Irish-born John Connolly has built a considerable literary reputation for his gritty crime novels and quirky, engaging fiction. The Gates follows young and enterprising Samuel Johnson, who while trick-or-treating stumbles upon a cult of aspiring Satanists operating on 666 Crowley Ave. Thanks to a coincidence involving their ceremony and a malfunctioning Large Hadron Collider, portals to Hell open to reveal devilish creatures poised to enter our world.