When young Rolando Perez falls off the cliffs outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, the mysteries begin immediately. Was he pushed or did he jump? What are the documents he's willing to give his life to protect from his family, the police, and the Catholic Church? EL ILUMINADO is a graphic roman a clef featuring the esteemed literary critic Ilan Stavans in the role of academic-become-investigator as he tries to seek the truth about Rolando and the secret documents that reveal the mysterious sect of crypto-Jews (whose lineage is traced back to the Inquisition, and who still live today, partially concealed, in the American Southwest). Stavans and acclaimed graphic artist Steve Sheinkin take the reader on a journey through the centuries in the quest to understand the many inter-locking mysteries of El Iluminado.