The Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon
01/10/2003 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 

pub: Four Walls Eight Windows. 311 page enlarged paperback. Price: $13.95 (US). ISBN: 1-56858-270-6.

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All right, just because a book about a brainwashed American POW assassin released after the Korean War isn't Science Fiction, why am I reviewing the copy that is sent to me?

It also hasn't got nothing to do with the original Frank Sinatra film or the new one that Jonathan Demme is currently directing Denzil Washington in either.

If anything, it's an acknowledgement of an original novel that has had its plot ripped...er...plagiarised...er...repeated in endless TV SF series and probably a few SF books if you bother to look.

Probably the most recently remembered that any of you have watched is a Star Trek: Next Generation episode 'The Mind's Eye' where Geordi LaForge is brainwashed to assassinate a Klingon on behave of the Romulans.

A total crib.

The original story is far more grim and intricate. Returning to America, ex-Sgt Raymond Shaw is manipulated - by who would spoil a twist at the end - to assassinate the President. He doesn't even know what's happening.

It is through the eyes of his ex- CO, Marco, that we see much of the plot unfold.

If you're ever going to contemplate using brainwashing in any of your stories then you really need to have read this one if for no other reason than to avoid repeating this famous plot.

It's quite a nail-biting page-turner as well and likely to garner a new set of fans for this now late author's work.

GF Willmetts