by Chinese and Russian intelligence officials. When Marco learns that another soldier from the platoon also has been suffering the same nightmare, he sets to uncovering the mystery and its meaning.
The Communists have been using Raymond Shaw as a sleeper agent, a guiltless assassin subconsciously activated with an all–“Queen of Diamonds” playing card deck. As such, he obeys orders, which he then forgets. Raymond Shaw’s Soviet secret service controller is his domineering mother, a politically ambitious conservative working with the Communists to execute a palace coup d’état and quietly overthrow the U.S. Government with the Manchurian Candidate.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Tuck, Donald H. (1974). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Chicago: Advent. p. 110. ISBN 0-911682-20-1.
[edit] External links
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