Yen Lo, the genius who has developed the brain washing technique has Shaw murder coldly two of his mates, Mavole and Lembeck by way of demonstration. The other members of his unit are hypnotized into believing that Shaw performed actions so heroic that they were deserving of the Medal of Honor which will give Shaw tremendous influence.
Raymond Shaw has been taken to Manchuria, along with all the other members of his captive platoon, by Chinese and Russian agents who succeed using Pavlovian response theory to so deeply hypnotize him that they can control him for years to come as an assassin spreading chaos through the West.
Condon's The Manchurian Candidate is sometimes apt: "Iselin is a man who shall forever stand guard at the door of the mind to protect the people of this great nation from facts.” It is often weighty, filled with handfuls of mot recherché and esoteric allusions: "He felt the sadness of Lucifer." It is sometimes flippant: "Their brains had not merely been washed, they had been dry-cleaned." But, it is always compelling.