Interviewed by Miami Police officers Monica and Walter, Arthur denies having any enemies, while secretly knowing that his employer, a corrupt contracting firm, has caught him embezzling money to pay off his gambling debts.

After interrogating the Russians, FBI Agents Greer and Seitz intercept Miami Detective Baker, and tell him the suitcase contains a miniature nuclear bomb, which, unlike a conventional "nuke", has no failsafes and is intentionally designed to be easy to trigger.

Walter's attempts to free himself are hampered by Arthur, who falls face-first onto a large cane toad camped in his dog's food dish, receiving a dose of bufotenin venom that causes him to hallucinate.

In the aftermath, the explosion is passed off as a rogue seismic event, and the main news item in the next day's paper is the bevy of goats that escaped on the highway and delayed the protagonists' rush to the airport.

In the epilogue: Big Trouble is Barry's first full-length novel, after several years as a columnist for the Miami Herald, and after publishing several humorous non-fiction books.

"[1] Publishers Weekly gave a starred review, calling Barry "indisputably one of the funniest humorists writing today" and praising the narrative, although it criticized the "occasional stiffness and tendency to strain for one-liners".

[2] Big Trouble was made into a film, starring Tim Allen and Rene Russo as Eliot and Anna respectively, and produced and directed by Barry Sonnenfeld.