Great North Road

By: Peter F. Hamilton

Narrated by: Toby Longworth

Length: 36 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

A clone has been the victim of a savage killing. The investigation may uncover a threat to humanity's very existence. Great North Road is a standalone adventure from science fiction star Peter F. Hamilton, the author of The Night's Dawn trilogy.

For fans of Philip K. Dick and Kim Stanley Robinson.

In Newcastle, AD 2142, Detective Sidney Hurst attends a brutal murder scene. The victim is one of the wealthy North family’s clones, but the most disturbing aspect is how he died. Twenty years ago, a North clone billionaire and his household were slaughtered in the exact same manner, on the tropical planet of St Libra. The only member of the household left alive, Angela Tramelo, received the blame. Was Angela wrongly convicted back then? She’d never wavered under interrogation – claiming she alone survived an alien attack.

With St Libran bio-fuel now powering Earth's economy, investigating this alien threat becomes top priority. A vast expedition is mounted via the planet’s Newcastle gateway – including Angela Tramelo, grudgingly released from prison. But the expedition is cut off, deep within St Libra's rainforests. Then the bloodshed begins . . .

©2012 Peter F. Hamilton (P)2012 Pan Macmillian Publishers Ltd

Critic reviews

"The most powerful imagination in science fiction." (Ken Follett)

"Novels that combine fantastic speculation with incredible detailed imagining of the lives we will lead." (Guardian)

"This is thrilling stuff; compulsively readable and abundantly full of idea." (The Times)

A very Peter F Hamilton book!

What made the experience of listening to Great North Road - Part One the most enjoyable?

Peter F. Hamilton has been exploring worlds via wormholes for years and this is yet another universe where the earth has expanded into the local area space with wormholes. This story is an exploration of "what might be" when corporates go interstellar and cloning is understood and if not widespread, certainly well accepted. Enter Sid, a detective living in Northern England in the great city of Halifax. Sid is asked to investigate a murder conducted, possibly, by an unknown kind of alien. The story, despite its ENORMOUS length and word count, paces along nicely. There are very few slow parts and the detail and unravelling of the crime are completely believable. As usual, Hamilton has his heros and anti-heros and in this case some really original aliens.

The story is satisfying and completely contained with an interesting twist. The characters are interesting and mostly believable. Peter F. Hamilton is living up to the high expectations of his fans. I remain one of them.

Toby Longworth maintains a passable performance in reading, he does the accents without over doing them (trust me this is good, Halifax accents are IMPOSSIBLE to understand if you aren't english) and he does a great job on separating the characters.

Overall, this is a great buy and very enjoyable.

Great combination of crime and sci-fi

Even with a shorter storyline Peter manages du build a decent character gallery with enough background information on the important ones. I do not read much crime myself, but the balance between crime and sci-fi is just right. The sci-fi and tech is well thought through, some of it similar to some of peters other works, however much more lowtech and dirty than the more polished future of the commonwealth saga (my favourite sci-fi so far).

Would be a great series

A myriad of plots starting with a detective story. Peter F Hamilton fans will feel right at home..

captivating murder mystery spiced with SF

The book îs a casual read, simpler than other writings of Peter F Hamilton (especialy those written after north road series) where he portrays în a deeper detail entire planets, worlds and many hundreds of characters that make you loose yourself among them. The read îs relaxing but captivates the imagination with the many avenues of mystery logic solving. You may have an idea but Peter F Hamilton îs surprising. you have read to the end.

A great Story and a Great Listen

Absolutely love this book, once again a great narrative by Mr Hamilton and Tony Longworth does a great job at making the story come alive!
Around a great experience!!

Peter F Hamilton books are awesome

Great book with amazing character development
Toby Longworth was his usual fantastic with a great range of voices. Good book to start with if you are new to Hamilton.

fantastic imagination

What did you like about this audiobook?

The story is very involved and the plot is woven in leaf after leaf. I love Peter Hamilton's stories and look forward to his next book.

How has the book increased your interest in the subject matter?

I first saw a tome in a book shop with the author Peter Hamilton. Out of curiosity, I got one of his books and have been fascinated by his imagination and depth of description ever since. I almost wish I could be alive when we will be able to travel to his worlds...

Does the author present information in a way that is interesting and insightful, and if so, how does he achieve this?

Peter Hamilton has a wonderful imagination. He is able to describe his worlds in a very clear manner allowing one to imagine what he is driving at. He is also able to disguise his plot so that you only find out at the end how it all ties together.

What did you find wrong about the narrator's performance?

I love John Lee reading Peter Hamilton's books and was initially disappointed to see he was not reading this one. However, Tony Longworth has more than stepped up. I like his voice, his intonation and his ability to read the words to tell a story.

Do you have any additional comments?

A good read. A bit tough if you like short works...

Peter Hamilton at his best

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Mr Hamilton has written a lot of good books. But this is by far his best. I like how he mixes scifi and reality in order to create a future you can believe in. I also like how this detective story in a not so distant future keeps you intrigued to the very end.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Angela is a cold hearted female who would do anything to get what she wants. But the better you get to know her, the more you start to like her and feel sorry for her.

Have you listened to any of Toby Longworth’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No I haven't, but I am looking forward to listen to his other works. I love how he does all these accents. One minute he sounds like an East Indian and the next you think you are hearing some English bloke with a Newcastle accent.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It made me feel sorry for the heroine.

Any additional comments?

You might want to listen to this book. It is long, I know, but I think this will be one of the best scifi books of 2013.

Just too much hard work, laborious and boring

Would you try another book from Peter F. Hamilton and/or Toby Longworth?

I love Peter's books normally and I really like Toby as a narrater but this book was drawn out dribble.

Has Great North Road - Part One turned you off from other books in this genre?

No, I love all of Peter's other work so I will persist.

What about Toby Longworth’s performance did you like?

Great characterisation

What character would you cut from Great North Road - Part One?

about half of them

Any additional comments?

A book does not have to be long for the sake of it, the commonwealth sage was justifed as was the Void trilogy but this was just drawn out and boring, I didn't much like the setting either..