In Great North Road by Peter F. Hamilton, humanity has discovered the ability to travel around the galaxy through “portals." The North family has found great riches as the discoverers and exploiters of technology. The Norths are special -- each generation is a clone of the last. Generations of this has created genetic mental and physical flaws, and with each branch and generation is an escalating rivalry with the rest of the family. But even with all this, the family is huge and powerful. So when one of these clones is murdered, it’s a huge public scandal.
Detective Sidney Hurst tries to understand the killing and why it’s so similiar to a murder 20 years prior for which a young woman was convicted. Despite the scope of the crime, the politics and power of the North family makes the investigation a complicated quagmire.
Angela Tremelo is the woman charged in the old murder case and has now been released from prison. She insists on her innocence and is convinced a malevolent alien force is responsible for new murders. She’s works with an expedition in the wild lands of the North world of St. Libra, but danger follows them as members are picked off one by one.
Peter F. Hamilton’s world building is very thorough. Every facet of the universe is deliberately plotted, each little detail is created explicitly to tell part of the story, even if it doesn’t actually contribute to the plot. Compare it to the set dressing in films like Blade Runner or Minority Report. Everything you see (or read, as in this book) gives you a feeling, a sense of the world, that colours the story and steers your imagination where Hamilton wants it to go.
One thing to remember about Peter F. Hamilton -- he doesn’t know how to write a short book. This is not a criticism, mind you. If you are a fan of space opera it’s part of the appeal. It’s a compelling mystery in a richly detailed universe. Think in terms of the scope of Game of Thrones and the sci-fi of The Expanse mixed with the gritty (and moral questionable) police of Luther.
Steven McCreedy is a library technician at the Cambie Branch of the Richmond Public Library
