The Gates: A Samuel Johnson Tale

John Connolly

Oct 2009 · The Samuel Johnson Series Book 1 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this eBook

Bursting with imagination and impossible to put down, this “wholly original” (People) and “refreshing” (San Francisco Chronicle) novel from New York Times bestselling author John Connolly is about the pull between good and evil, physics and fantasy—and a quirky boy, who is impossible not to love, and the unlikely cast of characters who give him the strength to stand up to a demonic power.

Young Samuel Johnson and his dachshund, Boswell, are trying to show initiative by trick-or-treating a full three days before Halloween, which is how they come to witness strange goings-on at 666 Crowley Road. The Abernathys don't mean any harm by their flirtation with the underworld, but when they unknowingly call forth Satan himself, they create a gap in the universe, a gap through which a pair of enormous gates is visible. The gates to Hell. And there are some pretty terrifying beings just itching to get out...

Can one small boy defeat evil? Can he harness the power of science, faith, and love to save the world as we know it?

Ratings and reviews

This was super funny and interesting. Some of the character development was great but you still cared about them. Was descriptive enough that it was basically a movie playing my head that I did not want to stop. I would love to see it as an actual movie. I like the writers style a lot and i just enjoyed this book a lot overall.

Oh! What a charmingly hilarious and yet remarkably creepy book! I absolutely adored this book! My only complaints are that it is too short and I want to know when the sequel hinted at will be published! I loved the characters! And it was absolutely laugh-out-loud funny in parts! It was so much fun to read that I can only hope Connolly had half as much writing it! I just loved it - the imagery, the style of the book, the dialogue... And the great anticipation that I had for it did not in any way diminish my enjoyment of the book, as so often happens with awaited-for novels. It was just terrific. I enjoyed everything about it - it was just so unique and charming!

I peeled through this book while in the hospital one night and rhe nurses couldn't figure out why I was laughing so much! Make it a point to recommend this book to everyone!

About the author

John Connolly is the author of the #1 internationally bestselling Charlie Parker thrillers series, The Book of Lost Things and its sequel The Land of Lost Things, the Samuel Johnson Trilogy for younger readers, and (with Jennifer Ridyard) the Chronicles of the Invaders series. He lives in Dublin, Ireland. For more information, see his website at JohnConnollyBooks.com, or follow him on Twitter @JConnollyBooks.