A courtroom drama with an extraterrestrial defendant

• Winner of Japan’s Seiun Award for Best SF Novel of the Year

• Finalist for the Crime Writers of Canada’s Arthur Ellis Award for Best Mystery Novel of the Year

When a disabled starship enters the Earth’s atmosphere, fear is quickly replaced with awe. The first contact ever between humans and aliens is made. Seven members of the Tosok race are welcomed by the world with open arms. In exchange for the resources and help to repair their ship, they offer to share their knowledge and technology.

But as the people of Earth put their best faces forward, the growing sense of trust is shattered. Cletus Calhoun, host of the popular PBS astronomy series Great Balls of Fire, is found dead — mutilated and dismembered by a mysterious weapon. All evidence points to one of the Tosoks. Scrambling to avoid a planetary incident, Frank Nobilio, the US president’s science advisor, arranges for prominent civil rights lawyer Dale Rice to defend the alien. In the unprecedented trial, human and alien cultures clash. And when the search for justice threatens to overshadow the truth, there may be more at stake than accounting for one human life ...

“This is one fine courtroom drama, with enough twists in the plot to keep any mystery fan flipping the pages; it puts Perry Mason and John Grisham to shame. Sawyer delves into all sorts of strange and wonderful conflicts, including the war between science and belief, and just what God may or may not be. Illegal Alien is the best Canadian mystery of the year.” —Margaret Cannon in The Globe and Mail: Canada’s National Newspaper

“The best aliens since Larry Niven’s puppeteers.” —CHAY-FM

“Some of the best trial scenes in SF, an intriguing mystery, interesting aliens, and a sinister backplot, all excellently balanced. Add another hit to Sawyer’s string.” —Science Fiction Chronicle

“A fascinating tale that is an eerie parallel to the O.J. Simpson trial.” —The Mystery Review

“So many science-fiction accolades have been showered on Robert J. Sawyer that it’s all too easy to forget his prizes include an Arthur Ellis Award from the Crime Writers of Canada. An immensely satisfying whodunit.” —The Toronto Star

“Illegal Alien appears to be the first First Contact courtroom-drama murder mystery. A detailed treatment of the court system, from jury selection onward, wrapped around a Nivenesque alien-nature puzzle. Recommended.” —Locus

“Few novels (science fiction or otherwise) can match Illegal Alien for imagination and intelligence. Sawyer has created a smart and satisfying mystery.” —Mystery News

“Sawyer skillfully blends courtroom drama with first-contact science fiction — Arthur C. Clarke, meet John Grisham. Illegal Alien provides us with messages and metaphors that humanity will have a continuing need to hear. Ultimately, Illegal Alien is a deeper and more important novel than its high-concept title and quick-reading, highly polished, and highly contemporary surface might suggest. It admirably combines the hard side of science, law, and order with the softer side of compassion and idealism.” —The New York Review of Science Fiction

"A tightly written page-turner that satisfies from the start.” —Denver Rocky Mountain News

• Originally published by Ace Science Fiction (US) and Hachette’s New English Library (UK)
• A selection of The Science Fiction Book Club
• This edition published by SFWRITER.COM Inc.
• Cover art by Fred Gambino