The Portrait Painter by Fraser Oz
Mind-reading is dangerous.
Telling people what you see can prove fatal.
Justin Gates is the Portrait Painter. He studies people’s faces for a living. Sometimes he sees behind their eyes, inside their minds, discovering things even they cannot see. Things about the future. Handling such insights isn’t easy. It often leads to trouble.
Imagine knowing that a certain airplane is going to crash, or an entire city is to be wiped out. Should you warn people? Will they believe you? What happens if they don’t? Might they turn against you? If so, how?
Could you tell an investor that he is going bankrupt? An accused terrorist that he will be found guilty? A President that he is going to lose an election?
Justin faces all these issues, and more, in this tale of a child who grows up into a man and learns to live with the gift of seeing tomorrow. But there are two futures he cannot see: those of himself and the woman he loves.