The Devil and Samuel Johnson

The Gates by John Connolly is a fun, wry, and (dare-I-say?) educational novel about particle physics, demons, and the end of the world. Samuel Johnson is an inquisitive, thoughtful 11-year old boy who, along with his dachshund Boswell, runs afoul of a plan to use the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland to pierce the boundaries between universes and allow the Great Malevolence to break down the gates of Hell and lay waste to our world.  Connolly grounds his demonology in real physics theory, often in explanatory footnotes, a helpful (and cheeky) flourish (reminiscent of Lemony Snicket) to this fast-paced story.

The allusions to historical figures in the characters’ as well as place names give the adult reader of this Young Adult novel a knowing wink that means the book will continue to offer rewards to readers at any age: 666 Crowley Road, Bobby Goddard, Robert Oppenheimer, and Mr. Renfield are a few examples.

Connolly is a very descriptive imagineer of disturbing and frightening creatures, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see this book turned into a film: his demons are particularly well-formed and varied, from bulbous marshmallow-coloured demons to the ringmaster, Ba’al, who is terrifying in whatever shape she takes.

The novel is set in Biddlecombe, a delightfully-named town full of interesting characters, from the rotund vicar and verger of the church who played Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee in the local production of Alice in Wonderland, to the exceedingly-polite police officers, and I really hope that this book becomes a series, if only to meet more of the citizens of Samuel’s hometown.