Great North Road

By: Peter F. Hamilton

Narrated by: Toby Longworth

Length: 36 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's Summary

Great North Road is a standalone science fiction adventure from Peter F. Hamilton, the author of The Night's Dawn trilogy.

When attending a Newcastle murder scene, Detective Sidney Hurst finds a dead North family clone. Yet none have been reported missing. And in 2122, 20 years ago, a North clone billionaire was horrifically murdered in the same manner on the tropical planet of St Libra. So, if the murderer is still at large, was Angela Tramelo wrongly convicted? She never wavered under interrogation, claiming she alone survived an alien attack.

Investigating this potential alien threat now becomes the Human Defence Agency's top priority. St Libran bio-fuel is the lifeblood of Earth's economy and must be secured. A vast expedition is mounted via the Newcastle gateway, and experts are dispatched to the planet - with Angela Tramelo, grudgingly released from prison.

But the expedition is cut off deep within St Libra's rainforests, and the murders begin. Angela insists it's the alien, but her new colleagues aren't sure. Did she see an alien, or does she have other reasons for being on St Libra?

©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)

"Reaches another level of excellence... Brilliant." ( Locus)

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.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

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...

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

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).

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.

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!!

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..

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.

Great book, but this is only half the story

This is my first Sci Fi audible in 2 years, I was drawn in to it to see how my native Newcastle fares in the future. There are enough seperate strands to keep it interesting and moving along and it was enjoyable to think that technology may improve but human nature doesnt change much.

Perhaps I mis read the blurb where it is listed as a stand alone book. You have to listen to both parts to get the full plot, they are not self contained. In fact part one ends on a cliff hanger so I have to buy Part 2 right now to get it . ..

63 of 67 people found this review helpful

Not all books are 1 credit.

I like Audiable, its a wonderful service but sometimes it makes me laugh. A long time ago some books used to be 2 credits to buy. Then Audiable made a big splash telling every one that all books were 1 credit.

Unless it is a Peter F Hamilton book. This book is a 2 credit book. This is not part one of a two part story. Its the first half of a book. Audiable did not even go to much effort to find a convenient place to split the book. It just stops, suddenly. I would prefer they listened to the book, found a better point to split it so the book doesn't just stop.

The reader is doing his best to make the normal Peter F Hamilton pulp enjoyable. He has enough voices to go around. His regional British and regional American accents are good. He has a good pace and emotes nicely.

The story is absolutely typical Peter F Hamilton. If you have a long repetitive job to do and want a fairly ok Sci-fi book to help pass the time then this is good stuff. Its not new or particularly imaginative but it gets the job done.

Fun while you listen but after a week you'll struggle to remember what happened.

52 of 57 people found this review helpful

150 years on and Geordies still not wearing coats.

Haven't read any science fiction since I was a teenager but picked this out because of the Newcastle connection - I agree with other reviewers that people who know the city will have an added pleasure in listening to the book. It is long and not the sort of thing I'd read but makes for good company while doing chores and I'll be getting Part 2 in due course.

The 'heroine' is too good to be true in her endless resourcefulness, physical perfection and absolute superiority to anyone else she encounters but the other main characters(especially in the Newcastle police department) are more plausible. I thought the ideas about future inter-planetary life were confidently handled and I liked the way that the basic realities of human life and behaviour haven't changed despite the great technical leaps. Of course people still relish good food, become obsessed with their work and form close bonds in difficult circumstances, even if it is 2143.

All in all, pretty good.

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

Entertaining Listen

I have a love/ hate relationship with Mr Hamilton. His world building is always amazing though his door-stopping tomes are generally far too bloated and the less said about his adolescent fantasy women and cringe-worthy sex fantasies the better. So why did I pick up Great North Road? Despite my misgivings I enjoy Hamilton's imaginative settings and story telling, and Great North Road delivers both by the bagful.

I loved the depiction of near future Newcastle and the police procedural set within it. Reading what detective work 150 years into the future, using new surveillance and other technologies might look like was fascinating and I enjoyed future Newcastle immensely. There were also hints of economic worries, corruption and political struggles, so not such a near utopia as Hamiltons usual fare. I could have just as easily enjoyed this story if it had remained solely in this setting as a noir thriller, and it probably would have been a very good novel too. However, being a Peter F. Hamilton we also have far flung colonies on exotic worlds, a war with inscrutable aliens, mysterious billionaires seemingly cloned to infinity, an ill-fated expedition set out to find a dangerous alien monster and a kick-ass femme-fatale who holds it all together. This is another very bloated work that would have benefited a lot from tighter editing, though this will be nothing new for P.F. Hamilton fans. It compares to an entertaining but undemanding action flick with great CGI, sit back and enjoy it for what it is. Toby Longworth's narration was well done and he did an admirable job with the Geordie accents. Despite it's flaws Great North Road was still a good yarn and an enjoyable listen.

6 of 6 people found this review helpful

Excellent story, excellent narration but...

I can't recommend this book enough - its excellent in almost every way. Nothing more about the story - just read it!



The only downside I see with this edition is that, along with another book I have recently 'read' (The Name of the Wind), the audio version has been split into 2 parts.



I fear Audible/Amazon is trending towards maximizing profits by splitting large novels. I understand that audio versions of 1100 page novels will cost more to produce but I would prefer if audible were clearer if they have split a single novel into more than one part.



Will this become commonplace? Will we soon see this size of novel split into 3 or more sections? The Kindle version of the novel is £6.99 - audible "list" price would cost you £43.18 or 2 member credits which is £14.99 on a 2 book/month membership so is at least twice the cost?



Luckily, having not read the physical copy, I was fortunate (?) not to realize that this was a single novel split into 2 parts (credits/charge/costs) and had pre-purchased part 2 before finishing the first so was not left hanging at the end of the first part.

32 of 36 people found this review helpful

brilliant until................

I really enjoyed this book, especially the future Geordieland, and the developments in technology in every day life. This compared well to the more fanciful ideas on space travel. The characters in Newcastle were really interesting and I loved the details of their lives. Hopefully not spoiling the end, I felt it was unsatisfactory and a bit of a "fairytale" ending. Maybe I just didn't want to let go of the real future world of Newcastle.

9 of 10 people found this review helpful

Really good

What did you like most about Great North Road?

This stand alone story was an easier listen than some of Hamilton's 'space operas'. I really enjoyed it all. It held my attention and the characters and storyline were excellent.

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

I don't like spoilers so feel I must be vague. Discovering exactly who betrayed who, a bloody massacre, and a good ending. Its a long book and there are many memorable moments.

What about Toby Longworth’s performance did you like?

All his narrations are top quality and this one is no exception.

Any additional comments?

One of Hamilton's best.

8 of 9 people found this review helpful

It's long and it's good!

What did you like most about Great North Road?

This was the first sci-fi book I'd read/listened to for a good few years, mostly I do the crime and fantasy stuff, but this one caught my eye because it was a mix of crime and sci-fi.

Some of the sci-fi I read in my youth got lost in the tech descriptions but this one just rolls along and you absorb the finer details so that the technology and terms do not stop you in your tracks. The crime itself is simple enough to follow and the cloning angle keeps you guessing.

The book is over 36 hours long so it's a biggie, but it never flags.

As a result of listening to this story I have read Pandora's Star and have nearly finished Judas Unchained and will read more from this author.

Any additional comments?

If you are someone like me who hasn't read any sci-fi for a while but want a stonking good story with some twists along the way, this is a great one to listen to. Very good performance by the reader (I listened at 1.25 speed) - I hope you enjoy it too!

8 of 9 people found this review helpful

Narrative genius

His books are works of art. This book like all his others is thoroughly addictive. My only negative comment is that this is only one book. This universe will see no more of this story, or Angela DeVoil which I find quite sad.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Good story but should have been half as long.

I couldn't wait to fini sh it . Ok story but a bit irritating. Far too long.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful