The assassination is a koan that brings to light the paradox at the heart of civilisation: what’s real is our experience of being alive, not how we can be quantified, but we pretend the opposite is true.

The 2010 book Delay, Deny, Defend: Why insurance companies don’t pay claims and what you can do about it has become a bestseller on Amazon in the week since the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.The book’s title is reminiscent of the three words carved into the bullet casings — “deny,” “defend,” “depose” — found on the Midtown Manhattan street where 50-year-old Thompson was fatally shot on December 4. Luigi Mangione, 26, has been charged with murder in connection to Thompson’s death.