Review: Jumper's Hope by Carol Van Natta

Reunited lovers must outwit a ruthless government agent, or their rumored deaths will be real this time. 
Two retired elite special forces veterans discover their battles aren't behind them after all. Someone considers them loose ends, and will stop at nothing to erase their knowledge of a secret government project. Their service left them both with wounds that will never heal. Do they still have what it takes to survive? 

Kerzanna Nevarr's elite special forces days of wearing Jumper mech suits and piloting Citizen Protection Services' ships are long gone. The dark legacy of her service forced her to learn to live a quiet life. And she had to do so alone, without the lover who died before her eyes. 

Jess Orowitz, veteran of CPS's secret spy organization, Kameleon Corps, made the mistake of trusting his superiors. He's paid a horrific price—fractured memories, constant headaches, and the death of the only woman he ever loved. Retirement on a quiet farming planet has kept him in an emotional deep freeze, but safe. 

But now, Kerzanna is being hunted for reasons she can’t guess, and even more stunning, the man who helps her escape is Jess, her supposedly dead lover. For Jess, discovering Kerzanna is still alive is only the first of the lies and betrayal he uncovers. 

Worst of all, their hunter is someone with CPS intel and lethal resources. Someone who believes the only obstacles standing in the way of success are one broken-down ex-Jumper and a fractured Kameleon. 

Together, are they strong enough to escape death one more time? 

***

Jumper's Hope, the fourth in Van Natta's Central Galactic Concordance series, keeps a firm grip on the original world building in its predecessors while expanding in to new characters and adventure. I found it delightfully action filled and loaded with surprises I didn't see coming though they made complete sense when the story threw me in to them.

I loved that her crop of bad guys is even more endearing and creepy than we first ran in to them. (How does she do that?)

Also, and I'm going to put this out here, Van Natta is a master at making you fall in love with her characters entirely by showing them to you through the eyes of another. She fills her characters with so much empathy and understanding of each other, as I reader I felt completely immersed in their relationships so when the bad things happened (and the did) there was a fantastic double (triple) whammy of worry for everyone.

I completely and whole heartedly recommend this series.