Customer Reviews

The Big Jump

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Leigh Brackett's The Big Jump (1955) is a solid (if predictable) pulp sci-fi adventure with a few delightful poetic moments. Although Brackett is primarily known for her numerous short stories from the 40s and 50s and screenplays (The Big Sleep, Rio Bravo, The Empire Strikes Back, etc) her novels deserve to be read as well.

Despite The Big Jump`s positives it often feels like a short story and the by-the-numbers plot might frustrate modern readers. The work suffers from an extreme case of brevity (128 pages) and as a result lacks substantial character development. Brackett also has the unfortunate tendency to complete important actions between chapters (along the lines of "...and after the landing"). However, Brackett's prose is adept at creating haunting sequences, poignant images, and genuine excitement.

Brief Plot Summary

Across the gulfs between the worlds, from end to end of a Solar System poised taut and trembling on the verge of history, the rumors flew. Somebody's made it, the Big Jump. Somebody came back.

Comyn, cut from the working man heroic mode (brawn, street smarts, no-nonsense talk), chases rumors of the first interstellar flight, christened the Big Jump. Comyn seeks to uncover information about his friend Paul Rodgers who didn't return from the small expedition to Bernard's Star. Ballantyne, the only crewman to return is more dead than alive and posses an manipulated body chemistry.

Comyn tracks down Ballantyne and hears his "last" words about the planet and the crew's discoveries. Various people attempt to kill Comyn because of the information he now possesses. Our hero soon falls in with the ultra-wealthy Cochrane family who have cornered space travel within Earth's solar system and construction palatial establishments on the Moon and Mars. The Cochranes and Comyn do not get along due to Comyn's impulsive nature. However, Comyn pretends to know more than he does inorder to rescue his friend.

The Cochranes decide to quickly equip a second vessel to preempt their rivals and hope with Comyn's help find the rest of the crew. Of course the Cochranes have ulterior economic motives and Comyn suspects one of his new crew wants him dead.

Final Thoughts

Despite the simplicity of The Big Jump`s plot and the work's extreme brevity there's much to admire: the excitement, the moments of beautiful prose, and despite the dearth of character development Comyn's likable yet impulsive nature and drive to rescue his friend manages to come across.

Worthwhile for fans of 40s and 50s science fiction. A fun, fast, and exciting read.

Back cover synopsis:

`Mankind had finally made the Big Jump. But when the first expedition to another star system returned, only one man was aboard- one man mad with pain and nearly dead from an unknown and ghastly form of radiation sickness... No one could learn what became of the rest of the crew.

Arch Comyn had to find out what happened, and eventually he made the second Big Jump himself- and came face to face with the secret horror that awaited all men in the other reaches of the universe.'

A rather thin, 148-page book, at first glance, looks like a pulpy sci-fi novel. Within the first quarter of the book, there is very little characterization of Comyn or very little merit given to his pursuits, except that one of the crewmen once saved his life in unspecified circumstances. Comyn isn't physically described or developed; only his choice of career, workboss, had been given. I'm assuming this is an appeal to generally characterize Comyn as rugged, crass and, indeed, it falls this way.

If motivation and characterization aren't you're thing, then it'll definitely be the greater plot which will summon your readership: the one man (Ballantyne) coming back from the voyage to Bernard's Star is in a coma, his body chemistry slightly askew and laying derelict in his secure hospital bed, being kept from the eyes of the media. It's only Comyn who succeeds through his determination and bullying to gain entry to the hospital room where Ballantyne awakes to the sound of security drilling through the door and burst forth a stream of barely intelligible words including `transuranics.'

Comyn's antics infuriate the mega-corporation of the Cochrane family and eventually come to terms with his limited knowledge and allow him to join the second secret mission to Bernard's Star. Interfamily grudges abound, putting strain on trust and reliability, ultimately putting the mission at risk.

I liked the second mission, the details of the drive and the effects experiences from the drive, from the exit of hyperspace and the effects the planet has on humans. It's a fairly exciting and unique book and granted it's from 1955, the science is remarkably not too geeky or cheesy. The transuranics elements are an interesting device not very well explored by science fiction and Brackett does a good job of keep tabs on speculation.

For what it makes up in originality, it loses in character development... and a poor, poor dismount with the last two pages (eye-rolling, why-did-you-end-it-this-way kind of frivol).

Dangerous hyperspace journey.

A family-held corporation has tested interstellar space travel to Barnard's Star - and something has gone badly wrong.

They race madly to put a second mission together before the oversight people can shut them down, as an outsider becomes involved with one of the women in the family, and mixed up in their corporate intrigue going along for the ride.

A really very short novel, with a reasonably powerful ending.

3.5 out of 5