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)

Endlessly labeling technology

There is a vast amount of high tech action in this story. However, the story is fundamentally a detective story placed in the future. The constant referenced to the names of devices, technology, processes, organizations, etc., makes the story plod along. Very long in relation to the content. Okay but could be better.

Peter F. Hamilton: Great visionary science fiction

If you could sum up Great North Road in three words, what would they be?

Amazing Sci-fi Epic.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

All paths converge onto the Great North Road.

Any additional comments?

It is a Great big book and I enjoyed every little bit of it. Doubtless I will enjoy all of his available work.

Jarring voicework

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

Middle

What did you like best about this story?

Complexity, idea levels

Did Toby Longworth do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

Toby Longworth sounds like he's having a really bad day narrating this. Grating voce, no modulation. His idea of having anyone not a main character speak in a heavy accent is really jarring. It spoils lots of the narrative for me.
The idea of using terrible mock russian or indian accent for anyone not presented as sympathetic is not endearing.

Overall, he'd be better narrating Tom Clancy.

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

No. It's 1½ days long ..

Any additional comments?

I'd love to hear this story given justice by a decent narrator.

Great story.

A very good story with an excellent narrator. holds your attention to the very end.

interesting

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

original ideas

What other book might you compare Great North Road to and why?

always like authors vision of implants. very original

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

visual pictures, original concepts, new ideas

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

no

Any additional comments?

no

Consumed my Time

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

Science Fiction World Building plus murder mystery plus family fortunes. This combination made the book a continuous wonder. Plus the characters are likable and sort of realistic.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Great North Road?

There is a point, toward the end of the 30+ hours of audio, where a family secret is revealed. That caught me completely by surprise.

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

None

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Game of Wonder.

Any additional comments?

Enjoyed enough that I will devote another 31 hours to listening to it again. Very rare for me. But there is so much here that I know I missed some details on the first cycle. Enjoy.

Fantastic story by a great author

Would you consider the audio edition of Great North Road to be better than the print version?

Cannot say. Have not read the print version.

Any additional comments?

Great introduction into Peter F. Hamilton's books. Not connected to his other stories. From what I can tell, I love his writing style and will be moving on to his other books.

Hamilton at his best.

I love the way he can take what appears to be bunch of disparate plot threads and weave them into an single piece of tapestry that is just amazing to behold, and he does this yet again in Great North Road. He uses science fiction to create another rich universe, weaves a mystery through it, and comments on the importance of taking care of our environment. In my opinion Peter F. Hamilton is one of the greatest authors of our day.

Decent

The book is slow to start and struggled to hook me. It was satisfying in the end.

Great Story-- but the female chars were abysmal

The story in this book is awesome! I loved the murder mystery -- I was constantly wondering who did it -- the plot that encompasses some 50 characters, multiple worlds, multiple generations, clones, near tech, genetic engineering, and just good old fashioned detective work.

But omg, I just can't recommend this book, because the women in this book are AWFUL. They are all flat, and are all described by how they are "Still hot, despite being a mother of 3" and I just can't. All the men want to be with young hot girls, and all the women have no drive except to stay hot. They are all vacuous, and honestly annoying.