The Infernals
A Samuel Johnson Tale
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3.3 • 37 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
From New York Times bestselling author John Connolly, a wonderfully strange and brilliant novel about a boy, his dog, and their struggle to escape the wrath of demons. Young Samuel Johnson is in trouble. Not only is his eyesight so poor that he mistakenly asks out a letter box on a date, but an angry demon is seeking revenge for Samuel’s part in foiling the invasion of Earth by the forces of evil. It wants to get its claws on Samuel, and when Samuel and his faithful dachshund, Boswell, are pulled through a portal into the dark realm, the home of the Infernals, it gets its chance.
But catching Samuel is not going to be easy, for the Infernals have not reckoned on the bravery and cleverness of a boy and his dog, or the loyalty of Samuel’s friend, the hapless demon Nurd, or the presence of two clueless policemen and the unlucky, if cheerfully optimistic, driver of an ice-cream van.
Most of all, no one has planned on the intervention of an unexpected band of little men, for Samuel and Boswell are not the only inhabitants of Earth who have found themselves in the underworld. If you thought demons were frightening, just wait until you meet Mr. Merryweather’s Elves. . . .
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A few years after the events of 2009's The Gates, the demon Mrs. Abernathy (formerly Ba'al) wants revenge on young Samuel Johnson and his dachshund, Boswell, who stopped the forces of Hell from invading Earth. The reactivation of the Large Hadron Collider gives Mrs. Abernathy enough energy to drag Samuel to Hell, along with two police officers, an ice-cream man, and a troupe of ne'er-do-well performing dwarfs. With Samuel's not-so-evil demon friend, Nurd, they become the fulcrum of a war that threatens to sunder Hell itself. Connolly's graceful prose, laced with acerbically witty footnotes, is a joy to read, and he easily alternates among slapstick comedy, powerful drama, and skin-crawling horror. His unsettling vision of Hell encompasses grotesque evil and, even worse, pure nothingness. Despite the terrors of Hell, this highly enjoyable, often funny adventure is buoyed by optimism and the possibility of grace.
