Great North Road

By: Peter F. Hamilton

Narrated by: Toby Longworth

Length: 36 hrs and 34 mins

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)

Sciencey Science Fiction Goodness

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

I truly love how Peter F. Hamilton builds these awesome characters, in a range of regular joe's who live in an advanced technological age, all the way to personalizing beings who are so alien they would be near impossible to comprehend. All the while, he adds in base human problems, thrilling action, and super-nerd science that is well-researched and truly upholds the rest of the story. All of these things in one novel.... I was absolutely saddened when it was over. This is one hardworking author. And an excellent book.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Ravi. Angela. Hard to pick between the two. Ravi is your basic Sgt. Slaughter super-warrior who is past his salad days but is grounded enough he can still see the forest despite the trees. Angela is just a cool character who has floated through so many lives...

What does Toby Longworth bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The way this guy distinguishes characters voice is as fun as listening to the story.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, never got bored or distracted. The execution was so good. Just when you thought you might hit a low dull point where something is re-explained.... whoosh, it didn't happen.

Any additional comments?

I recommend checking out other Peter F. Hamilton books if you like this. The guy can tell a story in any setting. And make it worth every last second of the listen.

Reasonable performance

Disliked all the religious dogma The author tends to put forth, the narrative is unique

Not bad as Syfy goes.

The story line hops around furiously and can be confusing as to the timeline. If you like detail to the storyline...this one is for you.

Better than expected...and highly creative

It's more a 3 1/2, but I'm limited by this system - so, I'll round upward. This book was quite a bit better than I expected. The sci-fi wasn't too overboard, the intrigue/drama level was sufficiently high, and the police-procedural was just the right amount of ballsy - cumulatively, it was a well-done balance. It may have dragged on a little bit at times - but not overly much, and certainly not enough to ding the rating. After all, the main plot was intricate and unique, and it kept me transfixed and interested most of the time. All in all, it was an interesting listen - the audiobook narrator, Toby Longworth, did a wonderful job with the voicing, the inflections, and the overall tone and feel of the characters. This being my first Hamilton novel, I'd be strongly inclined to try another of his works in the future.

Nice book but not as good as the VOID trilogy

I loved Peter Hamilton's Common Wealth Universe. It is simply audacious and I always keep wanting more.

This book is not set in the same universe. There are some similarities, but not on such a grand scale as the previous trilogy. This is mostly a suspense mystery novel set in future. Many of the characters are believable and one can relate to them.

I am waiting for Peter's next book which is supposed to be set in the Common Wealth Universe

Another great by Hamilton

A long and complicated detective story set in the semi-near future--about 300 years ahead. Fun for mystery fans to read about futuristic forensics and see that some things remain the same, such as careful, painstaking work. That's only part of the story, Hamilton flips back and forward to reveal glimpses of the universe, new worlds and dawning colonialism with its troubles and foibles and the ever present bureaucracy. Hamilton, as always, manages to tie up all the loose ends with a more than satisfactory climatic ending. A suspenseful, fun read beautifully narrated with so many intricacies that its worth listening to more than once. Can't help wondering what kind of mind composes masterpieces like this? By the way, this does not seem to be a continued story like the Void Series, but complete in the 36 delightful hours.

Really exciting story that feels new

I really enjoyed this version of interstellar travel through Gates, I found the concept to offer a new take on superluminal flight inside of a sci-fi storyline

One of Peter F. Hamilton's weaker efforts

In spite of my headline, I did not dislike or hate this book. I thought it was overly long, the first half of the novel especially, you could cut large amounts of it out without affecting any of the story whatsoever. As the story (finally) picks up the pace, it begins to have the opposite problem where things don't seem fleshed out very well or events resolve suddenly - and too quickly.

Basically a lot of the early part of the investigation starts to get very boring since the characters are literally spinning their wheels for a very long period of time. Reading a chapter where literally nothing happens is not engaging.

The wider universe the story is set in is not explored very well, which is unusual for Peter's writing.

Of particular annoyance is one of the threads throughout the story is never resolved or even addressed. I'm not even sure why it's in the book. (I don't want to name it by spoiler, but it's an alien incursion that happens mostly in the background.)

I think a sterner editor would've done this one a good service.

Toby Longworth's reading was adequate and overall he did a good job, giving each character a distinct voice.

There are also some embarrassing errors, I don't know if they are in the printed text or mistakes by the reader. Some of these may be Tantor Audio's fault.
1. The story (mostly) takes place in the 22nd century but there are multiple references to the 23rd.
2. The audiobook chapters are typically named by in-story dates, but someone wasn't paying attention and chapters that take place entirely several decades in the past do not reflect this in the chapter names.

It’s worth it

The author is known to be long-winded. However, this story while lengthy and seemingly tedious at times is actually full of surprises, twists, and turns. You have to listen closely. You can’t give this a half listen and enjoy it. The narrator is absolutely fantastic as usual. While, I felt a little disappointed in the ending, I suppose any other end to this great epic journey would have not done it justice.

Entertaining sci-fi

Where does Great North Road rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I found the Great North Road to be entertaining and absorbing but ultimately a bit of a let-down. I've read several books by Hamilton and this is my least favorite. It is still good and you will be entertained but I didn't think the ideas presented were that original. The narration is great. If you are new to Hamilton and sci-fi in general I think you will really enjoy the story. For us older Hamilton fans, you will still like it but be prepared that it is not his best.