Douglas Kennedy – författare

BEYOND THE PYRAMIDS is a delightfully wry chronicle of travels through a country of incongruity - an Egypt encompassing a diversity of cultural influences which often belies its image of ''archaeological theme park''.With an acute eye for the unusual, the interesting or the plain absurd, Douglas Kennedy takes us on a continually surprising tour beyond the pyramids, to a place where Bedouin watch American television in an oasis; where monks in the desert are computer-literate; and where an entire community of Cairo''s poor have set up home in a cemetary.''BEYOND THE PYRAMIDS seems to me to have the satisfying insights of a Paul Theroux'' Maeve Binchy

That dumbshit map. I''d been seduced by it. Seduced by its possibilities. That map had brought me here ... That map had been a serious mistake''The map in question is of Australia, stumbled across in a second-hand bookshop by American journalist Nick Hawthorne, en route to another dead-end hack job in Akron, Ohio. Seduced by all that wilderness, all that NOTHING, Nick decides to put his midlife crisis on hold and light out to the ultimate nowheresville - where a chance encounter throws him into a sun-baked orgy of surf, sex and swill, and a nightmare from which there is no escape.''Douglas Kennedy might never be allowed into Australia again. This is a crazy, compulsive ultimately serious thriller and a bravura fictional debut from one of our best travel writers'' Philip Kerr

Though much has been written about the political implications of the religious revival which has engulfed America in recent years, a question remains unanswered: what pushes its people into ''declaring for Jesus''?Douglas Kennedy spent a long hot summer cruising through that expanse of the American South known as ''The Bible Belt'' exploring that question. In a remarkable journey into one of the strangest corners of the United States, Kennedy finds himself spending time in Miami with a one-time member of the Mafia turned charismatic preacher, discovering Christian heavy metal music in Nashville, and visiting Death Row in South Carolina with an evangelist who ministers to the condemned.Repeatedly discovering the extraordinary within the ordinary, IN GOD''S COUNTRY is a profound, yet brilliantly entertaining exploration of life in late twentieth century America.

Money as a weapon. Money as revenge. Money as a substitute for sex and love. Money as status ... This intriguing and extraordinarily well-written book is cheering for those of us who aren''t rich, and will go happily to our graves without ever pulling down £300,000 per annum'' Simon Hoggart, LITERARY REVIEW''How we chase Mammon defines us. Because, like it or not, we are what we earn,'' CHASING MAMMON is the first travel book ever written about the uses of money and the attitudes of the wheelers and dealers in the international marketplace. Douglas Kennedy spent a year loitering with intent in six very disparate financial realms, including the Casablanca bourse (where stocks and bonds are listed on a blackboard), the squeaky-clean Singapore money markets, the Sydney futures market and the first Hungarian stock exchange to open since 1948. From the ''New Age'' City folk in London, unsure whether greed really is good for you, to the tireless toilers of Wall Street, Knnedy''s encounters with money-makers around the globe make for an exhilarating and quirkily original journey through the modern cash nexus.

Readers say:''Classic Kennedy. Brilliant plot, wonderful dialogue and characters. You are bowled over by the pace.''''Excellent five star read from the first to the last page''''If you haven''t read any of Douglas Kennedy books please do''Ned Allen is young, smart, and upwardly mobile. Several years into his career as an ad salesman for a successful computer magazine, Ned''s finally left his small-town roots behind, and is certain that the sophisticated Manhattan world he covets is his forever. His wife Lizzie is also a rising star of a prestigious PR firm. It seems that Ned''s made it. But then what appeared to be a career break shows its true colours. Ned''s forced to make some tough calls, among them a question of ethics and the small matter of whether to lie to his wife - and when the tough calls just keep getting tougher he finds himself on the brink of losing everything ...

''Palm-tingling sensation ... captivating ... a completely convincing imaginative performance ... enthralling'' The Times''The Horse Whisperer recast by Patricia Highsmith ... a compulsive page-turner and a dark moralfable'' Mail on Sunday

''Kennedy''s skill is to send you racing down the slope of sheer story'' Esquire

On the face of it, Ben Bradford is your standard Wall Street hot shot - Junior partner in a legal firm, 6 figure income, wife and two young kids straight out of a Gap catalogue. But along with the WASP lifestyle comes the sting - Ben hates it. He wants - has always wanted - to be a photographer.

When he discovers his wife has fallen in love with another man, the consequences of a moment of madness force him to question not just the design of his life but the price of fulfilment. Because finding yourself means nothing when you''re pretending to be someone else.

From the picket fences of yuppie New England to Montana''s untouchable splendour, The Big Picture spans states and states of mind in a thrilling novel of genuine originality.