Customer Reviews

Reflex

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Its been 10 years since the events in JUMPER. For all that time Davy has worked for the NSA. Davy has always believed that it would be impossible to hold him prisoner given his ability to teleport, however he is about to find out how horribly wrong he is when a totally ruthless, wealthy and influential group of people drug and kidnap him to find out his secrets.

Stranded in their cliff-top home, Davy's wife, Millie makes the startling discovery that she too can teleport - that it is something that can be learned by the brain if you do it often enough. Millie is determined to get her husband back despite the seeming lack of clues, and much of this novel revolves around tracking down Davy and Davy doing his best to give as little information as possible to his captors, while seeming to co-operate.

Like all Steven Gould's work this novel is well plotted with a commonsense approach to problems. However, this novel has not fallen into the trap of some of his previous books by being over descriptive of technical details. Instead we have a very action based story that easily carries you to its end. It's a great, and suspenseful, and at times cringe-worthy, follow up to JUMPER, and given its ending can easily support another novel in this series. (However, be warned, if you really dislike torture scenes avoid this book)

Jumper was recommended to me years ago, though I'd at that time never heard of it or Gould. But I read it and loved it, and it's in my Amazon list of Lesser Known Good Sci-Fi. I was stoked to find out a sequel was written. Gould did even better, I feel, in Reflex. The story unfolds at just the right pace, always keeping you reading, and the developments and twists are well thought out. The ending is very satisfactory, yet open enough that he could produce a third book in the series.

Reflex is probably one of the best novels I've read this year. Read Jumper and then Reflex.

In this long-awaited sequel to Gould's first novel, Jumper, the author finally returns to form. Ever since Jumper, Gould's novels have become less and less interesting with each work that has been published. However, Reflex is a welcome return to the type of writing that heralded Gould as great novelist with a bright future in science-fiction.

In this sequel, teleporter David Rice is now married and living comfortably out of the public's eye. Every once in a while, he is hired by the NSA (National Security Agency) to do "favors" for them (i.e. - rescuing hostages, dropping off "packages", etc.). Little does he know, that there is a sinister group of people that are planning to kidnap him and force him to do tasks that would ensure their power throughout the world. Furthermore, they've developed a technology that would be able to keep David well within their reach.

Little do they know, however, is that David's wife, Millie, can also teleport now. Once David goes "missing," Millie makes it her undying quest to find him and put an end to the devilish plot that unfolds.

This is an excellent and exciting book from Gould. Even though teleportation has been covered ad-nauseum in so many other sci-fi books and movies, Gould brings a fresh new perspective to the concept that is both intriguing and thought provoking. After I finished reading this book, I wanted the story to continue.

One of the best writers now in the science fiction field is Steven J. Gould. Try Jumper, about Davy the inadvertent teleport, and its sequel, Reflex, defying all known laws of sequels by being just as good. Gould credits sf legend Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination for inspiration, but I've read Bester, too, and Gould has spent a lot more time sitting around thinking about what life would be like if you could teleport yourself from one place to another in the blink of an eye. It isn't all roses. Gould also wrote Wildside (what would you do if you found a door into a parallel but alternate universe?) and Helm, about human beings escaping from an apocolyptic war on Earth to settle on another planet, only to discover they didn't leave war behind.

Each of us wants to be heroes in our own minds. Some of us are better than others at handling unexpected challenges. The other reviews center on Davy. I want to highlight the supporting cast.

A little girl who has gone head first into a cement pool. Her neck is broken. Her spirit is not. She keeps trying.

A Black woman with a mental disorder. She is homeless. She should be wailing that she is a victim and society owes her. She is not. Watch for her in the book. She steals all the scenes she is in. She beats the hell out of the bad guys who attack her because they see a homeless woman, i.e. a victim. She does not give up.

An Indian woman from Chiapus and her children. Her husband has been "disappeared". She is in Washington D.C. to fulfill a prophathetic dream she had. She and her children are memorable.

A pilot in Nigeria. He is in a rotten situation. He keeps going. He complains and hates what is happening, but keeps going.

A woman who has lost her husband. Her husband dies trying to save Davy. We see her at her children's track meet. She could be mourning and wailing and tearing her hair. She is moving on. She has a life to live. So do her children. She is there for them.
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I want to make the point that this is a book that succeeds despite being steeped in the corporations-are-ruling-the-world-using-any-means-possible milieu. Normally that milieu is filled with cackling evil bastards. This has Evil as almost banal.

The heroes in this book are life sized, not larger than life. They bleed and make mistakes and keep going.

One of the other reviews made the point that this is another revenge book. Nah, it's what comes AFTER revenge... You get your life in order and learn that revenge per se does you no real good.

I like the couple, Davy and Millie. They are MARRIED. They are committed to each other. How often do you get that nowadays? What is even funnier is that they don't make this big deal about it. They say to each other, "We are married. I love you. Where can we go for dinner?"

Wonderfully entertaining experience. Converging plot lines make this an exciting and suspenseful novel. Easy suspension of disbelief creates a "James Bond" quality of excitement. An ending as exciting as the one in his book "Helm"! I was on the edge of my seat until I finished it!

OK, OK, it's no DUNE or STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND or SHORE OF WOMEN. But sometimes we don't want challenging tomes that provoke the imagination...sometimes we just want to have fun and that is what Gould delivers. You must read the preceding book, JUMPER, a slightly superior work for its originality. This is the stuff of fantasy, something we all have dreamed about. After ten years, Davy and Millie are stuffed with cash but not with children. One morning, after a fight, Davy jumps and does not return. So begins the saga.

Davy has been captured and implanted with a device that enforces a barrier so completely that he will literall die of convulsions if he "jumps" outside the box. The rest of the book alternates between his attempts at fighting his new masters and Millie's attempts to find him. About 2/3 of the way into the book Millie learns to teleport and the rest is history.

Despite the rather simplistic plotting, the characters are more than two-dimensional caricatures. Davy and Millie, through their thoughts, reveal themselves as earnest, intelligent and caring people. I loved the book, particularly the ending which coule be an opening for another in the series.

I loved Jumper, and when I found out that a sequel was out, I literally moaned in anguish. It's been over ten years! How can he possibly make it any good? I didn't even buy it, I got it from the library so I wouldn't waste my money! Surprise! Very pleasant surprise! It was equal to the first book and more maturely written. But both the protagonist and antagonist are new, and the plot is not sequential. Science fiction has a lot of "shared universes" Kzin, Honor Harrington, etc. After reading Reflex I felt more like I had read another shared universe book than a sequel. And I loved every second of it. Reflex is enough of a stand alone novel that you don't need to read Jumper, but in my opinion you will enjoy Reflex more if you (re)read Jumper first.

I liked "Reflex" even more than "Jumper," which is a tall order! I won't repeat what other reviews have said, but this book has EVERYTHING. You're in the hands of a capable, confident storyteller with Gould, and it shows. Worth owning.

I loved Jumper, but I would never have believed the sequel could be so good. After all, we already know about the teleporting, right? And when the hero has become this powerful, how can a sequel deliver?
Well, for me, this book delivered. It hooked me from the very beginning (wisely keeping the focus on Davy's wife), and kept me interested throughout. I can't ask for any more than that, and it gets five stars from me.