The Man Who Saw Seconds

De: Alexander Boldizar

Narrado por: Tony Beltran

Preble Jefferson can see five seconds into the future.

Otherwise, he lives an ordinary life. But when a confrontation 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 R&D. 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 end, 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 Boldizar provides an adrenaline-pumping listen that will leave you contemplating love, fear and the abyss.

©2024 Alexander Boldizar (P)2024 Alexander Boldizar

Great Read and Recommendation.

I liked that it is an updated version of The Golden Man by Phillip K. Dick.

Interesting subject matter

I love the calm sound of the narrator, unlike some narrators I’ve had to sit through recently.
Now getting on to the story - the whole premise is so far beyond reason as to be completely unbelievable. At some point this book deviated from logic and jumped into the realm of what appears to be 80s style arguments against the Mutual Assured Destruction mindset. It’s just completely dated and no longer plausible

Whoa. A very wild, thinky ride!

I just finished and reeling a bit. This book starts with a virtual bullet and doesn’t give you much time to catch your breath. Thriller pacing. But also an excellent introspection about “monsters” — political, human, evolutionary and even innocent ones. Preble Jefferson was an ordinary man born with an extraordinary gift. One he used shallowly until a split second of annoyance leads to a chase that may threaten all of humanity as we know it and perhaps change it to something quite new. The book does not wrap up the goodness or monsterness of this possible evolution. That is yet to be determined. But first contact does not go great. With meanderings into history, science, politics and the blind love of parenting among other themes — there is plenty to contemplate between epic chases. A smart thriller to savor.

Engrossing ride from start to finish!

What a great read, the story grabbed my attention early & never let go. Sharp dialogue, interestingly diverse characters, & deep concepts cleverly woven into an engaging tale. The narrator’s slightly deadpan detective noir delivery caught me off guard initially, but quickly became clear was an excellent choice to suit the story, I hope to hear him more in the future.

Intriguing to begin with but...

Starts out with a very interesting concept and then takes it to unbelievable extremes. Sort of like John Wick destroys the world and himself along with it. Almost gave up at the beginning because the narration was too fast but slowing it down made it too slow. The fast speaking was a constant issue with listening to this book.

Excellent performance

A real page turner , but fizzled out with a disappointing ending. Still an interesting storyline

Brilliant and Action-Packed

If you liked The Bourne Legacy (2012)—by far, my favorite of the franchise—or Neal Stephenson’s Reamde (2011), you’re going to love Alexander Boldizar’s The Man Who Saw Seconds (2024). The action is gripping and relentless; the ideas are crisp, clear, and meticulously well researched; and the characters (even the bad guys) are complicated, believable, charismatic, and likeable.

Great, fast-paced sci-fi

Bought this one not knowing much about it and glad I did. While the story has three distinct parts, it moves through them quickly, and you won't want to stop. The level of detail really helps bring things to life -- not quite as fine-grained as Tom Clancy, but expounding a broader range of topics. Beyond that, I found that I was often comparing the writing style to Heinlein, which alone would make it a worthwhile read for me. If, like me, you often ponder the nature of time, you should give this book a chance.

Not bad

I bought this book after seeing an ad. It was entertaining, but I won't be reading it again or recommending it highly. If you have the book, it's worth listening to; if you don't, save your credit.

RUINOUS NARRATOR !!!

I wish I had read the reviews and not just the summary of this book. I haven’t finished and I am enjoying the story but my God the narrator is AWFUL. How does this happen? Was he related to somebody to get this job? Seriously it’s absolutely garbage. There’s so many good narrators and voice actors out there, no excuse for this.

Came back to add to this. I’m still listening but I have to repeat every word in my own head to try and counter the effects of the narrator. The tone and tenor of the voice work does not take the source material seriously; the effect is to turn a high intensity, dramatic story into a silly, farcical one. This book hasn’t even been published for a year. The author should get this audio recorded over again by someone else.