| Illegal Alien | |
|---|---|
Cover of first U.S. edition (paperback) |
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| Author(s) | Robert J. Sawyer |
| Cover artist | Danilo Ducak |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Ace Books |
| Publication date | December 1997 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| Pages | 304 pp |
| ISBN | 0-441-00592-6 |
| OCLC Number | 40495547 |
Illegal Alien is a science fiction and mystery novel by Canadian novelist Robert J. Sawyer. The book won the 2002 Seiun Award, in Japan, for Best Foreign Novel.
The story was published in hardback in December 1997, and appeared in paperback in England in January 1998 and in the United States in January 1999.
An alien spacecraft arrives on Earth, contact is established, and the two peoples begin to learn about each other. Things go well for several months, with the aliens (who call themselves Tosoks) doing a tour of our world, during which they viewed the August 1999 solar eclipse. Then a member of the human contact team is found dead, under circumstances that place one of the aliens, Hask, under suspicion. Hask is in fact arrested for murder, and the remainder of the novel concerns Hask's trial in a Los Angeles, California court.
The book contains several references to the O. J. Simpson trial, and it was in fact inspired by that trial. Sawyer (a Canadian) referred to the novel as "an outsider's view of American justice."
There are a number of pungent comments about the justice system, such as when a juror is discovered to be a "UFO nut" and is dismissed from the jury. While questioning the juror about the truthfulness about her answers to the pre-selection jury questionnaire, the judge uses the terms "UFO" and "flying saucer" synonymously, whilst the juror distinguishes them as different things. Told she should have answered the question in the spirit it was asked, and that the Court wants "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth," the juror rebuts: