The Big Picture by Douglas Kennedy

Years after giving up his dreams of becoming a photographer for law, Ben Bradford finds his perfect life falling apart when his wife begins having an affair with a neighbor, a professional photographer, and Ben is suddenly faced with a dangerous choice. A first novel. Editorial Reviews Amazon.com Review Oscar Wilde once said that the only real tragedy in life is getting what you want. Ben Bradford, the protagonist of Douglas Kennedy's new novel, The Big Picture, is living proof of that adage. At the start of Kennedy's novel, Ben Bradford would appear to have it all: a beautiful wife, a big suburban home, two kids and a partnership in a prestigious New York law firm. But Ben's heart lies neither with his family nor his career. Instead, he dreams of being a photographer, and when he discovers his wife is having an affair with the man next door--who happens to be a photographer--Ben snaps and commits an act that will commit him to a whole new way of life, forever. Kennedy threads his tale of obsession, murder, and identity with themes that resonate strongly today: what compromises are worth making? What sacrifices require too much? The Big Picture is both a thriller and a cautionary tale concerning the complexities of modern life. From Publishers Weekly This astonishingly assured first novel, by an American working in London as a journalist, has a breathless readability that is rare-particularly as it seems at first to cover pretty familiar territory. Ben Bradford is a Wall Street lawyer living a comfortable life in Connecticut, with a wife and two small children, but he seems to be heading, rather early, for a midlife crisis. He had always wanted to be a photographer, still putters around at it, but feels his life is ebbing away. Beth, his wife, a frustrated novelist, is increasingly estranged from him. Then Ben discovers she has taken a lover-ironically, another failed photographer-and in a confrontation with the man, Gary Summers, Ben's accumulated rage leads to a moment of murderous madness. Both Beth's infatuation with Gary and Ben's maniacal rage seem rather out of character, but with that caveat, the rest of this headlong novel grips like a vise as Ben carefully covers up his crime, disappears and takes on his victim's identity. The Big Picture has to be the most careful and imaginative exploration of such a situation ever penned, from the details of how one convincingly contrives an apparent accidental death to the minutiae of building a new life, unrecognized, in a far place. In Ben's case, it is a small town in Montana, and his born-again existence there is rich in ironies, from his eventual success as a photographer to his ultimate need to disappear yet again. The book is more than just a compelling read: it also has poignant and moving things to say about lost opportunities and wasted lives in America, the cynical quality of sudden fame, the awfulness of willed separation from deeply loved children. There is a lot of excitement in the air about Kennedy's novel, and it is thoroughly justified. 400,000 first printing; $750,000 ad/promo; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club selection; film rights to Fox2000 Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Publishers Weekly This astonishingly assured first novel, by an American working in London as a journalist, has a breathless readability that is rare-particularly as it seems at first to cover pretty familiar territory. Ben Bradford is a Wall Street lawyer living a comfortable life in Connecticut, with a wife and two small children, but he seems to be heading, rather early, for a midlife crisis. He had always wanted to be a photographer, still putters around at it, but feels his life is ebbing away. Beth, his wife, a frustrated novelist, is increasingly estranged from him. Then Ben discovers she has taken a lover-ironically, another failed photographer-and in a confrontation with the man, Gary Summers, Ben's accumulated rage leads to a moment of murderous madness. Both Beth's infatuation with Gary and Ben's maniacal rage seem rather out of character, but with that caveat, the rest of this headlong novel grips like a vise as Ben carefully covers up his crime, disappears and takes on his victim's identity. The Big Picture has to be the most careful and imaginative exploration of such a situation ever penned, from the details of how one convincingly contrives an apparent accidental death to the minutiae of building a new life, unrecognized, in a far place. In Ben's case, it is a small town in Montana, and his born-again existence there is rich in ironies, from his eventual success as a photographer to his ultimate need to disappear yet again. The book is more than just a compelling read: it also has poignant and moving things to say about lost opportunities and wasted lives in America, the cynical quality of sudden fame, the awfulness of willed separation from deeply loved children. There is a lot of excitement in the air about Kennedy's novel, and it is thoroughly justified. 400,000 first printing; $750,000 ad/promo; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club selection; film rights to Fox2000 Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Booklist Kennedy's first novel is receiving top-drawer hype: a 400,000 first printing and a $300,000 television advertising campaign. And it's true, his book is a grabber. Ben and Beth Bradford, who once dreamed of being hippie artists, bought into the American dream instead: Ben is a successful lawyer pulling down a six-figure salary, and Beth is a bored suburban housewife with everything Ben's money can buy. But the Bradfords are miserable, imprisoned in a loveless marriage, and tied to a lifestyle they hate. To relieve her tedium, Beth takes a lover, an aging hippie who, unlike Ben, hasn't given in to the almighty dollar. Naturally, Ben finds out about Beth's affair. The worst happens, and in a moment, the Bradfords' lives change forever. The ensuing roller-coaster ride is full of tantalizing twists guaranteed to keep readers reading even as they're disgusted by a hero who is shallow as a rain puddle, nauseatingly self-centered, and undeservedly lucky enough to win multiple chances to redeem himself. Kennedy's story concept--a sort of morality tale cum action-adventure--rates a thumbs-up for inventiveness, but it's tough to believe that a wimpy yuppie lawyer could suddenly transform himself the way Ben does or that anybody could benefit from such an unlikely string of coincidences. Still, there's something about Kennedy's book--call it charisma--that just may catapult it onto the best-seller lists and maybe even the big screen. This time, the hype is well deserved. Emily Melton From Kirkus Reviews Kennedy's well-hyped debut showcases a Connecticut lawyer who loses his designer life to a moment of murderous rage--and then squirms frantically to avoid retribution. Ben Bradford has it all, even though he doesn't want it. Years ago he surrendered his desire to be a photographer to his father's demand that he go to law school; now he's immured in a junior partnership in his New York firm's cozy Trusts & Estates division; in family responsibilities--a second child who's keeping him up nights, a wife who's stopped loving him; in the upscale consumables that holler success; and in the excess acid that pays for it. Shattered by the news that his wife Beth prefers the embraces of Gary Summers, a neighbor who's never given up his technical status as a professional photographer, Ben sees his life held hostage to this layabout. But he's the one who gives it the final calamitous push when he punctuates an ugly scene with Gary by killing him. Desperate for confession and absolution, Ben steels himself instead to hide every trace of the murder--and since he's a lawyer with money and unexpected leisure (Beth has bolted with his sons) as well as extended access to Gary's place, it's a world-class effort that involves faking an accident that will apparently kill Ben but will leave Gary dead in his place. Ben's taut narrative, which deftly mingles yuppie angst with obsessive plotting, almost makes you overlook how ancient this gambit is, and how cheesy its pulp antecedents. The accident staged, Ben flees the scene, lights out for the territories, scans the Times daily for his obituary, settles into a new life backed by Gary's ID and trust fund--and waits for the postman to ring twice, as he does in a satisfyingly ironic way. A startlingly unoriginal story whipped up by Kennedy's overdrive pacing and mastery of detail. (First printing of 400,000; Literary Guild selection; $750,000 ad/promo) -- Copyright 1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. Review The Big Picture is edgy and crisply paced when Ben is carrying out his scheme, but the already contrived plot gives way under the weight of too many unlikely twists and absurd coincidences once Ben flees to Montana... It's as if the reader is expected to forget that the same soulful guy who finds true love and his artistic calling in Big Sky Country was, just a hundred pages earlier, dismembering his victim's body with a Black & Decker power saw. -- The New York Times Book Review, Scott Veale