The Road to Roswell

The Road to Roswell

by Connie Willis
Setting: New Mexico
Genres: Fiction / Science Fiction / Humorous
Published on June 27, 2023
Pages: 416
Format: eBook Source: Library

When level-headed Francie arrives in Roswell, New Mexico, for her college roommate’s UFO-themed wedding—complete with a true-believer bridegroom—she can’t help but roll her eyes at all the wide-eyed talk of aliens, which obviously don’t exist. Imagine her surprise, then, when she is abducted by one.

Odder still, her abductor is far from what the popular media have led her to expect, with a body like a tumbleweed and a mass of lightning-fast tentacles. Nor is Francie the only victim of the alien’s abduction spree. Before long, he has acquired a charming con man named Wade, a sweet little old lady with a casino addiction, a retiree with a huge RV and a love for old Westerns, and a UFO-chasing nutjob who is thoroughly convinced the alien intends to probe them and/or take over the planet.

But the more Francie gets to know the alien, the more convinced she becomes that he’s not an invader. That he’s in trouble and she has to help him. Only she doesn’t know how—or even what the trouble is. 

Part alien-abduction adventure, part road trip saga, part romantic comedy, The Road to Roswell is packed full of Men in Black, Elvis impersonators, tourist traps, rattlesnakes, chemtrails, and Close Encounters of the Third, Fourth, and Fifth kind. Can Francie, stuck in a neon green bridesmaid’s dress, save the world—and still make it back for the wedding?

This is a good example of the kind of light and fun sci-fi that I like. I’d never actually heard of Connie Willis before but she has written a lot of books. I may need to go back and check out a few more.

This book starts with Francie arriving in Roswell to talk her college roommate out of yet another ill advised marriage. This wedding is supposed to take place in a UFO museum. When Francie is grabbed outside and forced to drive a get away car for an alien, she is more than shocked. She never believed in aliens.

Her alien needs to go somewhere but he doesn’t seem to know where. Soon they are driving all over and he is getting increasingly agitated. Any people they encounter he also kidnaps until he finally has to kidnap a person with an RV to carry them all.

This is a fun roadtrip with a group of eclectic people trying to learn to communicate with an alien. What is he looking for? Should they be helping or trying to stop him? Why does seeing pictures of Monument Valley freak him out so much?

If you love old western movies you’d probably really like this book because they use the collection of movies in the RV to teach him to communicate. There are references to these movies galore but I’m not a western fan and still understood what was going on.

My favorite character was definitely the alien. He was so earnest in his quest in spite of all the madness surrounding him.