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Reflex

(Jumper #2)

Steven Gould (Goodreads Author)

3.96 · Rating details · 6,042 ratings · 338 reviews

Davy has always been alone. He believes that he's the only person in the world who can teleport. But what if he isn't?

A mysterious group of people has taken Davy captive. They don't want to hire him, and they don't have any hope of appealing to him to help them. What they want is to own him. They want to use his abilities for their own purposes, whether Davy ag ...more

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Paperback, 380 pages

Published August 1st 2005 by Tor Science Fiction (first published December 1st 2004)

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· 6,042 ratings · 338 reviews

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Jul 06, 2013 seak rated it really liked it

Shelves: audio, 2014

There's something about this series that's really sunk it's teeth into me. I already have the third book, Impulse, queued up on the iPod. There's something about this simple concept of being able to teleport that's absolutely captivating.

And I had misgivings going into this one. How could it top the first one? What else can you do with teleportation, right? Turns out, plenty.

I don't know if these are really spoilers for the first book, but I'll go ahead and warn. There ar There's something about this series that's really sunk it's teeth into me. I already have the third book, Impulse, queued up on the iPod. There's something about this simple concept of being able to teleport that's absolutely captivating.

And I had misgivings going into this one. How could it top the first one? What else can you do with teleportation, right? Turns out, plenty.

I don't know if these are really spoilers for the first book, but I'll go ahead and warn. There are a few I guess.

We know Davy can teleport and he can do really cool things with it, though there are limits. He can't just go anywhere, he has to have been there, and not only that, he has to remember the place.

By the end of book one, Davy is taking covert jobs with unnamed government entities, but of course this creates some waves. And it's a bit hard to keep it a secret after a while. Not everyone's unconscious when they're being teleported away and sometimes other people are present ... such as an entire plane full of people.

So some "bad guys" take notice and figure out a way to keep Davy captive. These parts were extremely captivating, where Davy pushes the boundaries of his captivity while suffering tortures, you name it.

On the other side, Millie, now Davy's wife, is stuck in the Erie (I've only 'read' these on audio, so you'll have to forgive spelling), which is the couple's home on the side of a cliff. The only way in and out is through teleportation. Sucks to be the one who can't...

But there's a plan they put in place to get out and she follows it. I won't go into detail for fear of spoiling too much, but it works out and she's on the hunt for her beau.

Flipping back and forth from Davy's captivity to Millie's search, the story starts to come together and lots of great teleportation ensues.

Overall, I thought this was a great installment with lots of thought into how to keep a person captive who can teleport. I'm looking forward to continuing this story in Impulse.

A note on the narration. Macleod Andrews once again takes the reigns here and does a commendable job. He's got the right mix of vulnerability and stubbornness that really catch the essence of Davy.

4 out of 5 Stars (highly recommended) ...more

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Sep 23, 2008 Tracy rated it really liked it

Steven Gould's story development improved drastically in this sequel to Jumper. And yet, Gould stays true to his literary "voice." He graphically tells it like it is, just like you'd talk to your closest friends or speak in your inner voice. He doesn't try to find a million different synonyms for the word "butt."

His characters arrived fully formed, deductive, and inventive. The story line was engrossing, but I only give five stars to the books I absolutely can't put down. There were several wel ...more

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Oct 02, 2014 Richard Guion rated it really liked it

A very good sequel to Jumper, though totally different in tone and narration. The first book was written from the 1st person perspective of Davy, who had his life turned around by the fact that he could teleport. This book is third person, split chapters between Davy and Millie, his wife. When Davy is captured, Millie discovers that she can teleport as well, although at first only in life threatening situations. Davy is captured by a pretty big and scary organization - for those who thought the ...more

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Sep 28, 2008 Brian Kristopher rated it really liked it

This is the sequel to Jumper, which is the basis for the rather awful movie staring Hayden Christensen and Samual L. Jackson. The movie only bares a passing resemblance to the books, and both books are much better than the movie.

Reflex picks up ten years after Jumper. During that time, Davy has been working as a courier for the NSA. He pops in, delivers or picks up a package, and pops out. The trouble is, he'll only do the job if he knows what he's delivering, and if it won't hurt an ...more

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Dec 21, 2008 Danielle rated it it was ok

Shelves: pans, sci-fi, 2009-read

The first half of this book was really fun, the whole idea of creating a “reflex” in a jumper (much like Pavlov’s dog) was interesting as a training method. The latter half took a nose dive for me.

It seems like the two protagonists have unending knowledge about all things – so much so that it pulled me out of the story because it was odd. Like Millie knowing what type of shingles were on the roof of the house; not just that she knew what they would feel/smell like, but that she knew the name of The first half of this book was really fun, the whole idea of creating a “reflex” in a jumper (much like Pavlov’s dog) was interesting as a training method. The latter half took a nose dive for me.

It seems like the two protagonists have unending knowledge about all things – so much so that it pulled me out of the story because it was odd. Like Millie knowing what type of shingles were on the roof of the house; not just that she knew what they would feel/smell like, but that she knew the name of the type of shingle. The unending description of the planes and boat using boat/plane-specific terminology that I don’t know and don’t care to know. David seems to know absolutely everything there is to know about the corrupted police and thieves around the Venezuelan airport. It was a recurring thing throughout the book and it really bothered me.

For the record, I’m roughly the same age as Millie in the book, I’ve been with my husband for just shy of 10 years, we don’t have kids, and my training is also in psychology (though I’m working as an accountant). Now, on the complaints

The other thing I had an issue with is how every other word out of Millie’s mouth was how badly she wanted kids. And Millie and David both spend a large portion of their inner dialogs lamenting the fact that they were unable to have sex with the other person. Really? You’ve been married 10 years and your husband (who works as a spy for the NSA) disappears, and you only miss the physical part of the relationship?? And keep droning on and on and on about it like a 16-year-old not experienced with sex? It would have been nice to see the characters mature a little bit. Sure, sex is a big thing in a relationship, but it’s not the primary reason I would miss my husband. And I wouldn’t walk by playgrounds and bemoan the fact that he didn’t “knock me up” (her words) before he got kidnapped.

And while I’m complaining, I may as well complain about the use of the word “girlfriend” every time the characters were trying to be sassy.

The ending was a little too neat and tidy for me too – it read like a bad rom-com movie, where everything is wrapped up neatly and the girl finally gets a baby. Bah. Two stars just because I really liked the first half of the book.
...more

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Jul 03, 2013 John rated it it was amazing

Reflex follows about 10 years after the first Jumper book (just called Jumper) which was way, way better than the terrible movie of the same name. Davy is doing odd jobs for the NSA, using his special teleportation skills to drop things off or pick them up, but only for good causes. Unfortunately, he gets kidnapped and his captors find a way to contain him and bend him to their will.

While Davy struggles to figure out his escape, his wife Millie is stunned to discover that she can teleport too. ...more

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Sep 16, 2008 This Is Not The Michael You're Looking For rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, science-fiction

A sequel to the book Jumper, the two books are an interesting contrast. Jumper was a much better concept, but this book is better executed. Perhaps Gould simply became a better writer in the decade which separated their writing.

I found the story to only be fair, and the fact that Davey's wife spontaneously learns to Jump (first chapter...not a spoiler) seems rather absurd. Davey's power has never been explained, but the idea that someone without the power can suddenly learn it seems ...more

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Oct 09, 2008 Shae rated it really liked it

Wow! This one was so much better than the first. It didn't have the same long meandering feeling and I was hooked from the start. A few parts did get a bit rambley, but it was still really good. One thing from the previous book was in this book though - crying. So.much.crying. You'd think that in 10 years the main guy would learn how to not cry at the drop of a hat. And it isn't the fact that it was a man crying, I just can't stand people in books crying because of their situation, mostly when t ...more

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Jun 16, 2016 Asad rated it liked it

Meh...

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Feb 19, 2017 Jimbo Pantas rated it it was amazing

I vaguely remember reading Jumper a few years back because my recollection of the entirety of the book is a little befuddled by its screen adaptation, which was only loosely based on its original material but a great movie just the same. What I do clearly remember is the novel's major theme: revenge; its protagonist David Rice: how he seemed to be a flawed yet likable character; and its plot development: how it thrilled, amazed, and kept me up for nights. I had no idea why I took—what, three years?—be I vaguely remember reading Jumper a few years back because my recollection of the entirety of the book is a little befuddled by its screen adaptation, which was only loosely based on its original material but a great movie just the same. What I do clearly remember is the novel's major theme: revenge; its protagonist David Rice: how he seemed to be a flawed yet likable character; and its plot development: how it thrilled, amazed, and kept me up for nights. I had no idea why I took—what, three years?—before I finally decided to read its sequel, Reflex. But while I'm writing down this thought, the answer came for me: When I first tried to read Reflex three years ago I discovered, much to my dismay, that the novel was written in third-person point of view. One of the main reasons I took delight in reading Jumper was spending hours being inside David Rice's head. He was hilarious as hell, and the pronoun I made the story work, since almost all of the major plot wrinkles were character-driven—that is, David Rice's doings. Hence, Reflex disheartened me so much that I put it away. Now, having finally plucked the courage to read it, I discovered that the old David Rice was still there, and that the third-person POV never really bothered me once because I was thankfully still in his head.

Reflex is the ultimate excursion of an escapist reader. I mean, the protagonist can after all teleport. The novel, as its predecessor, took me around the world: from the most bustling streets of some city to the most scorching rocky mountains in some hemisphere in God knows exactly where. It provided me with a cheap travel without having to roll my sedentary ass out of the bed. Just like Jumper, it thrilled, amazed, and kept me up for nights, battling against sleep because I wanted to read through to the end at once to see how things would come to a conclusion. At the end, finally, Reflex did not disappoint. It maintained its fast pace and blew shit up until its closing stages. Hell, the only chapter that was particularly calm was the last one, with David and Millie happy together after their separation.

At times Reflex could be painfully funny as well just like Jumper. The characters are well-developed and as human as possible. Ironically, I admire the set of antagonists: Lawrence Simons, Hyacinth Pope, Padgett, Dr. Conley. They seemed at first to be the usual band of bad guys operating under greed for power and money, but there is far more in them than what the book gives away in the first few chapters. Later, the veils go down one character at a time, and their true motivations are revealed. Then I gradually sympathized with them and could only feel sadness about their actions, which brings me to another good point in the book that the psychology major in me liked best.

Operant Conditioning is a method in learning that emphasizes reward and punishment in behavior. For example, when a child's actions result to pleasant consequences, the child will likely behave similarly in the future; when the child's actions result to unpleasant consequences, the child will likely not repeat the actions. In Reflex, David Rice went through an intensive operant conditioning to succumb to his enemies' demands. Again, I am awed by Steven Gould's vision to see through his characters. He knows so well that his protagonist cannot be lulled by money, so he had his antagonists condition him instead. Hence, the title Reflex.

Steven Gould is probably the only person in the world who could take in global issues in his writing without boring his readers to tears. He leaves out things that his readers will unlikely understand and instead focuses on the things that will draw his readers' attention. Unlike most writers, he does not try to impress anyone that he knows things concerning our society. Also, the way he writes is no-nonsense. His prose may never be referred to as good, but it is crisp enough to deliver action—and that's the only thing Gould really needs, to be honest.

Reflex by Steven Gould is highly recommended for science fiction-action fans, or anyone who plainly wants a heart-pounding read.
...more

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Dec 10, 2017 Martha rated it liked it

I am really reading outside my comfort zone with this series, but what can I say? It sucked me in. The fantastical part of the story seemed be more believable than others, but who knows? Maybe my friends and sons are having a bad influence on me!

It does have more sexual content overtones than I generally like, but this one was more mild than the first one.
I enjoyed the story and especially the female character's part in this one.

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Jun 30, 2008 Lisa Lap rated it it was ok

Shelves: fantasy, paranormal, 2011-books-read

This is the sequel to Jumper, the story picking up ten years after Jumper ends. In ten years, Davy and Millie haven't really done much to move forward. Yes, they're married, and yes, they travel all over the world, and yes, Davy works with the NSA as needed - but none of that is new information. Millie wants to start a family and Davy isn't sure he's ready for that. In the midst of an arguement about having children, Davy "jumps" to a meeting with his NSA contact and is consequently kidnapped. M ...more

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Oct 04, 2012 Maxinoume rated it it was ok

I first watched the movie and liked it, so I was interested in reading the book, because the books are always better than the movies, right..? But I was disappointed.

The first book : Jumper, was enjoyable. I liked it because there wasn’t an “enemy” that wants to kill David, it was like a book about a normal kid (except the fact that he can teleport) living is life. That made the book more realistic and representative of a real life. But for the same reason, I wasn’t thrilled to cont ...more

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Feb 06, 2016 Mridupawan Podder rated it really liked it

Have you ever imagined yourself to be a character in a book? Have you ever said, ooh yes, I wanna be him. Or, blindfuckme, that guy is so totally me!

Reflex is one of those books that's like wine. You write a sequel years later and boy, it's gold. You can read about a book of a teenager and go through his stumbles because you know, you've been through his age. You've been a teen. So when I read the first book, I transported myself to the past and read it with the eager hunger of a teenager who k ...more

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Jan 05, 2013 Kel rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: Anyone who likes realistic action, and a little bit of sci-fi

Shelves: action, sci-fi-ish

A sequel to the book (and movie) Jumper, Reflex throws us back into the lives of Davey (who can 'jump' to anywhere in the world he can see or has visited before, just by thinking about it) and his wife Millie, in the present day.

Davey is working for the NSA on the quiet in sensitive cases like kidnapping and extraction, and his wife is a counsellor. Very quickly, their lives are upended when Davey - who has no limits on where he can go in an instant - is kidnapped, and can't escape.< ...more

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Oct 13, 2011 Anna rated it it was ok

Shelves: fiction

Reading the sequel made me want to delete a star or two off the first book in the series because it reminded me of the parts I didn't like there. I was able to ignore all of the spy drama in Jumper because there was a great character-centered plot to focus on instead, but the characters didn't have any real growing to do in the sequel. Disappointing.

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Apr 19, 2013 Cher Cabula rated it it was amazing

Infinitely better than the first book. The style of writing had improved and the David's arrogance was lessened. This time, I loved that his wife took the spotlight and she kicked ass.

Read my full review for this book HERE.

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Feb 01, 2010 Linda Branham Greenwell rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, fantasy

I absolutely loved the idea of this book. The character can 'jump" teletransport himself anywhere! I happened to be reading the book while sitting in an airport and I decided it would be a wonderful skill to have!
Of course people are him... and his wife because they either want him to jump someplace for them... or to keep him jumping someplace. A very good and imaginative story

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Oct 06, 2011 eves rated it liked it

Epic sequel to Jumper. Although yes, Steven Gould kind of lost me in the scientific and technical facts, and the middle part dragged a bit, the overall novel was smashing and a wild ride. It makes sci-fi hella appealing, sexy and action-packed. You wouldn't have been able to expect anything like this.

But how on earth was Millie able to do what she did? Important questions!

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Oct 01, 2011 Nijhia rated it did not like it

This book was a well awaited sequel to me and I was severely let down and I often didn't give a shit about the girl character, I only cared about Davey. You can literally skip every chapter concerning her and get the whole story still.

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Jan 10, 2013 Jeff rated it really liked it

Unlike most sequels, I actually preferred this book over Jumper the first book b/c for me it was much mature and better written novel for most part. I don't know if this is partly b/c of the 12 years in between the two or what, but this book had a much more adult orientated story.

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Jul 12, 2018 J. Peters rated it liked it · review of another edition

Jumper is one of my favorite books and I've read it numerous times now. I've read Reflex a couple of times, and I'm in the process of rereading Impulse, which I've only read once before. I haven't read Exo yet, but that will be next on my list.

So far, Reflex is my least favorite of the series.

It's not that it's poorly written - quite the opposite in fact. It's very well written, with some fun side characters and great character moments for both Davy and Millie.

My main problem is, w Jumper is one of my favorite books and I've read it numerous times now. I've read Reflex a couple of times, and I'm in the process of rereading Impulse, which I've only read once before. I haven't read Exo yet, but that will be next on my list.

So far, Reflex is my least favorite of the series.

It's not that it's poorly written - quite the opposite in fact. It's very well written, with some fun side characters and great character moments for both Davy and Millie.

My main problem is, well, I didn't enjoy reading about torture for that long.

It's kind of an uncomfortable read. The book goes into detail on the kind of hell that Davy experiences while in the hands of his kidnappers, and it's difficult to read. I tended to skim through those parts this time around.

My favorite parts of the book were those dealing with Millie and her ongoing search for Davy. Through her, the old spirit of the Jumper book still shined.

One of the things I liked most about Jumper was that it had a sense of adventure and wonder, while still dealing with a lot of heavy topics and doing an impressive juggling act for them. And that's missing here, at least, it's missing from Davy's sections. The fact that both Davy and Millie are written from a third-person POV this time (Davy was first-person in the first book) doesn't help much.

I think a part of that is that Davy spends most of the book in one general area, while Millie is actively working towards a goal. Her parts of the book were more fun, and I kinda wish the book had spent more time focusing on her, as that's where the meat of the story was for me. I think it could've helped add tension and mystery to the book. As the reader, you know where Davy is and what's happening to him - Millie doesn't. So when the book switches to Millie, it can be a little frustrating as she's trying to play catch up. But if the book had only been told from mostly Millie's perspective (say after the meeting with Cox, it then stays with Millie until towards the end), I think it would've greatly enhanced that feeling of tension and mystery. Then, everything that Millie discovers would be new to the reader as well. Millie's chapters had more of a sense of fun and adventure in them. One of the things I loved about the first book was Davy's dry sense of humor in tough situations. Like, when he's forced to jump out of the NSA office and he says "We mean no harm to your planet." He knows it's probably not gonna help his cause at all, but it's a funny moment that's true to his character. In this one, because of the extreme situation he's found himself in, that's kind of lost. Millie, though she's desperate in her search and it's not exactly a fun point of her life, at least has the freedom of interacting with a variety of characters and has some pretty great moments of dry humor herself.

I don't mind that the book doesn't flinch away from showing the gruesome stuff - it's just not something that really appeals to me. If I reread this in the future, I'll likely skim or skip those parts entirely.

I also didn't care for Hyacinth Pope much at all. Her character just feels kind of awkward.

I am looking forward to finishing the series. From what I recall, Impulse is more of a return to roots kind of book. I have no idea about Exo yet, but I'm hoping for the best. ...more

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Oct 28, 2018 Nico A Klein rated it it was ok · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 02, 2017 Nikki rated it it was ok

Shelves: science-fiction, 2017

2.5 stars

There were many things I disliked about this.
The fact that Millie now jumps bugs me so much. She has never done it before and suddenly she's able to do it? Is teleportation like the flu, you can "catch" it? WTH?
I got so sick of the sex/baby stuff. Ugh. Davy has been kidnapped and Mille takes the time to think "I wish he'd knocked me up first?" Or what about "Come home soon, Davy, I need to get laid?" Really? I mean, really?!? And Davy was thinking about it, too, but n ...more

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Jan 04, 2019 Taid Stone rated it really liked it

Ten years passes between the first novel "Jumper" and "Reflex." It is possible to read this book before the first, but many details will not make as much sense. Davy, the teleporter, is married for example. And, he works for a few government agencies who pay him well for contracted jobs. However, it is people from the various agencies and more secretive groups who give the novel conflicts, interesting ones. Several themes are important in this book. Clearly with Davy being married, love plays a ...more

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Jul 30, 2017 Jeff Daly rated it really liked it

Shelves: listened-to-audiobook, bought-on-audible

Narrator: MacLeod Andrews

(view spoiler)

4/5 star rating. Really enjoyed it. Fun. ...more

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Nov 27, 2018 Anthony Pinos rated it really liked it

I loved the perspective shift from just Davy to both Davy and Millie. Personally I love it when stories have two protagonists and switch between the two. I enjoyed this one more than the first one, although I felt as though the plot flowed better in the first one. Much like the first one, I liked how Gould wrote the characters. He did so in a way that made it feel like normal people in extraordinary stories. The science however was pretty shaky and the antagonists were pretty underdeveloped. Tow ...more

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Aug 18, 2019 Sikkdays rated it liked it

Shelves: 2019

Once again, I find myself enjoying the plot, but the main characters lacking. Millie behaves different than Davy, but personality-wise they are the same. It is as if the author's voice is really the main character.

I was also thrown by the author's sense of humor, which the two main characters share indistinctly. Awkward and sometimes breaking the drama in places where the drama fits and the reader doesn't need relief.

I think the thing that keeps me reading is a desire for answers. H ...more

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Aug 02, 2018 Steve rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

A great sequel with plenty of punch

Part two of a surprisingly good series (I had no great expectations having seen the film first).
Reflex (given some graphically horrible scenes it maybe should've been called Reflux) thankfully is not just a replay of the first book, has a lot of depth to it, is at times unbearably tense, has well-defined characters, and is a very satisfying read.

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Aug 20, 2018 Bill Conrad rated it really liked it

Reflex is a sequel to the book Jumper and it picks up right where Jumper left off. The two main characters come up against a new unknown threat with a lot of intrigue. There were some great twists and clever solutions to big problems. Writing about a 3-dimensional jumper world is difficult and Steven Gould did a great job of pulling me through it. I liked the story and it was a good read. It would have been nice to get a bit more back-story on the new character Millie.

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About Steven Gould

Steven Gould

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Steven Charles Gould is an American science fiction author. His novels tend to have protagonists fighting to rid government of corrupt antagonists. The struggle against corruption is the focus, rather than the technology.