Harare Review of Books

325 pages.

First published May 21, 2024 (CLASH Books).

SF.

Lots of books bill themselves as high-octane; not all of them live up to it. This book would not let up, right up to its thrilling and shocking end, and is genuinely one of those books I wish I could read again for the first time.

Some guy, Preble, is sitting on the subway when two cops approach him. He’s on some “Not today, Satan”; and, you see, Preble was born with a special gift: he can see a few seconds into the future. So he’s fairly confident that he can deal with the cops. But what plays out in the next short while leaves nineteen cops shot; Preble is unarmed, but he’s used that gift to defend himself. The story would more or less end there, except someone—the Assistant Director of the NSA—sees something unusual in the CCTV footage from the scene, and has a hunch about Preble.

Although at the beginning of the story Preble is simply the victim of unfortunate events, he snaps when his family—in particular, his son—is threatened. This becomes the story of one man—superhuman, admittedly, or no longer human at all, something that’s intriguingly explored in the novel—against the System; except, as always, the System is actually one obsessed man with the might of Government behind him.

There are lots of moral questions: how far will Preble go? How much does he owe others, beyond his family—the rest of humanity, in fact? I think Boldizar resolves all of those questions really neatly. While there are pages of philosophy as Boldizar works through the very concept—the fiction—of time, ultimately The Man Who Saw Seconds is greater than the sum of any of its parts. It’s a super fun, fast-paced read with a warm heart: Preble’s love for and protection of his son.

Boldizar has delivered one of my favourite reads of the year. I look forward to reading it again. Many thanks to CLASH Books and to Edelweiss for early access.

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