Great North Road

By: Peter F. Hamilton

Narrated by: Toby Longworth

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)

Mr. Hamilton Writes a History

It might be odd to label a book that's just shy of 1,000 pages as "restrained", but that's what I would say about Great North Road.

You have to take that description in context - normally, Hamilton writes series that are thousands and thousands of pages long, with volumes that could double as body weights. But his fans (I count myself among them) are willing to forgive the length because he makes it worth the readers attention and time. His plots span a multitude of alien environs, include a jaw dropping number of characters, and most importantly, manage to juggle description and pace if not perfectly, then very well.

It's always an impressive show.

But, with only a grand to spend on pages in this newest work, I was curious to see how successfully he trimmed down his loquacious style.

Let me say: he manages it.

Once I finished the book, I had to sit back for a moment to appreciate the kind of intellect it takes to weave together the threads of so many plot lines into a climax and denouement worthy of the build up.

It leaves no doubt that Hamilton's greatest strength is his ability to balance intricacy and plot progression.

About the actual content of the novel (quick aside: how the hell do you write a summary for something this size?), it'll suffice to say: the story takes place in a somber, technology-driven future, where humanity has not yet learned to shed its more devious peccadillos.

To anyone considering the book: It's great. I highly recommend it.

Seriously.

Okay.

Right.

So, you might be curious, why only 4 stars? That's a glowing review of him as an author - why not 5? There must be a "but" somewhere in there.

And yes.

You're right. It's small, but...


Hamilton can't write women very well.

Anyone who's followed his progression as an author knows that some of his characters come up flat (which is understandable given the size of the cast) and even when most of his male leads are respectably nuanced, Hamilton hasn't managed to create a female voice that rings consistently true.

The internal monologues of his women sometimes sound like convincing cross-dressers.

This problem has dogged him his entire career (and any reader of the genre knows that it's a frequent issue in sci-fi) but he's made progress - particularly when you consider some of the cringe-worthy female characters in the Commonwealth Saga.


That being said, I'll continue reading his works because the strengths dwarf the weaknesses.

2nd Half Book

The first half of this book took forever, it felt like I couldn’t remember all of the characters. Then... the second half of the book made it all worth it. Great job of putting all the pieces together.

Another Good Listen From Peter Hamilton

Set in the near future, follows the story of a detective assigned to a murder investigation and a woman who was wrongfully imprisoned. Both are very focused on solving a mystery while others around them are self absorbed with their own personal agenda. This leads to chaos and very little gets done quickly.

The beginning is slow, but the pace quickens and soon it is hard to stop listening. I found myself sneaking a listen during inappropriate times.

To me, the best part of the book is the personal technology used on a daily basis. For example, everyone has a personal recorder that captures every moment. Very cool, but comes with a price. There is very little personal privacy. Meaning others can watch you sing and dance in the shower.

I love Peter's work. but.....

sloooooow to get moving. I've read most of his work. this is exceptionally slow. painfully so. I'm halfway through and I'm losing interest fast. the story line is blah. although the tech aspect is as impressive as I'd expect from this author the meat and potatoes is not here. the story line could have been developed better. the subject and ideas were great but I don't think they warrant 40ish hours to get the thing told. the narrator was his normal great self. the performance was the savior here.

Grade A narration on a long, but interesting story

Great North Road was one of the longest novels I've listened to on Audible and while I finished it there were many moments of plodding frustration. The story is MASSIVE, with dozens of characters each in their own adventure circling a fascinating Central point, but I think most people will find themselves wondering exactly why you need all these strings to weave the final ending. This becomes noticably painful about 2/3rds of the way through when you, the reader, clearly understand what is playing out yet are forced to struggle along with the clueless characters.
Toby Longworth, however, continues to amaze with his absolutely BRILLIANT work. He is the sole reason I discovered this book as I have fallen in love with his gravely tones and impeccable dialect work. There is no doubt in my mind that he is one of the greatest VO artists working in audiobooks.

If you're looking for something big, something to really make use of your free credit, then this might be the book for you but know youre in for a long haul!

Wish the road wasn't such a long one

Had all the fun and wondrous tech of a PFH story, but I felt it was a good bit longer than necessary. It also has a larger percentage of the story grounded in a terrestrial detective case which drags on slowly for both the characters and the readers. This story was at it's best when it took to the stars and the off-world settings.

Good, not great

Mostly great story, lots of themes appearing in the Commonwealth books, but less developed here obviously. Flaccid ending took it from 4 to 3 stars. Still worth a read, good detective story.

Captivating story

What a great combination of mystery novel and epic sci fi space opera! Hamilton weaves compelling characters into an enthralling story line.

Good story- not so good narrative

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

No

Would you be willing to try another one of Toby Longworth’s performances?

No

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

No (its a 36h long book...)

Any additional comments?

The story is a good Peter F. H. story, his style, epic and slow. But the narrative takes away a bit of the pleasure. While in written book you a visual clues that we changed sets, locations, no such clues on the audio, many times i found my self lost, not understanding what happen, why some character was speaking, until i got it, we have changed scenes, a complete new character set is now speaking.
Finally, the lack of voice differentiation made the book some times hard to follow. With a bunch of characters named Nord, it was hard to understand which Nord was talking. (but, this was my first audio book with a single narrator, so this might be the "norm")

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!