Jumper

David seems like a normal kid with real problems. His drunk dad drives him to strike on his own. With no mom to stop him from going, he finds out how bad the world can really be. It turns out David isn’t normal and this discovery leads to extraordinary things. As the pressure mounts David can only get better as a person or the monster the government wants to make him into.The writing isn’t as descriptive as some would like, yet very few authors can weave a tale like this one while giving enough to fire up your imagination. In large part, I think this story allows you to fill in some of the details and that makes it more intimate and personal. The book concludes in a satisfying way. I was pleased to find that there are other books to look forward to.

I read both book one and two this week. I lost quite a lot of sleep, getting the job done. I will discuss both books in this review.About the book Jumper, you should know that it really isn't like the movie at all. Due to the events of 9/11, I can see why they changed the movie. If you read this book, you will see what I mean. But they really Hollywood-ized the story, and seemed to make it more about the occult, I thought, than sci-fi. Also, it seemed to me that they sort of blended the two books into one story in the movie and much was lost.The first book is set in the 90's before the real computer and cell phone advances, so you need to take this into account as you read it. You will find yourself a little frustrated at a few of the events if you are not aware of this beforehand.One thing that is interesting about this story, is the moral dilemma of the two main characters. Davy (the Jumper)decides to use his incredible talent (teleportation) to fight crime and help people. And yet, he is often faced with difficult moral choices and sometimes commits crimes himself just to survive.He is wracked with an incredible amount of guilt, not only due to his somewhat criminal nature, but also due to his horrific childhood (which is what brings about his criminal tendencies). The guilt is almost paralyzing to him at times, a vicious circle. He walks a razor thin line between becoming the evil that he is fighting against, and doing only what is necessary for resolution. He is so unsure of himself, and his self-worth, that he struggles in his relationships with others. Yet in the crunch, he is swift and decisive, pulling no punches. In the end, he is a survivor, and will do whatever it takes to win. But he never shies away from putting himself on the line for others, even strangers.The second protagonist, his girlfriend Millie, becomes a mental health professional. They are an interesting combination due to this. She helps to keep him on the straight and narrow. However, in the second book, she is forced to re-examine her own set of values and morals as she moves to the front lines of the battle.Although they come from different backgrounds and therefore have different filters, they share a strong desire to help others and to always do the right thing.There is a 10 year gap in time between book one and two, but I must say that of these two books, the second one is the one that REALLY blew me away. It definitely needs the first book to set the stage, but in terms of plot and character development, the second book really shined.In book two, Davy begins to learn more about what he can do with his talent. However, at the end we are left with many questions and few answers. The main question being, HOW and WHY did Davy become like this? Due to a twist in the plot, even more questions are raised, but I don't want to spoil the story by naming them. I hope to find the answers in the next books.The only real critiscm that I had was the relationship between Millie and Davy. I felt like in the first book some of their interactions were really shallow and lame. In the second book, they don't have a whole lot of direct interaction, so it was less of an issue. However, I would like to have more of a sense of who they were together, and more of a sense of who Millie was on her own. We get a good sense of who Davy is on his own because he is the main character in book one. Although book two brings Millie to the forefront, I still have no idea who she really is. This issue is not distracting as you read the book though, it is more of an annoyance.I think I could go on for several more pages, but I'd better wind it down here :). These are both really great books: well-written, fast paced, and exciting.

I'm not quite sure how to rate this book. I bought this book after seeing the movie. I enjoyed the movie a lot and decided to see where it all started. When it arrived, I dove right in. I read half the book in a day, and then put it down for over a week before I finally finished it in an airport waiting for my plane. It was a good story, don't get me wrong, but it bore little resemblance to the film. In the film, a 17 year old boy discovers he can "jump" after falling into a freezing river. Then he robs a bank and lives the high life for 8 years until a secret organization starts to hunt him down. Good action flick, so I expected a good action story. But in the novel, our hero is 15 and a victim of serious child abuse. This is why I walked away from the book for so long. The first half was depressing. Really depressing. Another reviewer pointed out that the main character is almost raped. True, but that is only the tip of the iceberg in his sad life. Warning: some may consider the next paragraph a slight spoiler.Davy makes his first jump trying to avoid a beating. Then we follow him as a 15 year old runaway. Who is almost raped while hitch-hiking. Who can't hold a job because he has no social security card, or high school diploma. Who can't get a GED without his parents' approval. Who robs a bank so he won't starve. Who learns his mother left him after being nearly beaten to death herself. Who worries his father can jump and will find him. It goes on and on like that for far too long. This book does a good job of shining light on the ugly, harsh reality of life as a runaway. Only real runaways can't "jump" out of danger. The story finally picked up once he started traveling and attracted the attention of the NSA. Davy has a serious (and once again sad) motive for all his traveling besides wanting to see the world. After finally reuniting with his mother, she is killed by an airline hijacker. And he wants revenge. The NSA catches on to his visits to hot zone countries and subsequently learns his secret. There is no secret organization of Paladins and he never meets another jumper. But, the second half is very exciting as he cleverly eludes NSA agents, creates an illegal identity for himself, romances a college girl and jumps all over the world. There is also a good bit of humor in the second half too.The story is told in the first person, and has a lot of internal monologue. Sometimes, I got a little annoyed as Davy described everything he was seeing or thinking. However, this book is intended for young adults and the descriptive detail makes sense in that light. There isn't a lot of dialog compared to many other books, but there is a lot of action in the second half. The author doesn't reveal much about the "why" of jumping (as in the movie), but Davy does consider the issue throughout the book.Overall, I enjoyed the second half of the book enough that I'd like to read the sequel. It's too bad the sequel is currently out of print. I hope the movie attracts enough buzz that it re-released. Recommended.

When I read this book as a teenager, it was an adventure story with romance and action.Somehow, reading it again in my 40s, it’s a journey of growing up and coming to terms with trauma, loss, vengeance, and forgiveness. There’s a lot of substance here. This one is worth reading, perhaps especially if underwhelmed by the 2008 movie.

This is an excellent book. I bought it because I saw the trailer for the movie and thought: "what a good idea, but I bet they've overdone the special effects at the expense of the story". So I thought I'd read the book first. I didn't realise that this book is not the story of the movie, but I enjoyed this so much that I probably will read 'Jumper: Griffin's Story' as well. I still haven't seen the movie and don't think I'll bother. The beauty of this story is not the imagery of moving instantly from place to place, but the moral dilemas the main character, Davy Rice, faces as a result of his ability. Is it acceptable to rob a bank so long as no one gets hurt? To convince someone they're going insane because they treated you badly in the past? To dispense justice to terrorists just because you can? There are many, many interesting questions and issues raised in this book.But my word of warning is this: the movie is 12A and this book was (at one point, if not now) listed in a 'Young Adult' category. I would say this book really isn't appropriate for younger readers. There are some very dark themes: physical and mental child abuse, alcoholism, domestic violence, terrorist violence and homelessness to name a few. Admittedly there's no graphic sex or much in the way of swearing, but I would still strongly suggest that any parent thinking of buying this book for their child after seeing the film read it first, because it may not be suitable.

I liked the movie, or more to the point I like the idea of the movie, so I thought I'd give the book a go. Wow. I'm only half way through the book, but its absolutely nothing like the movie. Ok, both the movie and the book have a boy that could "jump", but so far the first half of the book has a totally different story line to the movie, and given the events that have happened so far, there is no way for the movie and book to meet up. Which is not a bad thing and this book has been brilliant so far.I've not read a book in sometime, in all fairness I'm a slow reader, but this book I find myself picking up every opportunity I have, and within a week I'm half way through (which for me is excellent :) ).There are a few gramatical error's through out the book so far, but as I've said I'm not a big book reader, so this could be a common thing, and I'm sure I would do far worse.In short, this is great book, well written, very engaging. I've already bought several more Steven Gould books in the hope they're as good as this one.

I only just recently watched the film version of Jumper and was very impressed by it, I searched for the book on Amazon and bought it to give it a try as the majority of reviews seemed to indicate that it is much better than the film version. Well I was not disappointed! The original book is far better then the film, we still have David Rice as our "Jumper" but we get far more in depth character development and the story behind his life, his mother and father and his discovery of his teleportation skills.After this the book is completely different than the film and much better, without spoiling it for those who have not read yet, we follow his meeting with his estranged Mother and subsequent terrible events that lead to him waging a one man war against terrorist hijackers whilst being tracked around the world by secret NSA agents from the United States. Davy's relationship with Millie features quite highly throughout the storyline.I love this book and dream myself of what would be possible if I had the same Jumper skills - wow! Brilliant book. Love it.

A boy with an extraordinary gift, he just needs to picture a place and he's teleported there in an instant. This proves to be a godsend at the beginning of the story. It saves him from a beating and also an attempted rape by truckers after he runs away from his abusive father. Both scenes are so vividly described, and narrated, that Davy's terror is palpable.Davy goes through so much, not least losing his mother after just finding her, coupled with coming to terms with his ability although unable to understand why he is able to teleport makes for a fast paced story that leaves you feeling in complete sympathy with Davy in his attempts to find love and also track down the terrorist who murdered his mother. He deals with the trials in his life in a completely believable way. All in all a great listen, MacLeod Andrews is definitely one of the best narrators.

I love this book, I have read it several times & continue to enjoy it each time. If you have watched the movie be prepared for this to be completely different.The book takes us through the journey of a young man with a dark childhood who discovers he has the power to jump. However this does not solve all of his problems and we follow him as he tries to make his way in the world dealing with romance & the evils of mankind. This book has happy moments, sad moments, dark & light times.Well worth a read.