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The Big One Paperback – June 12, 2014

by Kevin E. Ready (Author)

59 customer reviews

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The Big One, the great Earthquake everyone expects, finally hits California. This is a detailed account of how the legendary Big One will change the lives of people in Los Angeles and neighboring Southern California. Based upon real world facts, every chapter begins with the historical and scientific basis for the thrilling story of this riveting novel. The death, destruction and horror of the great quake are intermixed with the hope and fortitude of the people who try to survive Nature’s cataclysm. The Big One is a marvelously detailed account of the way in which the survivors deal with the disaster. The huge quake, the Big One, is not just a remote possibility, it is the very real event the best scientists expect at some time in our lives. This is one of those books you cannot put down. Crisp characterizations, detailed, fact-based events, real locations and thrilling adventure make the Big One a must-read novel.

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About the Author

Kevin E. Ready is currently a government attorney in California, where his duties include being legal advisor to a law enforcement agency. He has served as a commissioned officer in both the U.S. Army and Navy. He holds a bachelor’s degree from of the University of Maryland and a Juris Doctor degree from University of Denver. He was an intelligence analyst and Arabic and Russian linguist for military intelligence and was decorated for activities during the Yom Kippur/Middle East War. He served as an ordnance systems officer onboard a guided missile cruiser off the coast of Iran during the Iranian Hostage crisis and later served as a combat systems officer for a destroyer squadron and as a tactical action officer for a carrier battle group. He also was the command judge advocate for a major military weapons command. Kevin was a major party candidate for U.S. Congress in 1984 and 1994. Kevin is the author of several books and editor of a translation of the Koran. He lives in the Santa Barbara, California area with his wife Olga and their children.

Paperback: 446 pages
Publisher: Saint Gaudens Press (June 12, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0943039215
ISBN-13: 978-0943039213
Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1 x 9.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 59 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,433,494 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #11679 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Urban Life
- #14709 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Crime
- #33416 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thriller & Suspense

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Quake History

October 12, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I don't enjoy giving negative reviews but... I guess I misunderstood the theme of the book. I wasn't prepared for an earthquake history lesson after each chapter. If you are interested in everything you ever wanted to know about earthquakes, buy this book. I'm not that far into it and will try to keep going as I am enjoying the story line. I'm skimming all the quake facts, of which there are many, and it's a little distracting. There are also some annoying typos but I think we've all become forgiving about those. There are probably some in this review! One thing I never like is stilted dialog. No contractions which people use in ordinary speech. It's weird to read, 'We are going to the store' instead of, 'We're going to the store.' You know what I mean.
***** Update on my review. Due to the many typos, added words, missing words, disjointed dialogue and quake history between chapters I could not finish this book. I gave up at 25%. The constant interruptions made me unable to relate to or care about the characters in the story. Sorry.

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Scott W. Beckerley

A good read that also has some relevant information.

October 16, 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This is a simple, fast read that took three days. Interestingly, each chapter starts with a fact that is relevant to the chapter and plotline. The characters are well-drawn, though I could have done without at least two of them, a movie mogul and his trophy wife, both of which are quite one-dimensional and unnecessary. However, the other characters make up for this. Be warned, the author does kill off several major characters, so don't get too attached to them. The descriptions of the disasters is realistic and graphic. There are few fairy tale endings, except for one unrealistic one that is boring. As stated by other reviewers there are a number of spelling and grammatical errors and one continuity error. These are only minor annoyances, so just ignore them. I've seen far worse with many e-books. All in all, a quite enjoyable read that kept me going fairly late at night. Not perfect but, entertaining and lively.

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Patricia Van Tine

Would make a great movie!

December 20, 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Easy reading, well-researched and very believable. I live in S Cal and my knowledge of the places and details portrayed added to the realism of the story. In addition I was living in a dorm room on the 9th floor of a building in downtown LA during the massive Sylmar earthquake in 1971. it was a terrifying experience to be jolted out of bed at 6am only to be thrown around like a rag doll as the building violently shook and swayed for what felt like forever. As a first hand witness to the power and terror of a major quake, I could easily relate to the author's description of what the various characters experienced. I was captivated by the book and my only disappointment was reaching the last page. I feel the story would make a compelling movie if produced properly. Great job by the author and a great read!

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Ms. V

Just renewed our earthquake insurance....

February 19, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Living in So. CA, I enjoyed this book. I'd like it to be required reading for high school students. Maybe, they would help their families do some prep.
However, if we got hit with 3 major quakes, it would be a lot worse then this book describes, imo. Also, yes, Officer Barry not thinking about finding his wife for so long was not usual behavior. Still, I enjoyed the book. Thank you for writing it.

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rcdac

A Decent Read

March 3, 2014

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

In his story THE BIG ONE, Kevin E. Ready asks the question, what would happen if Southern California were indeed hit by a monster earthquake? Ready’s answer proves to be both thought-provoking and entertaining.

Mr. Ready has exceptional technical knowledge of his subject matter and he takes the reader through several different likely scenarios of what would happen during and right after the monster quake hits. Including a couple scenarios most people don’t even think about, like what would happen to the financial system not only locally, but nationally and globally after a big quake. I found the factoids at the beginning of the chapter to not only be informative, but they helped to ground the reader into that particular chapter.

The characters the Mr. Ready creates to take the reader through the various scenarios are for the most part well done, but several are too one-dimensional. And as other reviewers have already mentioned there are numerous spelling, grammatical and continuity errors scatter thorough out the book. While these errors are for the most part minor, they do distract the reader and since Mr. Ready is charging for his product they cannot be overlooked. I think improved storytelling would have made THE BIG ONE a more enjoyable read.

THE BIG ONE is a big book, at 358 printed pages, the average novel weighs in at between 200 and 250 pages for the most part. Perhaps Mr. Ready should have figured a way to tell the story in two parts or maybe a trilogy. I think the storytelling would have been better in a series of smaller formats.

With all that said, THE BIG ONE contains exceptional technical knowledge and decent enough storytelling for me to recommend it to anyone.

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Thylacine

Fantastic realistic read

September 30, 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

A story about the fabled (well at this stage anyway!) "big one" hitting Los Angeles.

This book was such a contrast with the previous book I had read(on a similar topic). The authors of both books had tried to do something similar but with the other book the author failed miserably, while with this book, it was a total success. I was completely invested in the characters and whether they lived or died. I also loved the graphic and obviously well reserched descriptions of the disaster itself. Additionally the little "information" sections at the beginning of each chapter were really useful and helped put the disaster in context with what is happening to the characters in that chapter.

Highly recommend this to disaster/big one hitting California buffs!!

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Most recent customer reviews

Kindle Customer

Great Book

I read lots of disaster books and this is one of the better ones. It kept me hanging on till the last word!

Published 3 months ago

Kindle Customer

Big One

Good book. I live in Santa Barbara, so this was very informational for me. Lots of good facts, and the characters are likable. Some good suspense, too.

Published 1 year ago

SAC Buff

Three Stars

Standard disaster story, but with some interesting facts at the start of each chapter.

Wow, this book was really good. I loved every minuute of it. Once it got going it was impossible to put down!Read more

Published 1 year ago

Shirley McMahon

Three Stars

it became too rambling.

Published on February 28, 2016

Mary S

Good read.

Other than the profanity, it was a great book. Plot kept moving, keeping up your interest. Story line was realistic.

Published on February 2, 2016

Barbara270

Felt I Was There

A good read. Very fast paced with decent character development. The author wrote in such a way as to make the reader fell as if he was right there.Read more

Published on October 18, 2015

P. Berent

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The Big One Paperback – June 12, 2014

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