Illegal Alien

By: Robert J. Sawyer

Narrated by: Joe Barrett

Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

When a disabled spaceship enters Earth's atmosphere, seven members of the advanced Tosok race are welcomed by the world. Then a popular scientist is murdered, and all evidence points to one of the Tosoks. Now, an alien is tried in a court of law -and there may be far more at stake than accounting for one human life.

©1997 Robert J Sawyer (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

So glad I found this!

Any additional comments?

After a lot of searching and trial and error looking for a new author to enjoy, I stumbled across this book and it's fantastic! The author has a true gift, keeping you enthralled and entertained to the point that it's hard to stop listening to the book. The ideas he comes up with are truly fascinating and believable at the same time.

The narrator is brilliant, bringing life to the characters and placing the right emphasis at the right moments. It's easy to imagine the characters as the narrator speaks for them.

I've now started reading The Neanderthall Parallax series (also by Robert J Sawyer) and I'm now hooked on that!

Highly recommended.

Highly Entertaining Spoof of the US Legal System

Illegal Alien is entertaining and does a good job of spoofing the judicial system of the USA. What if aliens arrived on planet Earth and were more or less just "people" who look different? what if one of them committed a crime and the State decided to try the case?

What more could you want?

Aliens, courtroom drama, and surprises around every corner. I should have begun by stating I am a BIG Robert Sawyer fan. I was very excited to see his older books come to audible when Triggers was released. I blazed thru Triggers and moved on to Illegal Alien. I enjoy Sawyers writing style and the way he interjects morality and opposing points of view. If you are a Sawyer fan you will enjoy this book. Joe Barrett gives the story life. I will look for more books narrated by him. This is not my favorite Robert Sawyer book, that prize goes to Calculating God because it had some wonderful humor and the whole premise was so outlandish I admired the imagination that brougth it to life.

Illegal Aliens is a five star book and was well worth my last credit. I recommend this book to fans as well as Sawyer newcomers--just beware, you will be spending all your credits on Sawyer books for the next couple months...he is addicting!

refreshingly different!

What made the experience of listening to Illegal Alien the most enjoyable?

Some of the situations the aliens find themselves in can be humorous.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Illegal Alien?

The murder trial and all the discriptions of alien lifestyle.

What does Joe Barrett bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Joe does a good job of being sad or happy or afraid when the situation calls for it.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The first time the murder weapon was seen by humans. It implicated an alien as the prime suspect.

Any additional comments?

I don't think this book was intended to be a comedy but I found myself laughing throughout.

No space battles; just great Sci Fi and drama

If you could sum up Illegal Alien in three words, what would they be?

Courtroom ScienceFiction Drama

What was one of the most memorable moments of Illegal Alien?

The unraveling of the murder case and its implications for humanity.

What about Joe Barrett’s performance did you like?

The narrator delivered the story with great skill and delivered believable voices in his characterizations.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The examination of philosophical differences between the aliens and humans was thought provoking.

Any additional comments?

A well constructed and entertaining story with and "old school" sci-fi feel to it.

Had a little I liked, but a lot I did not like

The over all plot of the book we really good. I enjoyed the twists and turns. I enjoyed the complex religion aspect of this book as well, that's something I think Mr. Sawyer does amazingly well. The narrator is great and makes if very easy for you to get lost in the story.

What I didn't like is that this book harps to much on racism in ways that are forced. Hispanic character named Jesus makes if clear that its "hey-zeus" and not "geez-us", but not because someone said his name wrong, he just randomly says it. The African character goes out of his way to make the White character seem racists, but the White character has not shown any racism to anyone. I nearly turned it off and that was just 2 hours into the book.

I stuck it out and was given a good story. The ending was a little to much of a happy ending for me, but it wasn't a terrible ending if that's your thing. It's just not my thing.

Anyway, I don't return books often, but this book I will be returning. As much as I like the story as a whole, the beginning is enough of a turn off for me that I would not listen this this book again.

Good!

This was a different take on an alien invasion and it was good! Excellent narrator only limited by the authors writing style. There are some odd sentence questions not limited to one character that should have been, doesn't ruin the book by any means but I found it grating. Overall worth the credit!

A very unusual first contact novel.

sort of a cross between Star Trek and a court room drama. very refreshing. likable characters . The twists and suspense were very well executed.

sci fi?

Little more than a courtroom drama, short on sci fi, even shorter short on science

To Kill a Mockingbird with an alien.

Any additional comments?

The book starts off great but quickly becomes boring. I kept waiting for something to happen, alien's to invade, mass destruction, just something... but nothing ever did. If you enjoy classical novels like To Kill a Mockingbird then this book might be for you. I personally find this kind of thing boring. Who wants to read about a court case? No one, that's why people get out of doing jury duty.