Idol is about a brilliant schizophrenic serial killer, Steven Wently, whose sensational murders of famous false idols receive universal publicity and public support. Wently imagines that the cumulative weight of revelations of crimes committed by false idols after their deaths will destroy humankind's faith in its heroes. He further reasons that such exposures will cast shadows over legitimacy of promises of man's immortality made by religious heroes like Christ, Hindu deities, and Muhammad. The result of civilization's loss of faith in its heroes and immortality will cause the collapse of...