Great North Road

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, show more 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. show less

Wenn man Peter F. Hamilton mit einem anderen Autor vergleichen kann, dann würde ich sagen, dass er der Stephen King des Science-Fiction ist. Dabei bezieht sich der Vergleich nicht auf den Horroraspekt, sondern auf das Talent, reale Menschen zu Papier zu bringen und ein Worldbuilding zu betreiben, das seinesgleichen sucht, dazu ein ausschweifender Erzählstil gepaart mit umfangreichem Wortschatz. Ja, sowas muss man mögen, aber es ist nunmal genau mein Ding. Wie King lässt sich Hamilton einfach Zeit, seine Geschichten zu erzählen. Der Unsichtbare Killer ist dabei eines der wenigen Stand-Alone-Bücher aus Hamiltons Feder.

Ich erinnere mich, wie ich das Buch das erste Mal gelesen habe, damals noch als unkorrigierter eArc von Netgalley. show more Seitdem habe ich es noch zweimal gelesen und jetzt eben das insgesamt vierte Mal.

In Der Unsichtbare Killer beginnen wir in Newcastle-upon-Tyne im Jahr 2143. Eine männliche Leiche wird aus der Tyne gezogen. Detective Sidney Hurst und sein Team beginnen mit den Ermittlungen. Die Identität der Leichte ist zunächst unklar, nur eines steht fest, es ist ein North. Alle Norths sind Klone von Kane North und seinen drei Söhnen, Augustin, Bartram und Constantine. Diese wiederrum haben sich auch wieder geklont durch ihre eigenen Söhne. Dabei gibt es die A-Norths (Söhne Augustins), B-Norths (Söhne Bartrams) und C-Norths (Söhne Constantines). Rätselhaft wird der Fall durch zwei Tatsachen: die eine, dass alle Norths am Leben sind und keiner fehlt. Die zweite, die Art und Weise wie die Leiche aus der Tyne getötet wurde, gab es bereits einmal, und zwar auf St. Libra. Dort wurde 20 Jahre zuvor Bartram North und sein gesamter Haushalt abgeschlachtet. Angela Tramelo, die für diese Tat verurteilt wurde, bestand in all ihren Aussagen darauf, dass der Mörder ein Alien-Monster mit Klingenhänden gewesen sei.

Wir folgen hier also nun zum einen der Ermittlung in Newcastle, die langwierig ist, viele politische Machtspielchen beinhaltet und so einiges aufdeckt. Zum anderen wird eine Expedition nach St. Libra entsandt, um das Alien-Monster ausfindig zu machen, denn offenbar ist Angela Tramelo unschuldig.

Hamilton spickt beide Handlungsstränge mit extrem viel Hintergrundinformationen über die Welt, das geschaffene Universum und die darin lebenden Figuren. Wie in seinen anderen Romanen spielen dabei technologische Innovationen wie implantierte Vernetzungen, systemweite Überwachung, Gateway-Technologie, Klontechnologie und genetische Anpassungen eine große Rolle. Die politischen und wirtschaftlichen Machtkämpfe sind dabei sehr ausgeklügelt und durchdacht. Die Figuren erwachen zum Leben und auf den 1133 Seiten streut Hamilton immer wieder Rückblenden ein, die das Leben der Figuren näher beleuchten. So erfährt man immer nur häppchenweise mehr über Angela und erst im letzten Drittel des Buches ihre Beweggründe, 20 Jahre im Gefängnis zu verbringen, statt die Wahrheit über ihre Herkunft und ihre Motivationen mit Bartram North zu sagen.

Dabei schafft es Hamilton die Spannung langsam aufzubauen und bis zum Schluss aufrecht zu erhalten. Wenn man sich beim ersten Mal lesen die Mühe macht, sich durch die ersten 300 Seiten durchzukämpfen; sich durchzubeißen durch den langsamen Rhythmus der Erzählung, während der alle Figuren nach und nach eingeführt werden; sich nicht von der detailgenauen Beschreibung der Ermittlung in Newcastle abschrecken lässt, dann, ja dann, wird man belohnt. Hamilton führt alle Erzählstränge meisterhaft zusammen und entführt uns in eine Welt, die futuristischer und faszinierender nicht sein kann. Die Spannung ist an manchen Stellen kaum auszuhalten und ein ausführlicher Abschluss nach dem ereignisreichen Höhepunkt sorgen dafür, dass man zufrieden und gechillt das Buch zuklappt und sich darüber freut, ohne dass Fragen offen bleiben.


Fazit
Wer wie ich ein Fan dicker Wälzer ist, die vollgepackt sind mit gigantischen Ideen, vielen Details und einer Welt, die interessanter kaum sein kann, der ist hier genau richtig. Dabei ist dieses Werk auch für Science-Fiction-Einsteiger etwas, die sich nicht von seinem Umfang abschrecken lassen. Ja, man muss sich darauf einlassen. Ja, man muss diese Art der Erzählweise mögen. Aber wer gern die dicken King-Wälzer liest, der könnte hier auch wahre Lesefreude erfahren. show less

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.

[a:Peter F. Hamilton|25375|Peter F. Hamilton|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1235123752p2/25375.jpg] writes large. He writes 1000 page behemoths of narrative. And he writes with ideas that are space and time spanning, far beyond the usual windows of ordinary lives. And his words are imbued with the power of ideas and concepts far above today's water cooler subjects. Yet, despite the immense dimensions of his imagination, he keeps it all within reach, grounded on human sensibilities, maintaining a keen sense of the grand human drama. So in this decidedly large book, Hamilton mixes together inscrutable alien swarms, cloned megalomaniacs, monsters with bladed fingers, interworld portals, smart personal networks, sentient worlds, show more manufactured oil, medically-enabled longevity, with recognizable and easily accessible characters --- a persistent police investigator, a deeply religious military spook, a seemingly helpless woman wrongly imprisoned, three clones who pursue three separate ambitions of wealth, long-life and freedom --- and vast and sundry characters that a reader from the 21st century can easily relate to. He weaves a tale that could simultaneously be categorized as crime/mystery, political intrigue, spy/military, green environmental/survivalist, alien/first encounter, family drama/love story, action/SF ... all interlaced together in Hamilton's insistent style that impels and brooks no doubt that you, the reader, will hold your disbelief. From my perspective, the most powerful aspect of this sprawling, decidedly Angle-centric book, that which holds it together and fills it with passionate motivation and narrative impetus, is the story of Angela. Compared to her the rest of the characters seem quite mundane. Or, conversely, without her, this big, booming behemoth of a book may have failed to engage. Hamilton has clearly improved with practice; from the Mandel detective stories, to the Nights Dawn series, onto the Void trilogy and now the amazing feat of [b:Great North Road|13573419|Great North Road|Peter F. Hamilton|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1344371600s/13573419.jpg|19154394]. One thing I can say is read Hamilton now and savor his work while he is at his inventive and imaginative best, for a hundred years hence who knows how we would appreciate his writing in the light of different mores. show less

Peter F. Hamilton’s The Great North Road is an epic standalone sci-fi novel that masterfully weaves together murder mystery, political intrigue, speculative technology, and interstellar adventure. Set a century in the future, humanity has cracked the code on interstellar travel through wormhole portals, and Earth is no longer the only home of mankind. But for all its technological brilliance, the future remains deeply entangled in human flaws—corruption, ambition, power struggles, and the quest for truth.

The story kicks off with the murder of a North family clone in Newcastle, a powerful dynasty of genetically identical successors whose influence stretches across planets. Detective Sidney Hurst takes center stage as the investigator show more of this politically volatile crime, and it’s through his eyes that we begin to unravel a mystery that spans across time and space. Meanwhile, Angela Tramelo, once convicted of a gruesome mass killing on the distant colony world of St. Libra, is pulled back into the spotlight when the new murder bears disturbing similarities to her case—and might prove her innocence. Or her claim that the real killer was an alien.

The pacing of the novel is slow at times, and Hamilton’s trademark world-building can be dense. The sheer volume of detail, while sometimes overwhelming, is ultimately rewarding. The narrative demands patience, but for those willing to stick with it, the payoff is enormous. What initially feels like a tangle of disparate storylines—police procedural, colonial exploration, clone politics, alien mythology—gradually fuses into a cohesive and satisfying conclusion. It’s a puzzle where every last piece clicks into place.

Hamilton doesn’t skimp on character complexity either. Sid is refreshingly grounded for a protagonist in such a grand-scale story, and Angela proves to be a nuanced figure whose past, motivations, and resilience give the story much of its emotional heft. The novel explores ideas of identity (especially through cloning), power dynamics, the ethics of imprisonment, and the burdens of truth and belief.

In short, The Great North Road is not a light read, but it is a rich one. For those who enjoy intricate plotting, slow-burn suspense, and immersive world-building, this novel delivers. It’s a story that asks for your time and attention—and rewards both. show less

Oh man, a big fat police procedural wrapped in a spy thriller, inside a space opera. I enjoyed this book a good bit, there were a few problems with suspension of disbelief at (rare) points, but overall it was a lot of fun. I find Hamilton's writing smooth, and his characters believable and (mostly) sympathetic. Good fun!

This is a monumental book in lots of ways, not just its length (1087 pages) or its size (slightly larger than a house brick), but also in the story that he writes here.

It starts with a murder, and the body that is fished out of the river is a North, a family of genetic clones, and this corpse has had all the identity markers removed. There are five puncture marks on the chest, and the heart has been shredded. The last people to die this way did so 20 years ago, on the colony of St Libra, and the woman who was tried for the murders is still in prison. So begins the most sensitive, and politically charged investigation of Sidney Hurst’s career.

With the new murder, the HDA decide that they need to go back to St Libra and fully show more investigate the claim by Angela that the murders were committed by an alien. She is pulled from prison and sent through the gateway, essentially a wormhole, with a crack team of legionnaires and back to St Libra to find this entity.

And so starts this epic story. It flips between Newcastle, and St Libra and you follow the ebb and flow of the characters in their successes and failures. The people on St Libra start to conclude that the plant they are on is a bioformed planet, and the alien is there as a guardian. St Libra‘s sun suddenly red shifts, sending the planet into a mini ice age, and the alien starts to eliminate the legionnaires in the group. Meanwhile back on earth the investigation into the murder has become a lot more complex and charged, and it starts to look like the fall out between two corporations, and the police are playing catch up.

Apart from the fact that this is enormous, and took even me a while to read, I really enjoyed it. He has created a pair of believable worlds, alien contact and a murder mystery thrown in for good measure. It doesn’t get five stars as there are parts that I felt were superfluous to the main story, and probably could have been removed.

Hamilton manages to keep the tech believable, there are e-i systems that people have fitted within their body and are permanently connected to the net. There are lots of smart dust and meshes that the police use to track and monitor citizens. The society is well constructed too, apart from petty crime, most of the serious crime is committed by corporations that have a legitimate side, and a nefarious side. show less