Rating: 
Summary: A wannabe photog uses murder to change his life.
Review: Ben Bradford is bored with his humdrum Wall Street life. In a flash of rage all is changed and Ben is able to hide his former self and become the photographer of his dreams. All goes according to plan until a Montana forest fire exposes his talents and lies to the woman he loves. Good plot, starts a bit too slow; nice lessons on how to become someone new
Rating: 
Summary: This is a true page turner!
Review: This is the first book in a very long time that when I finished it it immediately began to re-read it. Sure there are some weak points but as pure entertainment it beats the movie of the week. Having lived in the east and spent time in small western cities I related to the Mountain Falls section. It could happen
Rating:
Summary: Creepy, in the best and worst sense
Review: I poured through this book in a weekend and felt
guilty that I had enjoyed it so much. The writing
is quite sharp, and in the book's first half Mr.
Kennedy did an admirable job developing Ben's
spiritual and emotional drift. But then the
craziness sets in. The mechanics of the plot grow
more and more absurd, and, as other reviewers
have noted, the luck the protagonist enjoys is too
much to accept. The ending is probably the only
way Mr. Kennedy could write himself out of the corners he had painted, but it mocks the morality
play he established so well in those first 150
pages. Our hero not only kills, but he dismembers
the body in the goriest way possible, and we're
asked to gloss over that. In the end, it's a fast
but shallow excercise in style.
Rating: 
Summary: Ironic, spellbinding, a must read.
Review: If your idea of a great book is one you don't want to finish (because it is so good), then The Big Picture is for you. The Big Picture is written in 1st person which allows you to feel like you are part of the story. The story of Ben Bradford's "life" (you will understand the quotes after you read the book) is quick paced. His story exemplifies how what happens in a split second can forever change your life.
Douglas Kennedy lures the reader into thinking one thing is going to happen and then, BANG, switches gears and goes into a different, but highly plausible direction.
I don't want to give anything away, but believe me buying this book will not be a waste of money or time
Rating:
Summary: Shallow treatment of intriguing premise...
Review: If you're going to write a story about the most serious moral dilemma a person can face, you ought to have done some critical thinking about it. Douglas Kennedy, in what presents itself as a plausible and compelling situation (a murder of passion), supplies us with a main character who is utterly one-note when it comes to any reflection of his crime. All of Ben Bradford 's actions are fear-of-punishment-driven only. That coupled with his relentless cynicism regarding all things metropolitan and/or thirty-something, makes for a character who is has little appeal; who, because we're alone with him much of the time, becomes tiresome very quickly. Douglas Kennedy , like Grisham is a competent storyteller, but unlike Grisham, he has not yet explored the personal depth of his subject matter. Bar
Rating:
Summary: A must-read; but only because it's entertainment.
Review: I don't think that THE BIG PICTURE was in any way an artistic voice for Mr. Kennedy, who I met a month or so ago at a book-signing. He was rather entertaining, a mere reflection of his crafty uses of words and phrases that somewhat say to you, "You better go read that again if you're gonna get it; otherwise it'll fly as quick as daylight over your head."
This book was a book that you should read because it's going somewhere, I believe. Movie rights have already been purchased; and I think that it'll be somewhat the talk of the town, so to speak. You shouldn't read this book while in search of your inner self or while in search of some artistic god to reach down from his artistic heavens only to sweep you up into his beautifully-crafted, artistic hand, bringing you to his artful realm up above the clouds. Because that's not what this book gives you.
It's just a good story (with a dissapointing ending). It's not a book that shall live on throughout the history of man as a must-read. But for now--while still living in the nineties--it's a great story.
As I said before, the ending is not quite what you expect it to be. And I think if Mr. Kennedy should change anything in the book it should be just that. Because after finishing that last page, the hard book feeling so important in your hands, the window to a life sprawled out before you, you begin to ask yourself, "How could ANYONE be THAT lucky?"
But that's why it's fiction, something that I don't think the world could do without. It's a good story with a sort of black comedy-type message to it.
So the next time you're in your local book store, pick up a copy of THE BIG PICTURE; you won't be dissappointed. Or you can wait for the paperback. But if you're a thrill-seeker and a what's-going-to-happen-next type of person, read the book.
Rating:
Summary: frustratiing
Review: The Big Picture is written by a good author with a bad editor. The excesses should have been edited out.The ending is frustrating, ridiculous, and does an injustice to the author's efforts. Kennedy did not get good advice or didn't take it. All the minute details about cameras and photography is disconcerting, boring, and taken as a unneccessary trip through nthe author's store of photographic knowledge. It slows the story line. Many things slow the story line. It's not a tight book. The editor should have known better. It could have been a hot item with the right advice. Another big fault in the book is the fact that none of the characters are worth knowing. I wouldn't want to know any of them. There is no one you can root for. The main character, Ben, is not a decent human being. This eliminates involvement. Ben is married to Beth. Beth doesn't like Ben. Beth nebver wanted to get married. But, Beth became pregnant. They married. It is a disaster on her part. So, Beth has an affair with Gary. Ben finds out. Ben accidentally killed Gary with a broken bottle. Ben can't get the broken bottle out of Gary's neck without bracing his foot on Gary's head. (good for a Charlie Chaplin movie) Ben tries to stuff Gary's body in Gary's freezer. BUT, he can't get Gary's legs in. SO, he takes a hammer and breaks Gary's legs, bends them at the neccessary angle and Voila, Gary is in the freezer. (another scene worthy of Chaplin) Ben ends up putting Gary in a duffle bag, setting fire to Gary's house, borrowing a neighbor's boat, blowing the boat up. Voila, again, Ben is dead.He takes Gary's car and identification and goes out west, dumping Gary body parts as he goes. He becomes Gary. The rest you have to read. It's about marriage, murder, mutilation, masquerade, and mayhem by people not worth knowing. The sad part is that it is well written. Kennedy's next book, with the proper editor, will be a blockbuster. We will see it in the movies. Then this bookmwill be edited, the ending changed, and he will have another blockbuster
Rating:
Summary: A good book for a short weekend. - Francis X. Archibald
Review: Although there is a streak of Walter Mitty in every man, most weave their elaborate fantasies and then do nothing about them. Ben Bradford -- industrious,
child-rearing, mortgage-paying, two-car owning, Gold Card-carrying resident of the top-income echelon is such a man. And yet in a split second, his life will change
forever.
Ben commutes daily by train from Connecticut to his Manhattan office where he is the heir apparent to the senior partnership in trusts and estates at an old-line law
firm. He dreams of being a photographer on wide ranging assignments, but in his heart of hearts he knows he will never again be a free agent, adrift in the world at
large. His wife Beth is home with two young kids, a nanny and a boyfriend in the neighborhood, who happens to be a struggling photographer. Although Ben's specialty is
one of the "decidedly nerdish" branches of the law, he knows something is amiss in his home and begins a discreet investigation.
But everything falls apart when Ben confronts the photographer and kills him. Quickly, he realizes how desperately he wants to hang onto the life he thought he
wanted to flee. Lawyers are trained to think and work through complicated problems. Author Douglas Kennedy has created Ben so well that the reader finds himself wanting the
unfolding plan to succeed. This is a cleverly crafted discourse in how to successfully disappear, take your victim with you and re-appear as a new man. There is enough anxiety created over
the period of a few days to make the reader squirm along with Ben's sweat and inner turmoil but then everything settles down.
This is followed by almost accidental good luck that quickly puts Ben, reincarnated as a 'nobody photographer' into the arms of a beautiful editor, a raging forest fire
and the homes of millions of people. His new unsought popularity gives rise to a drunken, mean-spirited blackmailer and Ben's roller coaster ride begins again.
This tightly stitched, fast-paced novel does a good job on character development and combines humor with an understanding of the distinction between life in rich
Eastern suburbs and the militia country of Montana. It's a good book for a short weekend.
Rating:
Summary: Can't stop reading -just don't question
Review: While I literally felt compelled to finish this "thriller" I realized that it required a great deal of patience in order to overlook the hackneyed ending and coincidences on which each plot development rests. Nevetheless he did hook me big time and it is fun. Just enjoy it and don't ask any questions
Rating:
Summary: Incredibly fast-paced, I was breathless to the very end.
Review: I read an advanced copy of this book, I work in a
book store, and I have been telling customers to buy it ever since. It has an unbelievable pace. I
didn't read this book, I raced through it. I strongly recommend it. Much better than "The Partner"
and with a similar plot. In a word, excellent!
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