A human time bomb is turned loose on an unsuspecting nation in this brilliant and startling novel, at once a spy story, a love story, a fascinating take of adventure, and a savage satire.

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Sergeant Raymond Shaw, brainwashed secretly and then freed with the rest of his patrol after capture in Korea, comes home an unwitting hero and Congressional Medal of Honor winner to be idolized by America. Only the Communists who indoctrinated him know when and how he will explode, and they alone control his actions as the fateful hour approaches.

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His mother, a power-hungry Jezebel behind the Washington political scene, and his stepfather, Senator Iselin, an unscrupulous demagogue, are quick to exploit Shaw’s sudden fame for their own purposes, while implacably, the mechanism buries in his consciousness ticks away.

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In this outrageous, funny and often profoundly sobering novel of the human condition today, Richard Condon displays a wild vitality, a wonderful imagination, and an unerring sense of the ridiculous. But he never allows virtuosity to impede narrative.

Murder and violence, terror in its most deceptive forms, greed without 
disguise, and a weird recurrent nightmare move the characters at a breathtaking pace through the capitals of the world.

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Counterbalancing the desperate struggles, for power, for the minds of men, for whole nations, there are two meaningful and tender love stories. But they too emphasize the gulf between the brainwashed automaton, Shaw, and a world where he is an eternal stranger, both to good and evil.  In their deadly combat, he is oblivious to the one and instrument of the other as the novel races towards its spectacular and logical climax.