People are missing. The rest of the world is on the brink of nuclear annihilation. Are the events connected? Are the events what they seem? So begins the wild, ingenious and utterly fascinating ride that is "The Illuminatus! Trilogy" Without knowing it, Joseph Malik, journalist, has stumbled upon something big--bigger and more profound than anything that has ever crossed his desk as the editor of the liberal magazine "Confrontation." Now Malik has disappeared, and jaded New York City detective Saul Goodman must find him. At first Goodman thinks he's been saddled with a normal missing-person case, but soon he finds there is more to this case than even the scope of his imagination can comprehend.