On "The Road to Roswell": A Book Review

Title: The Road to Roswell
Author: Connie Willis
Genre: Science Fiction

About the book...

Francie is headed to Roswell for Serena, her college roommate's, wedding, presumably to talk her out of marrying the bride groom who is alien obsessed, hence why they are holding the wedding in Roswell during a UFO festival. When Serena sends Francie to grab something from the car while trying to get things squared away for the wedding at the UFO museum, little does she suspect that the funny looking tumble weed in the front seat is an alien ready to kidnap her and with a point of his tentacle make her drive all over the state.  

What I think...
Connie Willis is one of the few living authors I actively keep track of and regularly read*. Not all her books and stories appeal to me, but I'm usually willing to give them a try. As far as sci-fi goes I'm not usually a spaceships and aliens person with a handful of exceptions and after the first thirty pages I almost gave up on this one. However, I'm glad I kept reading. 

This book does veer on the sillier side, which given the topic isn't particularly surprising. The characters, which keep getting added to the abduction group, were such a quirky mix including a paranoid alien hunter, a little old lady, and a western movie enthusiast that make a nice addition to the more grounded Francie and Wade, a hitchhiker that the alien picks up, and the alien, who they begin to call Indy (after Indiana Jones) just becomes more and more amusing as the story goes on.  

Willis loves putting movie references in her contemporary works and I loved how this book focused on a mix of alien and western movies, including having each chapter start with a quotation. I also appreciated that you didn't need to have seem all of the movies referenced to have the book make sense! 

I do have to mention the dedication, which, I was delighted (but not surprised) to see included Eleanor Cameron and John Wyndham who fall into my exception category and are two authors of space/alien books I adore.

To sum it all up...
A fun alien encounter with a rather abrupt ending that I hope meanings a second book might be coming!

*My other Connie Willis book review on Doomsday Book can be found here.