Un procès pour les étoiles

"Pour Frank Nobilio, le conseiller scientifique du président des Etats-Unis, le premier contact entre l'humanité et une race extraterrestre est assurément un succès : les Tosoks sont amicaux et tout disposés à faire bénéficier les hommes de leur avance technique. Quant à ces derniers, ils ont réussi à passer outre un bien légitime désarroi face aux caractéristiques morphologiques de leurs visiteurs pour réserver à ceux-ci le meilleur accueil possible. 

Mais un des savants de l'entourage des aliens est assassiné dans des conditions atroces, et tous les indices semblent accuser Hask, l'un des Tosoks. Bientôt arrêté, emprisonné et traduit en jugement, Hask risque d'être exécuté à moins que Frank et Dale, son avocat, ne parviennent à établir son innocence.

Leur tâche s'annonce d'autant plus difficile que leur client se montre peu coopératif, laissant entendre que l'enjeu de ce procès dépasse de loin le cadre étroit de la justice humaine..."

(Résumé de  l'Ed. J’ai Lu, coll. Millénaires)

 "The dust jacket blurb makes the claim that `Robert Sawyer is Canada's only native-born, full-time, science fiction writer.' The claim is irrelevant: He sets a standard for writers of any nationality. Illegal Alien is one of few first-contact novels that has even a smattering of originality. Sawyer mixes tongue-in-cheek (although these aliens don't seem to have tongues or cheeks) humor with courtroom drama and impending doom for humanity. The result is a tightly written page turner that satisfies from the start." — Denver Rocky Mountain News

"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. The novel is far too good to attempt to summarize; let's just say that 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 Alienis the best Canadian mystery of 1997." — Margaret Cannon in The Globe and Mail: Canada's National Newspaper

"Sawyer skillfully blends courtroom drama with first-contact science fiction — Arthur C. Clarke, meet John Grisham. Sawyer displays an impressive depth and breadth of both legal and scientific research — his aliens and his lawyers are equally credible. In its discussion of law and culture, of Tosok religions and taboos, of the impact of physical circumstances on biological and social evolution, among many other areas, Illegal Alien provides us with messages and metaphors that humanity will have a continuing need to hear. Sawyer suggests that compassionate idealism (also embodied in the law, at its best) is what saves species and worlds from falling into darkness. 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. As a book that calls us to think and feel outside our own preconceptions, it is well worth the thoughtful sf reader's attention." — The New York Review of Science Fiction

Toutes les critiques du livre se trouvent ici.