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)

Another fun immersing book by Peter.F

lots of fun hours listening to this to thi marvelous universe unfolding.

great storyline an characters and a great adventure to boost.

thank you!

Supurb storytelling of great Science Fiction!

Would you listen to Great North Road again? Why?

Even though this is a long listen it flew by. The performance was believable and engrossing.

What did you like best about this story?

A multi-faced noir detective story style with a Strong Female protagonist

Which character – as performed by Toby Longworth – was your favorite?

Angela was so vivid and distinctly voiced.

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

Secrets don't die on Alien Worlds

Be prepared for a long haul Marathon

Wow, I can't believe I made it to the end. That's not to say it was a dull read but it was indeed LONG. It was a marathon not for the faint of heart. This was a slow slow burner. The ah-ha moments didn't really happen until like the 4th quarter of the book and the real gotchas until hour 33 for me. But the nice thing about that, was that for me - a usual early guesser of plot surprises - the plot twists were indeed that, a twist til the end. I said a lot of "noooo waaaaayyy!"s in those final hours.

Initially you get the impression this is a 36hr whodunit mystery....borrrrrring right?....but it unfolds slowly into something way more thoughtful and involved and captivating. The depth of character and familial history is remarkable. The story unfolds in the future behind the lens of a local police detective Sid's homicide investigation. The deceased being none other than a mystery North clone. The North's are this notorious family of clones originated from 3 clone brothers. Each subsequent clone generation degradating a bit each time down the line. Being a 2 North, this mystery clone is important. So in march all the key players on the task force - Sid's team. Sid is in the hot seat of a case that could make or break his tenuous hold on his career. This being a North case turns the usual set of protocols on its top and sends Sid's team into overdrive trying to back track modern technology's records of what happened the night of the murder.

This is a fresh and relevant glance on what life could look like in a 100 years with regard to space/time travel and modern technology. What with self driving cars, smart dust cast about entire cities and smart cells in a person's body recording events as they unfold and that analyze body functions its hard to commit the perfect murder, but somehow it happens.

Hamilton does a fine job of weaving subplots in and out between the chapters. While Sid's team is feverishly chipping away at the North murder mystery, we're introduced to a whole nuther set of characters. Angela Tremela was accused and charged of a mass murder some 20yrs prior of a North and his entire household using the same unique method of killing as Sid's case. She professed her innocence 20yrs ago and still maintains it today. Being that this is big deal North business she's released from a life sentence in prison and is brought along to another planet to hunt for a "monster" whom she claimed killed the North household in the past. So Angela and an extensive search team set out to St Libra to begin the hunt. This journey is fraught with one hurdle after another as they're plunked into this alien jungle on the manhunt for a mystery monster who smells like mint. The clock begins ticking as the world is thrown into an artificial winter and the hunters become the hunted.

I also found the cultural nuances to be fascinating. Being an English author there were some colloquial vocabulary that I wasn't familiar with and was entertained by. Sid and all his associates and family using the term "pet" when referring familiarly or endearingly towards one another. It seemed to be most frequently used by a man to a woman but not reserved for people in a relationship together. Sid called colleagues and key witnesses AND his wife "pet".

If you enjoy sci-fi and crime mysteries this might just be the perfect marriage of the two genres all rolled into one big story.

AMAZING

Only con was that it was hard to keep up with the characters and the timeline, but as you keep listening, it works itself out.

NOT IN THE US

I enjoyed listening to this exciting story and couldn't wait for my next free time, to settle down with the cats and knitting, being taken away.to a different, but yet still recognizable world. Cops and villains, adventurers and conservatives, religious fanatics and even real monsters!! All of this surrounded by technology we can now only dream about, science fiction become science fact and so much more. I loved the characters, so real, as they loved, hated, cheated, murdered, were victimized! I could have, however, done with a lot less British lingo! What, for heaven's sake, is a byte-head?? I heard "bite", and couldn't figure out, why the police force would employ somebody/thing that bites! Who, pray tell, is "Pet", since it appears anyone might be called that at any given time! Finally, let's call a bathroom by its name and not use strange expressions like "en suite". This is still the US and if this book is recorded for an American audience, don't confound us with strange cilloquialisms! It takes away from the overall enjoyment.

Trudging The Great North Road

Short and to the point - a pretty great story buried under ridiculous layers of tedious police procedural, a wild array of cartoonish characters, and long winded development of meaningless plot points and inconsequential players.

If you boiled out the real plot from this giant doorstop of a book, it is exciting and suspenseful. The story starts with the investigation of a murder that expands into a threat against all humanity from a powerful and mysterious alien presence. The sections that deal with the hunt for the alien are tightly plotted and full of delicious apprehension. Unfortunately, that is only a small part of the book and those sections suffer from frequent flashbacks and cuts to the extremely slow murder investigation.

In addition to the erratic pacing and lack of editing, this book suffers from a few other disagreeable faults:
1. The central female character, Angela Tramelo, is a total caricature of a woman. Seriously, the woman is beyond beautiful, super brilliant, athletic and tough, has powerful connections, and has been genetically altered to stay young for hundreds of years. So, of course, the only way she can resolve a challenge is to prostitute herself. Note to Peter: Selling one's body is really NOT the "go-to" solution for most women especially those who have as many other resources as Angela Tramelo. Some of the men are just a hokey, but at least police detective, Sidney Hurst, is portrayed as a "regular Joe" which does help the slower police sections of the book.
2. The ending is way too neat and tidy and after this VERY long trek on The Great North Road, it wraps up so fast that it feels rushed.
3. A really threatening and incomprehensible Alien suddenly becomes just "one of the guys" at the end and loses credibility and any power he once had to frighten.

Toby Longworth is not my favorite narrator, but he is not bad. He is rather dramatic in his delivery of the narrative sections of the book which I don't usually like, but it was good for this book that often wanders far "off the road".

With some severe editing (half of this book could go) and a little reworking of the character of Angela and the Alien, this could be a great book. As it is, I don't recommend it unless you are an avid Peter F. Hamilton fan.

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.

Hamilton at his baroque best

This is a wonderful, great sprawling sci-fi mystery book, and a great way to remember what you liked about Hamilton if you've been suffering from series-fatigue after some of his recent efforts. The classical elements (setting, plot, character) all come together in a delightful tangle.

Setting and characters are greatly enhanced by the skillful narration of Toby Longworth, who gets to show off his range to superb effect. The array of UK accents is exactly what the author ordered, all internally consistent and consistent with the text. Even the American accents are at least credible--unusual in a British reader. Female characters sound female, male characters sound male. It's all precisely as it should be.

Not as good as his other works

Although the narration is fantastic, the story could have used some editing. Also I found the frequent flashbacks confusing and the final payoff was so-so in my opinion. I really enjoyed several of his other novels, though.

Hamilton'ed

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

No I would not - Hamilton and his enzyme bonded concrete...jesus christ, is everything done on enzyme bonded fucking concrete?!!

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Not bad

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

The North's are my kind of twisted family

Do you think Great North Road needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No, this book is about 3 books in one

Any additional comments?

No