# books / The Manchurian Candidate - Richard Condon

A brilliant psychological thriller that certainly provides one lense for today’s political incomprehenisibility.

Dark, gothic, dry. The characters & the narrative grip, large without becoming comic.

Highlights

He had the superior digestive system which affords almost every man blessed with it the repose to become thoughtful.

The conception of people acting against their own best interests should not startle us. We see it occasionally in sleep-walking and in politics, every day.”

“And now, under the quaint local custom, it is your turn to tell your name,” the senator explained gravely.

…who wraps a dagger in the flag and waits for your chance

the American saying: “God takes care of drunkards, little children, and of the United States.”

The bullet’s velocity will knock him down, of course, but he will get to his feet gallantly amid the chaos that will have broken out