“Roswell’s” book-based “Season 4” starts with “A New Beginning” and “Nightscape,” but the stakes seriously ramp up in “Pursuit” (September 2003). Authors Andy Mangels and Michael A. Martin, who previously wrote “Skeletons in the Closet,” tell us that Max and Liz have now gotten married – as per the flash-forward at the end of Season 3 – so now all bets are off. There’s no continuity reason why Max, Michael, Isabel, Liz, Maria, Kyle or anyone else can’t be hurt or killed.
Hopping around the USA
Mangels and Martin open up the narrative from the self-contained yarns of the previous two books by Kevin Ryan. Our six core heroes are in one storyline in Cheyenne, Wyo. But we also catch up with the three Duplicates in New York City; the parents and Brody in Roswell; Agent Duff (from Season 2) in Topeka, Kan.; Jesse in Boston; and Kal Langley in Los Angeles. Special Unit alien-hunters are again in play, but for the first time since Agent Pierce in Season 1, we get to know them as individuals.
“Pursuit” – the 10th entry in the 11-book series — is a propulsive, action-oriented novel, but the authors use the downtime between fights and flights to give insight into what individual characters are thinking. They also spend time clarifying and explaining backstory elements that even serious “Roswell” devotees might’ve found confusing.
“Pursuit” (2003)
Authors: Andy Mangels and Michael A. Martin
Series: “Roswell” No. 10
Genre: Science fiction
Setting: Various USA locations, “Season 4”
For example, we learn that Langley had been checking in on the Duplicates since their emergence from the pods in his NYC storage locker in 1994. If that had been stated in the TV series, I had overlooked it.
My favorite character in “Pursuit” is Ava. I had wondered what she had been up to after Rath and Lonnie murder her mate Zan in “Meet the Dupes” (2.8). She returns to their side because she’s meek, but she remains wary of them.
While watching the TV series, I had thought it might’ve been neat if Emilie de Ravin could’ve returned to play good-hearted Ava in Season 3, perhaps joining the Roswell teens. I think that could still be a possibility for book series finale “Turnabout.” (I had also wondered if maybe the pods of Ava and Tess had gotten switched, thus explaining the evil-leaning nature of one group and the good-leaning nature of the other. I suppose a reveal on these lines is also possible in the finale.)
Authors let loose with the Dupes
It’s particularly fun to read about Rath, Lonnie and Ava taking on Special Unit agents, because the authors can let loose with all-out action scenes. Rath and Lonnie don’t care if they have to kill humans to get away.
This also makes for a stark contrast with our main group in Cheyenne, who go through their usual hand-wringing. (The weakest spot of the novel, arguably, is Michael’s and Maria’s low-grade bickering. They should be past this, or at least it should be more nuanced now.) That said, the showdown in an outdoor mall is thrilling because it’s the moment at which Kyle’s dormant alien power finally manifests: He can project his voice into the minds of people in the vicinity.
The stakes get high for the parents, too, with a late-book Special Unit raid in Roswell. The authors pull off a neat trick where every time things are calm for one set of good guys, they get dangerous for another group. As such, “Pursuit” remains intense, yet it’s not a jittery experience reading it; there are lots of breathers and small character moments.
The novel’s biggest strength is that we see so many points of view all in one story. The TV show – especially in the second season – had a hard time bringing everything together. Instead, it doled out puzzle pieces individually. In “Pursuit,” we see better than ever before how the whole mythology jells. After all, everyone who has ever been even slightly privy to the alien secret carries it with them.
So when people like Agent Duff and Brody, and even newly introduced grunts in the Special Unit, come into this yarn, it enriches the narrative. “Pursuit” is the grand epic “Roswell” should be, but often could not be thanks to the limits of a TV budget, especially in the later seasons. Among action-based stories, this is as good as “Roswell” has been since the closing episodes of Season 1.