Jumper - Reflex by Steven Gould

Jumper - Reflex by Steven Gould

I decided to read this sequel because it looked like an interesting continuation and I wanted to see if Hollywood could have made a good follow up movie with it.  It was VERY good.  I again think that if the screenwriters had stuck to some of the original plot lines in the book they would have had a much more successful box office turnout.

 

Our story picks up with Millie and Davy ten years later.  They got married and are "commuting" between their condo in Oklahoma and the hide out that Davy created years earlier in Texas they call the Aerie.  The couple is arguing once again about whether to have a child.  Davy is against it, afraid of inflicing the abuse he once had to endure from his father.  Mille is more optomistic that he is not his father and is not capable of that.  Right in the heat of the argument, Davy pops away and leaves Millie frustrated.  "I wish I could teleport, then he wouldn't escape from me so easily."  I know rigtht away that this story was going to be more about her.

 

Well, Davy had leave because of a prearranged meeting he had in D.C. with a member of the NSA.  The meeting goes all kinds of wrong ending up with the kidnapping of our hero, Davy.  The chapters that follow are some of the worst yet most mezmorizing chapters I have ever read. 

 

Millie was left in the Aerie, which, being some 200 feet up  embedding into the face of a mountain, has no ground level exit.  She waits for a day with no cell phone, no wallet and no Davy to take her out of there.  Then she breaks out the emergency escape equipment, a climbing harness and nylon rope.  As she is starting to decend the rock, one of the clamps comes loose, sending her plummeting 150 feet to the ground.  That was the first time she jumped, ending up back in her condo in Oklahoma.

 

Davy is have a real rough time.  He has been kidnapped and placed in a strange room with all white wall, a bed, a bathroom and a large window in one wall.  He has been chained to the wall and can't jump out of there.  Also, there's a really strange scar on his chest just over his heart.  His captures inform him that he has been electronically restrained and will only remove the chains after they have "trained" him to come back when called.  I hated to read about how they tried to break him, it was terrible and amazing all at the same time. The writing was so REAL that you just wanted to reach in the book and crush all those people who were forcing him to endure such humiliating experiences.  Like I said, mezmorizing!

 

In the mean time, Millie is learning how to teleport and starts tracking down her husband.  This woman could work for the CIA, she's good at getting information from people, and the fact that she can jump to anywhere in the world doesn't hurt either.  Her side of the story is wonderful to read, I found myself rooting for her every step of the way. 

 

Eventually, Millie discovers where Davy is; Davy outsmarts his captures so they decide they have to dispose of him; Mille gets there in time to save him and they get their revenge on almost all of them.  However, they have no way of knowing who the actual boss is since the one they thought was in charge ended up committing suicide before the could get any information out of him.

 

I have to say, it was tough to get through the Davy chapters with the humiliation and all, but well worth the effort.  It was a GREAT book, well written with emmense depth.  5 out of 5, a must read!  Can't wait to read, Jumper - Griffin's Story.

Jumper - Steven Gould

Jumper - Steven Gould

This is my second installment of reading books which inspired some of my favorite movies.  I really enjoyed this book, even more then the movie.  I think if Hollywood would have stuck with some of the original plot lines in the book, they may have had a better chance at a sequel. 

Davy is from a broken home.  His mother left when he was twelve and his father drank then beat him.  This first time Davy "jumped" was right before his father was going to beat him with his belt, the buckle side.  He landed in the local library, one of his favorite hang outs and the only place he feels safe.  In the beginning, the plot pretty much stays the same as the movie, however, he is not best friends with a girl from school,  he doesn't fall into a river and then jump causing everyone to think he's dead.  He does run away to New York where he does actually rob a bank.

It gets weirder though, in the movie he can jump to places he's never been if he just looks at a picture but the book tells us that isn't the case.  Davy has to actually have been to the place he is jumping first, in order to have a sensory memory of it that allows him to jump back there later.  He meets a girl in New York, Millie, who is actually from Oklahoma.  They hit it off and he later tells her that he can teleport.  He starts to look for his mom but doesn't know where to start, so he goes to his grandfather's house in Florida. No luck, grandpa died several years ago, but a family attorney points him in the right direction.  His mom contacts him in New York and they have a great day together before she flies out on a business trip.  Unfortunately, the flight is hijacked and his mom has a bomb strapped to her.  She doesn't make it.  Davy watches it all happen without being able to do anything.  He makes it his mission to find the terrorists responsible for the hijacking and take revenge on them.

There is so much to this story that I could go on and on, but you really should read it for yourself.  I love how Steven Gould implies that teleportation is a plausible human function and not just a sci-fi, futuristic, unachievable goal.  This books get a 5 out of 5, READ IT!