Having read both Illiminatus! and Schrödinger's Cat, I had to get my hands on Masks Of The Illuminati. I will mention that I do consider Robert Anton Wilson to be my favorite writer, so I may have just a twinge of bias for his work, but anyone who reads his work will understand that he's definitely not your average writer, and you have to be prepared to follow "Mad Bob" wherever he leads you, even into "chappel perilous" itself! He has a way of bringing the reader into his stories, like a fly on the wall, weaving you in and out of waking "reality" and dreamscapes - the reader is never sure what is really going on most of the time...

If you know your Crowley, you may be slightly disappointed, because you will have already uncovered part of the mystery. I will say no more, because I don't want to spoil anything.

Score one for the master, R.A.W.

......because I did! I do like R.A.W., and I feel that he is right on the mark with many things he says. But, my God, if I could only get the time I spent reading this book back. There was one truly engrossing and suspenseful moment of the book when a guy (nope, can't remember his name) was on the phone with another guy (nope, can't remember his name either) pleading with him to get to his home, because creatures from Hell were trying to get in his house. The twist at the end was disappointing, and the process by which the author was trying to build to the climax was irritating.

You'll have to read the book to understand the title for this review.

This book started off in a rather puzzling way. I had a tough time getting into the book, until it got to the heart of the story. Overall, Einstein and Joyce untangle a rather perplexing mystery, with rather terrestial reasoning. It was a mystery that was unraveled in a rather clever, and interesting way.

The final 30 pages, however, have to be read to believed.

Honestly, I don't really know how I feel about this book. I liked most of it, but the ending left a rather bad taste in my mouth. Really it just comes off as useless jibberish, and its inclusion in this novel went way over this reader's head.

Good story about a man just about hanging on to his sanity with help from Einstein and Joyce. I wondered if there was a bit of autobiographical stuff included, as if Wilson had dabbled in the Golden Dawn himself, as it seems quite factual at times. He mentions in Prometheus Rising about the benefits of pranayama breathing, and in this book, learning of pranayama is mentioned as part of the initiation process into the Golden Dawn. There's a neat twist towards the end of the book, worthy of an M Night Shyamalan movie. In fact, I reckon Mr Shyamalan could make quite a good movie out of this book. There's also a memorable few pages just before the end vividly putting the reader in the place of experiencing an intense spell of drug induced delerium. Thoroughly recommended, and worth the sleepness nights if you get scared easily :)

this is the only wilson book i have read thus far. let me say first of all that it TERRIFIED the living daylight out of me until the solution to the mystery was revealed. i was scared to be in a fully lit room by myself.

the esotericism of this book made it a very fun read; i found it hard to stop (except when it got too frightening)! reading masks of the illuminati was definitely worth my time, paranoia, and sleepless nights!