Super Short Summary

The Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon follows Major Bennett Marco, who, along with his platoon, including Sergeant Raymond Shaw, is captured and brainwashed by Soviet and Chinese forces during the Korean War. The brainwashing turns Shaw into an unwitting sleeper agent set to assassinate political targets, controlled through hypnotic commands. Marco begins to suspect the truth as he and others experience recurring nightmares about the brainwashing. Marco's investigation uncovers the conspiracy, leading to a dramatic confrontation as he attempts to thwart a politically motivated assassination plot orchestrated by Shaw's mother and other Communist agents. Topics include psychological manipulation, trauma from imprisonment, and political assassinations.