Science fiction and fantasy author Connie Willis has won eleven Hugo Awards and seven Nebula Awards. She has written comic novels, and stories of time-traveling historians. So, why not an alien who looks like a tumbleweed in The Road to Roswell?

Francie Driscoll owed her college roommate, Serena, and she’s always been there to talk Serena out of disastrous marriages. This time, Serena is in Roswell, New Mexico to marry a man Francie thinks of as a “UFO nut job” at the UFO Museum. Francie thinks it’s all nuts, but the airport and the entire town has been taken over by fans there for the UFO Festival. They’re going crazy because there’s talk of a sighting outside Roswell. But, it’s Francie, just doing a favor for Serena and walking to the car, who is abducted by an alien.

Francie’s bright, always trying to think of a way to escape from the alien she’s nicknamed Indy. But, he ties her hands to the steering wheel with his tentacles. Then, she picks up a hitchhiker named Wade, and Indy grabs him, too. Wade isn’t too upset. He claims he’s a con man selling anti-alien abduction insurance policies. Of all people to kidnap next, Lyle is a true believer in all the UFO stories, although Wade continually accuses him of believing in scenes from movies about aliens. Indy’s last two kidnapping victims are Eula Mae, who claims she’s just fond of casinos, and the owner of an RV. Wade and Indy hijack the entire RV because they need a bigger vehicle for their adventures. This time, Joseph is on the trip of a lifetime in his Western trail wagon where he has every Western movie ever made.

It’s a rollicking adventure as the crew follow Indy’s attempts to guide them through the desert. They hit casinos, Las Vegas, a wedding chapel. And, then, they’re betrayed by one of their own.

The Road to Roswell is as over-the-top as it gets, and it’s just fun. If you can suspend disbelief, and just hang on for the ride, it will be one heck of a story. Connie Willis knows how to tell a story that makes the reader believe in aliens, love, and communication. It’s just fun.

And, I love the last paragraph of her Acknowledgments. “And to Starbucks, who provided me with iced chais and any number of interesting aliens to observe while I was writing this book.”

Connie Willis’ website is http://www.sftv.org/cw/

The Road to Roswell by Connie Willis. Del Rey, 2023. ISBN 9780593499856 (hardcover), 416p.

FTC Full Disclosure – I downloaded a galley from NetGalley, with no promise of a positive review.