Great North Road
by Peter Hamilton
Del Rey, $7.99, 944pp
Publication Date: December 31, 2013
The future-humanity has solved its energy problems, cleaned up the environment and developed technology that allows instant travel across light years allowing for the creation of far flung colonies. The technology is controlled by the mighty North family, a family of clones. But these clones are not an exact copy of the original since each generation has seen errors appear. And the three original clones have each gone their separate ways founding branches of the family that are not so much allies as they are rivals. Then one of the North clones is murdered in England yet the murder is very much like a murder that took place on the planet St Libra years ago. Detective Sid Hurst investigates, interviewing the person convicted on the St Libra killings, the problem is that not only does she claim she is innocent, she also claims an alien monster is the true culprit.
Part police procedural, part science fiction this is total entertainment. At close to 1000 pages this is not a quick read and it does start rather slowly but the reader who perseveres is rewarded with a grand adventure. Recommended. ~~ Stephanie L Bannon