The Man Who Saw Seconds

By: Alexander Boldizar

Narrated by: Christian Leatherman

Winner of the Locus Award and CIBA Mark Twain grand prize, The Man Who Saw Seconds is a gripping speculative fiction thriller, blending absurdist satire and adrenaline-charged suspense, about a New York man who can see five seconds into the future—which changes his life forever; perfect for fans of Rob Hart and Kaliane Bradley’s The Ministry of Time.

Winner, 2025 Locus Award for science fiction novel
Finalist, Foreword Reviews for best thriller of 2024
Winner, CIBA Mark Twain grand prize winner for best satire of 2024
Finalist, Eric Hoffer Award
Locus Magazine Best Science Fiction of 2024
“10 for 2024” Year-End Best Books List

Preble Jefferson can see five seconds into the future.

Otherwise, he lives an ordinary life. But when a confrontations with a cop on a New York City subway goes tragically wrong, those seconds give Preble the chance to dodge a bullet—causing another man to die in his place.

Government agencies become aware of Preble’s gift, a manhunt ensues, and their ambitions shift from law enforcement to military. Preble will do whatever it takes to protect his family, but as events spiral out of control, he must weigh the cost of his gift against the loss of his humanity.

A breathless thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page, The Man Who Saw Seconds explores the nature of time, the brain as a prediction machine, and the tension between the individual and the systems we create. Alexander Boldisar provides an adrenaline-pumping read that will leave you contemplating love, fear, and the abyss.

Clever Premise, High School Level Philosophy

The idea of seeing five seconds into the future, and the possibilities that that offers is quite clever. I think everybody can relate with that little superpower being neat. It doesn’t make you Superman, but you can imagine what you would do with it. That’s as far as the cleverness goes.

The themes in the book are shallow thoughts on the merits and costs of empathy and the ephemeral nature of time. However, it doesn’t really go into any depth about those things. It sounds like a bunch of stoned teenagers in a basement. What is time man? If a house was burning down, who would you save? Dude, society is weird.

There’s also no character development at all and the female characters are a complete afterthought. There’s a wife and waiters and secretaries. It doesn’t come close to passing the Bechdel test as none of the female characters even talk to each other.

At best, it’s an airport novel that you’d buy at Hudson News and toss out at your destination. Interesting premise, that disappoints with very flat execution.

Just a 5 second head start

Alexander Boldizar’s The Man Who Saw Seconds is a fast-paced thriller. Preble can see five seconds into the future and while slight, this provides enough advantage to avoid accidents and even dodge bullets. What starts as police harassment quickly escalates until Preble becomes the target of the NSA. What transpires is a nonstop edge of the seat ride.

Boldizar begins with a simple premise and then goes on to generate one of the most thought-provoking pieces. There are discussions regarding the possible science underlying this phenomenon, but a major emphasis is the political and sociological implications of only this possibility, but the very real overreach of our current institutions due to fear of change.

The narration is excellent with solid character distinction. Pacing is brisk.

Had so much potential, TERRIBLE ENDING

Rambled on in a number of spots to set up the premise but it never went anywhere and the ending was brutal.

Its okay

Its okay its just not for me. It was interesting when it was just about seeing the future but it got a lot less fun when the government got involved,