Character Analysis
(Avoiding Spoilers)
Grew Up… to be a soldier. Though it's been years since it ended, Ben Marco still carries psychological scars from serving during the Gulf War.
Living… in a paranoid America. In the age of terrorism, the United States has become far more insular and jingoistic. With the political field dominated by candidates who are either hysterically panicked or opportunistically savvy, it’s difficult to tell where public and private interest end.
Visiting… his friend and fellow soldier, Raymond Shaw. Shaw’s former commander, Marco's been having some strange dreams about the war about what really happened during the war. He suspects that Raymond, now a U.S. Congressmen and recipient of the Medal of Honor, is having the same dreams, and Ben's out to confront his friend and uncover the truth.
Profession… once a soldier, always a soldier. Ben, who thinks of himself as a patriot, is starting to believe that something else happened in Kuwait: that instead of being saved by Shaw, he and the rest of his unit, including Shaw, were brainwashed. As he tells Raymond, “somebody got into our heads with big steel-toe boots, cable cutters and a chainsaw, and they went to town."
Challenge… discovering the truth behind his nightmares. Major Marco, upon discovering that Congressman Shaw has become his party’s candidate for Vice President, knows that something nefarious is happening to the United States. As he remarks while watching Shaw rise to power, “this isn’t an election, this is a coup.”
Personality… strict, upright, and determined. Most people, including Congressman Shaw, believe that Ben is deranged. His talk of conspiracy, politics, brainwashing and the mysterious Manchurian Global corporation sound like a madman’s babble, but his 'crazy' theories might be more on target than anyone can possibly suspect.
Get to Know him in...
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When his army unit was ambushed during the first Gulf War, Sergeant Raymond Shaw saved his fellow soldiers just as his commanding officer, then-Captain Ben Marco, was knocked unconscious. Brokering the incident for political capital, Shaw eventually becomes a vice-presidential nominee, while Marco is haunted by dreams of what happened -- or didn't happen -- in Kuwait. As Marco (now a Major) investigates, the story begins to unravel, to the point where he questions if it happened at all. Is it possible the entire unit was kidnapped and brainwashed to believe Shaw is a war hero as part of a plot to seize the White House? Some very powerful people at Manchurian Global corporation appear desperate to stop him from finding out.
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Near the end of the Korean War, a platoon of U.S. soldiers is captured by communists and brainwashed. Following the war, the platoon is returned home, and Sergeant Raymond Shaw is lauded as a hero by the rest of his platoon. However, the platoon commander, Captain Bennett Marco, finds himself plagued by strange nightmares and soon races to uncover a terrible plot.
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The classic thriller about a hostile foreign power infiltrating American politics: “Brilliant . . . wild and exhilarating.” —The New Yorker A war hero and the recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor, Sergeant Raymond Shaw is keeping a deadly secret—even from himself. During his time as a prisoner of war in North Korea, he was brainwashed by his Communist captors and transformed into a deadly weapon—a sleeper assassin, programmed to kill without question or mercy at his captors’ signal. Now he’s been returned to the United States with a covert mission: to kill a candidate for US President . . . This “shocking, tense” and sharply satirical novel has become a modern classic, and was the basis for two film adaptations (San Francisco Chronicle). “Crammed with suspense.” —Chicago Tribune “Condon is wickedly skillful.” —Time
