Impulse (Jumper Series #3)

by Steven Gould, Emily Rankin (Read by)

Overview

Cent has a secret.

She lives in isolation with her parents, hiding from the people who took her father captive and tortured him to gain control over his ability to teleport. Her parents are also hiding Cent from the government agencies who want to use them for their own purposes. She’s connected; movies, TV, Internet, but Cent’s parents are absolutely firm: no one can know where they live. There can be no images of them, or of Cent, anywhere.

Cent has seen the world, but only from the safety of her parents’ arms. Her mother has not neglected her daughter’s education. She’s been all over, met people rich and very poor, has worked on her mother’s global relief projects.

Cent has teleported more than anyone on Earth, except for her parents, Davy and Millie, but she’s never been able to do it herself. Her life has never really been in danger.

Until the day she went snowboarding without permission and triggered an avalanche. When the snow and ice thundered down on her, she suddenly found herself in her own bedroom. That was the first time.

The second time will change all their lives forever.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781491575765
Publisher:	Brilliance Audio
Publication date:	11/25/2014
Series:	Jumper Series , #3
Edition description:	Unabridged
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 6.75(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Steven Gould is the author of Jumper, Wildside, Helm, Blind Waves, Reflex, and Jumper: Griffin’s Story, as well as many short stories. He is the recipient of the Hal Clement Young Adult Award for Science Fiction and has been on the Hugo ballot twice and the Nebula ballot once for his short fiction, but his favorite distinction was being listed among the American Library Association’s Top 100 Banned Books of 1990–1999. “Jumper was right there at number 94 between Stephen King’s Christine and a nonfiction book on sex education.” Steve lives in New Mexico with writer Laura J. Mixon and their two daughters. As he is somewhere between birth and death, he considers himself to be middle-aged.

Read an Excerpt

ONE

Millie: The Underlying Problem

 

 

It was more of a lodge than a cabin but “cabin” is what they called it. The walls were made of heavy, thick logs, after all. The main living area was a broad space leaking from kitchen to dining area to a two-story-high lounge arranged around a tall, fieldstone fireplace.

Millie sat on one of the couches, staring out the windows, and frowned. It was snowing outside—big, fat, fluffy flakes—but she really wasn’t noticing.

She was alone in the room and then she wasn’t.

Davy was wearing a tropical-weight suit with the sleeves of the jacket rolled up on his forearms. He unrolled them as he asked, “What’s wrong?”

Millie sighed, her eyes tracking up to the ceiling before returning to Davy’s face.

Davy glanced up to the second-floor landing. “The usual?”

Millie jerked her thumb up. “Go look at her door.”

He sighed. “She is an irritation of the spirit.…”

Millie completed the phrase, “… and a great deal of trouble.”

Davy vanished. After a brief pause Millie heard laughter drift down the staircase. Millie stood and jumped, appearing beside Davy in the upstairs hallway.

A sign, scrawled on butcher paper, was tacked to a closed bedroom door. It said:

HELP!

BEING HELD PRISONER BY TELEPORTING ALIENS!

KEPT FROM NORMAL LIFE.

SEND FRIENDS.

ALSO ICE CREAM.

Davy was shaking his head and still laughing.

“Stop it!” Millie said. “You’re not helping!”

“You gotta admit, she is funny,” Davy said. “Takes after me that way.”

Millie snapped. “What—you think you’re funny?” She pulled at Davy’s arm, leading him back toward the landing.

Davy raised his eyebrows at Millie and grinned.

“Okay, she is funny, but the underlying problem is no less a problem.”

Davy’s smile faded and he jerked his chin down toward the kitchen, and vanished.

Millie followed to see him putting the kettle on.

“What choice do we have?” Davy said. “I mean, really?”

Millie shook her head. She felt like she should have an answer but she didn’t.

Davy hugged her and that was good … but the underlying problem was still no less a problem.

And it could only get worse.

 

Copyright © 2012 by Steven Gould

Editorial Reviews

Familiarity with Gould’s Jumper and Reflex (or, at minimum, the film of Jumper) is recommended before starting this initially confusing but intriguing story. Millicent “Cent” Ross is born in secrecy and raised in relative seclusion by her overprotective parents, Millie and Davy. The isolation isn’t without reason: government forces and others are looking for the Ross family. Millie and Davy have the ability to teleport, or “jump,” from location to location. Cent has only jumped with her parents, never on her own, until a freak accident unleashes her dormant power and opens up a whole new world. She demands release from her isolation, but controlling her power is as daunting as navigating high school, what with boys, sports, and a particularly loathsome bully. Fans of the series will enjoy meeting the next generation, but other readers may just feel lost. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

“Jumper [is] one of those rare books that can be read as a YA or a book for adults; like Ender's Game or vintage Heinlein.” —Cory Doctorow

“Reflex is a fun, fast-paced novel… You don't need to have read Jumper to enjoy the new novel, but all three of the books mentioned here are highly recommended.” —Charles de Lint, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction

From the Publisher

The third of a well-regarded series (that inspired a poorly regarded film) is essentially Teleporting: The Next Generation, as Davy and Millie Rice's daughter Cent discovers that she, too, can "jump." Years after teleporter Davy Rice was captured by a mysterious corporation (Reflex, 2004), he remains paranoid that they'll find him or his loved ones again. He and his wife, Millie, live off the grid in a nearly inaccessible lodge 60 miles from the Arctic Circle, home-schooling their 16-year-old daughter and strongly discouraging her from developing relationships with others. Cent's unhappiness with the status quo finally persuades her parents to purchase a home in a small town and enroll her in high school. Of course, the Rices' pretense at a normal life doesn't last long. Like her parents, who covertly teleport to spearhead relief efforts all over the globe, Cent has compulsive heroic tendencies. She simply can't resist employing her newly developed teleporting ability against Caffeine, the school bully who's blackmailing three freshman into serving as drug mules. Davy's overprotectiveness of his daughter will be most amusing to series fans--as a 17-year-old in Jumper (1992), he was robbing banks and fighting terrorists. One of the strongest aspects of the series is its serious attempt to explore and exploit the possibilities of teleporting (and how to circumvent them), and Cent's experiments to add velocity to her jumps add velocity to the plot. Readers will cheer for sympathetic Cent, but she's a bit too perfect; despite her extraordinarily isolated upbringing and claims of social awkwardness, her insightfulness about people is incredibly high, and she's unreasonably able at negotiating the dating scene. Ultimately, though, this is a great romp with a little social conscience–raising mixed in. Mr. Gould, please write faster.

Kirkus Reviews