I really enjoyed this book and will definitely read the author again. I only marked it down a bit as it was a real jumble of genres and at times felt like it could have been two different books. Overall very creative and great characters. ( )

Title: Great North Road
Author: Peter F Hamilton
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publishing Date: 2012
Pgs: 948
Dewey: F HAM
Disposition: Irving Public Library - South Campus - Irving, TX
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REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
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, that 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.
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Genre:
Fiction
Science Fiction
Mystery
Space Opera
Crime
Thriller
Fantasy
Adventure
Police Procedural

Why this book:
Space. Clones. Aliens. Instantaneous stargate-like portals between worlds. Murder. Did the aliens do it…did the clones do it…or are the humans the bad guys after all?
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The Page 100 Test:
√◄ - good to go.
∞◄ - read on.

The Feel:
There are a lot of layers to this as any murder mystery/conspiracy should have. I’m worried that the payoff isn’t going to live up to too many characters, too many pages, and too many unrelated subplots.

Favorite Character:
Detective Sid Hurst. He’s cynical but well-rounded. Easy to identify with his beaten down by the world mentality.

Tropes:
The detective with a blemish or two on his record is caught up in a murder mystery involving the elites.

Downtown wants the result of the investigation fast…and the result that they prefer.

The weary cop who just wants the truth.

Hmm Moments:
Damn, it's not appearing and disappearing. It's disguised not cloaked. …or is it a doppleganger?

Uhm Moments:
The whole many people with the same face is creepy AF.

The brother/son and father/uncle clone inter-relation stuff are ick-inducing.

Sid and the police are quick to go for the mundane. I know you hear hoofbeats, you should think horses first, not zebras. But they've still got the problem of an unidentified victim, an unknown weapon, and the mystery of how it was used in the previous massacre. The tight little bow they're trying to put on it isn't going to fit. And why would the invisible alien killer with dagger fingers need humans to hide its handiwork when only one human has ever seen it and lived to tell…and she wasn’t believed…officially.

Deep into the second act, the murder investigation has disappeared. But now I'm back to wondering if there is an alien, and what the relationship of the ex-hacker surfer, Angela, and Zebediah North is? It comes back around, but it’s noticeable by its absence.

Why would an invisible alien need a human gang taxi to dispose of a body?

The eyes revelation comes too early, helluva lot of pages left.

Calling the Ball:
You can bet your ass with forced immigration and exile that once the economic centers moved towards those "new" lands the old wealth elite would try to go along and take credit for what they have "caused/created".

With all the cloning and the North’s being the center of a wealth conglomerate with numerous hims in and around the company, I keep referring internally to their most profitable product as bro-oil instead of bioil. Just anticipating the first frat-boy North to appear in 3…2…1?

WTF Moments:
That's squicky. She had sex with the clone. Comparing them she said that he was just like his brother/father. Eeewww.

Meh / PFFT Moments:
Geez. Colonel Vance Elston is an evangelical? The conflict with the Zanth is a holy crusade? Embedded in the Human Defense Alliance, Alien Intelligence Agency, the perfect place for religion. :/ Just having one of the characters refer to themselves as Gospel Warriors gives me the heebie-jeebies.

The Sigh:
Could totally see "them" forcing those on welfare and those in-country illegally into resettlement beyond the portals. Probably after they ran out of prisoners that they could ship off to penal-style colonies. The out-of-sight/out-of-mind aspect of society and politics. The people doing the bidding of those elites never seem to realize that they are a hop, skip, and jump from being the “them” we’re speaking of in this paradigm.

Suspension of Disbelief:
Cloning wouldn’t stay confined to one family, no matter how rich and powerful they are. The ultra-rich would be all over that for spare parts if nothing else, brain transplants, eternal life without longevity treatments.

Juxtaposition:
The Gospel Warriors and the Crusades juxtaposition continues to flare in my consciousness as I read this. What if you had a crusade against an enemy of the church, you lead your army out to their vast, evil empire and found yourself in the middle of the desert with no enemy, no empire, nothing? What if the alien is a human in a powered armor suit with dagger hands.

When Constantine confronted the “alien”, it finally dawned on me why it seemed familiar. It reminds me of the Shrike from the Hyperion Cantos.

The Unexpected:
The alien being a buff Edward Scissorhands bothers me. …if the alien exists.

The late-game revelation about Angela’s family is a bit much.

Missed Opportunity:
A plethora of red herrings in this one. Seems like they start taking them off the board too early. Lotta pages left still.

Dreamcasting:
Trying not to picture Idris Elba as Sidney Hurst, detective. Seems typecasting because of Luther, but the feel is there.

Movies and Television:
Early days, it is brisk and brusque. The story has British TV Scotland Yard detective show vibes all over it. It’s kind of nice.
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Pacing:
Well paced.

Last Page Sound:
Not the ending I expected. The kumbaya-ness of it is off-putting.

Author Assessment:
It was well written. I wish the ending had been different.
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One and a half stars. Barely. Only because I read something even worse recently.

There was the occasional good line, the occasional interesting idea, and I did eventually become engaged with Angela's storyline. But good grief, I hated this book. Reprehensible people, loveless joyless mean sex, lovingly detailed descriptions of weaponry and other tech, supersized helpings of sexism and misogyny, and an intensely annoying overall structure in which what's actually going on gets revealed bit by bit in flashbacks. Ugh. I think I'm done with this author. ( )

Amongst the horde of mere mortals writing science fiction strides a giant. His name? Peter F. Hamilton. Seriously, if I was going to do one of those "greater than" things I've seen on the information superhighway it would be: Peter F. Hamilton>>>>>>>>>>>> Other Science Fiction Writers. This book has a strong police procedural/serial killer vibe to go with the detailed and imaginative sci-fi milieu. It is truly brain bogglingly epic, yet very accessible, and despite its massive size there is not an extraneous word to be found. The writing is smooth and economical, very vividly rendered, and the pace never flags. It was riveting and truly pulse-poundingly suspenseful towards the end. The several lead characters were extremely well drawn, and the details of the big giant mystery at the heart of the novel were doled out with clinical precision, keeping me riveted the whole time. Incidentally, he is one of the few, perhaps the only science fiction writer who does not avoid the topic of sex and who handles it in an adult manner. I need to get me a Peter F. Hamilton t-shirt or something, because having read 3 of his stellar books now, I am a huge fan. ( )

Hopla! Weer een Peter F. Hamilton achter de kiezen en weer met groot genoegen. Wat een heerlijke space-opera's schrijft die man toch. Beklijvend, strak uitgewerkt, meeslepend, origineel en perfect uitgebalanceerde plots. We zijn fan en blijven dat. ( )