What is another name used to refer to Lucifer and Satan?
Dean Corso, a New York City rare book dealer, makes his living conning people into selling him valuable antique books for a low price, and then re-selling them to private collectors. Corso meets with wealthy book collector Boris Balkan, who has recently acquired a copy of The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows by 17th-century author Aristide Torchia, one of only three extant copies. The author adapted the book from one written by the Devil himself, and was burned for heresy. "The Nine Gates" purportedly contains the means to summon the Devil and acquire invincibility and immortality. Balkan believes two of the three copies are forgeries. He hires Corso to check all three and acquire the legitimate one by any means necessary.
Balkan's copy was acquired from Andrew Telfer, who killed himself soon after. Telfer's widow Liana seduces Corso, in a failed attempt to get the book back. Meanwhile, Corso leaves the book for safekeeping with bookseller Bernie Rothstein, who is then murdered; his corpse is found posed like an engraving in The Nine Gates.
Corso travels to Toledo, Spain. The Ceniza brothers, book restorers who sold Balkan's copy to Telfer originally, show him that three of the nine engravings are signed "LCF", rather than "AT", which aligns with the rumors that Lucifer himself was Aristide Torchia's co-author, and implies Satan designed the three images personally.
the Devil