mondojohnson

The Gates (full title: The Gates of Hell are About to Open, Mind the Gap is the first book I’ve read by Irish author John Connolly, but it won’t be my last. Connolly stirs together a mix of fantasy, science and anglo wit in an entertaining manner that puts him in league with Douglas Adams and Eoin Colfer.

The Gates has been described as a children’s book for adults, which is pretty apt. The story surrounds young Samuel Johnson (one of many allusive names Connolly gives his characters), who by chance observes his suburban neighbors in a showy ritual meant to summon Satan and his demonic minions. Samuel is an oddball, and has trouble convincing authorities of the impending doom. His only steadfast ally, at least in the beginning, is his faithful dachsund Boswell (who is one of the most warmly drawn fictional dogs I’ve ever read of, btw).

Samuel confronts several demons as he puzzles over how to stop the arrival of The Great Malevolence, which is slated to happen in a couple of days. His conversations with these bad guys — always rational and probing — make for some superbly dry and funny dialog. And Samuel actually befriends one of them: Nurd, the Scourge of the Five Deities.

He finally gets the attention of scientists at CERN, who take his apocalyptic predictions seriously — mainly because their Large Hadron Collider played a role in the whole mess. It seems an exotic particle somehow escaped the atom-smasher, ripping a hole in the universe while the physicists were distracted by a game of “Battleship.”

Zany hilarity and fast-paced action ensues as Samuel and his friends (both human and demonic) race against time to close the portal to Hell before the Big Guy arrives.

The book ends with ample room for a sequel, which I hope is coming soon. The snappy dialog and Lovecraftian descriptions of the horrible beasties would also lend themselves to a smashing feature film… get to work, Hollywood!

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