Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.
Great North Road  By  cover art

Great North Road

By: Peter F. Hamilton
Narrated by: Toby Longworth
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $25.79

Buy for $25.79

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

A century from now, thanks to a technology allowing instantaneous travel across light-years, humanity has solved its energy shortages, cleaned up the environment, and created far-flung colony worlds. The keys to this empire belong to the powerful North family - composed of successive generations of clones. Yet these clones are not identical. For one thing, genetic errors have crept in with each generation. For another, the original three clone "brothers" have gone their separate ways, and the branches of the family are now friendly rivals more than allies.

Or maybe not so friendly. At least that's what the murder of a North clone in the English city of Newcastle suggests to Detective Sidney Hurst. Sid is a solid investigator who'd like nothing better than to hand off this hot potato of a case. The way he figures it, whether he solves the crime or not, he'll make enough enemies to ruin his career. Yet Sid's case is about to take an unexpected turn: Because the circumstances of the murder bear an uncanny resemblance to a killing that took place years ago on the planet St. Libra, where a North clone and his entire household were slaughtered in cold blood.

The convicted slayer, Angela Tramelo, has always claimed her innocence. And now it seems she may have been right. Because only the St. Libra killer could have committed the Newcastle crime. Problem is, Angela also claims that the murderer was an alien monster.

Now Sid must navigate through a Byzantine minefield of competing interests within the police department and the world's political and economic elite...all the while hunting down a brutal killer poised to strike again. And on St. Libra, Angela, newly released from prison, joins a mission to hunt down the elusive alien, only to learn that the line between hunter and hunted is a thin one.

©2012 Peter F. Hamilton (P)2013 Tantor

Critic reviews

"It's a perfect introduction to his gifts for character design, dialogue, and sheer, big-idea-driven storytelling." ( Booklist)

What listeners say about Great North Road

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,469
  • 4 Stars
    921
  • 3 Stars
    288
  • 2 Stars
    60
  • 1 Stars
    37
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,637
  • 4 Stars
    670
  • 3 Stars
    157
  • 2 Stars
    31
  • 1 Stars
    13
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,300
  • 4 Stars
    819
  • 3 Stars
    292
  • 2 Stars
    66
  • 1 Stars
    36

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Enjoy Peter Hamilton, but this one didn't take

I've read many other Peter Hamilton novels: the Commonwealth, Void and Greg Mandel series. Loved those, but this one just didn't take. I suggest any sci fi fans who've read nothing by Peter Hamilton start with those series and in that order. Only consider 'Great North Road' after that.

At that point, my review to those folks would be that 'Great North Road' has all the elements of those previous efforts, but it was less interesting, developed, exciting and thought-provoking. In addition, it was mired in several large sections. I recommend giving it a pass.

To end on that first point though - I very much enjoy the many other novels of Peter Hamilton, and look forward to more!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

I wish this was 2 different books

This very long audible book encompasses two novels. One is a well-written and well-plotted mystery that launches the book. (Great narration, too) The police detective characters are great and the way they solve the mystery is smartly written and plotted. The other part is basic horror story: Isolated team gets picked off one by one by knife wielding monster that stalks them. Cue scary music. And why do characters go out in a blizzard by themselves to get slaughtered again and again? Be warned: How the horror story resolves itself may make you scream: WTF! I can't help but wonder if the publisher was screaming at the author: "Finish the bloody thing already."

Despite all of this, I do love what Hamilton tries to accomplish in his novels. He imagines interesting new worlds with complex people. I also don't mind the back and forth of the narrative, as he jumps back into time to give the reader background stories on the various characters. In this case, it is partly to keep the reader guessing. He hides key clues by doling out details slowly.

And, yes, I'll probably listen to another Hamilton story.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Enough is too much

Any additional comments?

An intricate story told in foreshadow and flashback, advancing the narrative ever so slightly over so very long in clock time of listening. The three stars is because of the abuse of my patience. The story is very good, the reader is amazingly flexible - all those different characters. I can't believe such an imaginative and capable author could not have crafted a more tolerable and less tedious length.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Misogyny continues

Another futuristic story where males dominate and women are called whores. I'm about 4 hours into the 36 hour book, maybe it will get better but it's not worth listening to the misogyny. I find it annoying that so many authors writing about the future are so socially stuck in the past. I got the book as part of a 2 for 1 sale so didn't pay for it but I'm still returning it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

An excellent sci-fi mystery

It is the year 2142 and in the city of Newcastle there is a mystery that needs to be solved. Police detective Sidney Hurst is called on the scene when a body is fished out of the Tyne river. As soon as he lays eyes on the corpse with the wound in the chest he knows that he is in deep - the body is a North. The North family is the most powerful family across humanity's interstellar expanse and they run Northumberland Interstellar which is responsible for providing all of the bio fuel humanity relies on. Nobody messes with the North family and of course their response to any threat is swift and brutal. Someone will be convicted of this crime and it will happen quickly and he is now stuck in the middle of this mess.

That set-up may sound like this is a simple little sci-fi murder mystery but that is far from the truth. This book is over 1000 pages long and the audiobook clocks in at over 36 hours. As Sid starts the investigation into this murder case he begins to unravel a giant ball of yarn. The Norths are a family of clones and there is an unfortunate side effect to the cloning process used to create them . Each generation of North begins to degrade until they become unstable thus limiting their numbers. The murder victim is a 2North, which is 2nd generation and near the top of North family hierarchy. The method used to kill the North is also of significance because of how unique it is. Five blades were inserted into the victim's heart and used to shred it to pieces, most likely five blades attached to the end of someone's fingers.

What makes this very interesting is that the same method was used to kill Bartram North 22 years earlier. Angela Trumelo was convicted of that murder but she remains imprisoned to this day so she is not a suspect. However, she always claimed that she didn't do it and that an "alien" being murdered Bartram and ran off. After being arrested, Angela was tortured and subjected to every known interrogation method to extract the truth from her yet her story never waivered. With this second murder it looks like it might be possible that Angela was actually telling the truth. Is there some kind of alien being running around Newcastle? With the inter-planetary gateway to St Libra in Newcastle is it possible that some sort of sentient alien lifeform snuck through?

This investigation takes place in a rich universe where the HDA (Human Defense Alliance) is tasked with protecting human planets from the Zanth. These entities seem to swarm in from another dimension to swallow up whole planets and devour everything in their path. The Zanth are a force that the HDA has little ability to resist so the possibility that yet another sentient alien being could exist is very intriguing to them.

So with the familiar forces of police, military, and business working mostly against each other, Sid's investigation faces one challenge after another. It all makes for some good science fiction that keeps you interested the whole time. There is a nice mix of new and familiar here and Hamilton does a good job of teasing out possibilities without revealing too much. If you are looking for a nice long listen this one is worthy of your consideration and Toby Longworth does a pretty good job on the narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Ok storyline...not as good as previous books

Very long and drawn out with too much time spent on explaining unimportant details. Good book to fill time...too long.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

I lasted about an hour

I really enjoyed Hamiltons Pandora Star series. I thought the setting was fun to learn about and the characters interesting and amusing, if sometimes a little two-dimensional. This, on the other hand, featured a tedious setting/culture, and characters I could care less about.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Held my interest but ending was a letdown

The plot was interesting but lacked the full wonder of his previous works in The Commonwealth Saga and the ending was a bit of a letdown. With that said, Peter still displayed his master craft literary skills that I've come to admire.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Don't judge Hamilton by this book!

As a huge fan of Peter F. Hamilton's other works I was greatly looking forward to his latest epic. Of the 10 Hamilton books I've listened to or read, this was not even in the same league. The characters are boring and lacking in depth, the plot is ridiculously slow and the unnecessary story lines make up more content than the relevant ones!

Great North Road is comprised of 2 related story lines; one an extremely long winded police procedural and one about a supposed elite military unit on another planet looking for a scary alien. The police procedural plods along at a snails pace, lacking direction and substance. Hours are spend on the main character's search for a new home or other inconsequential elements that bring the plot to a screeching halt. The military unit section is basically a very bad lost-in-the-woods horror movie about a bunch of inept soldiers who go in unprepared and make one bad decision after the next. Implausibility is the rule for this section so don't expect it to be realistic.

Throw this all together with a bunch of ill-timed flashbacks to explain plot holes, a narrator who does such strong accents they are at times incomprehensible, repetitive phrases and a book that should have been edited to 8 hours and you get Great North Road, all 36 hours of it. I never thought I'd say this about a Peter F. Hamilton book but you should spend your credit elsewhere.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

SLOW, DRY, BORING

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

A different writer, book and story. This book should only come out in public extremely abridged.

Would you ever listen to anything by Peter F. Hamilton again?

Probally never ever again

What didn’t you like about Toby Longworth’s performance?

Learn to pronounce american if you are selling to the american market.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Irritation.

Any additional comments?

Get rid of it.I couldnt bear to listen to any more after 1 hour.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful