The gates by

12 July 2010


Genre: ,

ISBN: 9781444706741

In the beginning, about 13.7 billion years ago, to be reasonably precise, there was a very, very small dot.

Halloween hasn’t quite arrived when Samuel Johnson calls in to the Abernathy’s as he attempts to get a head start on everyone else. Dressed as a ghost and accompanied by his dog, a little dachshund called Boswell, he in for a disappointing evening. Mr. Abernathy wants nothing to do with Samuel’s tricks nor with treats. He has plans for this evening. His wife found a book recently, and together with the Renfield’s they are about have some ‘fun’.

And this fun is timed to the Large Hadron Collider being tested, and might just bring about the end of the world. Not that they were attempting to do so, they were merely bored, and you know what they say about the devil and idle hands.

This was a fun read. And informative,not to mention full of useful advice.

‘Nefarious’ means very wicked indeed, in a cunning way. If you plan on being nefarious, it pays to look the part: dress in black: wear a hat, preferably one with a wide brim and no flowers; and perhaps from a moustache that you can twirl. It also helps to have a deep and sinister laugh, to indicate when you’re being nefarious. You know the kind: ‘BWAH-HA-HA-HA-HA!’ That kind.

Plus, it had footnotes! I really enjoyed it. The blend of humour and plot was just about perfect.

In a way it reminded me a little of Terry Pratchett’s books. The narrator talking directly to the reader and the footnotes are probably why. Plus it doesn’t talk down to reader; it shares a laugh with the reader.

That being said if you don’t like digressions and footnotes then you might not enjoy it, and if any mention of science puts you off, well, I’d still give this a go, there is science but it it all told in a very readable fashion.

Read an extract here or scroll down here and listen to a sample.

other reviews: A book blog. Period ; The foggy foot review ; Leaf through books ; Blood sprayer ;

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2 Responses

  1. Kathleen says:

    This sounds like a lot of fun and very different from the cover. The cover made me think it would be a really scary book. Glad to hear you enjoyed it.
    Kathleen´s last blog post ..A Blogging Slump Before Vacation