Pandora

Resisting the governmental captors who have kept her existence a secret ever since her spacecraft crashed in the New Mexico desert, Pandora seeks revenge against the strange world and its unfriendly inhabitants. Original.

Rodgers' novel is poised on the borderline between horror and science fiction; that is, the treatment leans toward horror, but the theme--first contact with aliens--is straight out of sf, with a nod to Steven Spielberg. The plot includes all the classic elements of the alien-contact story: kidnapped humans, rumors of UFOs, secret government projects (not to mention plots), a general going (if not already gone) insane, and so on and so forth. Rodgers arrays these elements with great skill, however; the characterization is outstanding, and the efforts of the alien (the title character) to find her way home will keep readers turning pages. Rodgers will acquire an audience with this one. Horror and sf collections, take note. Roland Green