John Connolly is a brilliant writer. From his Charlie (Bird) Parker series and fallen angels to his stand alone books, you know you'll get an excitingly provocative read.

The Gates was semi-reviewed incorrectly in the Oct 26th People Magazine.

Here is what the plot really is -

A young boy Samuel Johnson, and his loyal dog, Boswell - go trick or treating a few days early and he rings the doorbell at 666 Crowly Road and after being told to go away it wasn't Halloween, looks at the light in the basement and sees 4 adults in black cloaks doing what looks like witchy things -

What they are doing in trying to do is have a little fun with the metaphysical that backfires - they cause a gate between Earth and the gates of Hell - and the four get sucked in to a plot to let Satan and his minions back to earth to rule the world.

Samuel tries to see what is happening and brings his friends, his trusty dog, as well as a very nice demon, and the members of CERN to help save the planet.

It has been said that the experiments CERN does about the big bang theory and doing experiments of epic proportions do no harm, but maybe, just maybe, there is a chance of creating a black hole that may swallow us up, or something equally menacing...but it's not that great a chance...

CERN sees a blip in the recording and it leads back to 666 Crowly Road.

Be careful what you are playing with - it may bring things you don't want all in the name of science!!!

Connolly as he does writes as he does with lyrical proportions with wit and humor and he then proceeds to scare the dickens out of us.

It is a wonderful read and again proves that Connolly is a once in a lifetime author that literally brings magic to the word and our imagination.

ellen george

The Gates by John Connolly, ISBN 10: 143172633, Atria Publications, review by ellen george