Overview

The System can save you, or it can break you . . . On the sixth of December 1993, a drug dealer named Scrappy is shot and left for dead on her mother's lawn in South Central Los Angeles. A heroin addict witnesses the shooting and seizes the moment to steal Scrappy's drugs, as well as the handgun that was dropped at the scene. When he's busted, he names two local gang members as the shooters. There's only one problem: one of them is guilty; the other, innocent. None of that matters, though, when the gun turns up again - miles from where the shooting happened - and both are arrested. Innocent or not, the gang tells them both to keep their mouths shut and take their charges. With these two off the streets, Little, the unlikeliest of new gang members, is given a very serious job: discover how the gun got moved, who moved it, and why. Because it had to be a frame-up and the cops had to be involved. Hadn't they? Played out in the streets, precincts, jails, and courtrooms of Los Angeles, The System by Ryan Gattis is a breakneck journey through every phase of the American criminal justice system. It is the story of a crime - from the moments before shots are fired, to the verdict and its violent aftershocks - told through the vivid chorus of those involved: the guilty, the innocent, the victim, the families who love them, and those simply doing their jobs. After all, justice is a matter of perspective.

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9781509843848

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Reviews

Praise for All Involved: 'A symphonic, pitch-perfect, superlative novel. It is visceral and adrenalin-fuelled, yet tender and even darkly comic. It is audacious, unflinching and subversive. It doesn't judge. It swallowed me whole.' -- David Mitchell No ordinary gangster cat-and-mouse chase . . . While the gangsters-with-a-heart story might sound improbable, Gattis compensates with whip-smart vernacular and a narrative that zips along. Gattis has created a gripping novel about opportunity, transformation and hope. * Observer * A literary novel and a thriller with more twists than a DVD box-set make quite a combination. There is a lathed quality to Ryan Gattis's prose, which is reminiscent of Raymond Carver or Ernest Hemingway. Gattis is superb with the staccato sentence, honed to a few words. I have previously been enthusiastic about Gattis's polyphonic All Involved; this duet shows he is as assured on a closer frame. * The Scotsman * Inherently compelling. This macho, faster-than-a-speeding-bullet novel benefits from the extensive research Gattis has done on the L.A. gang scene and that deep knowledge informs electrifying plot twists. * Time * Tenderness in the midst of stories of brutality, Safe is the perfect read to have in your suitcase * GQ * SAFE is a propulsive thriller that confirms Ryan Gattis as one of our most gifted novelists. The book has unstoppable momentum yet is as finely layered and detailed with the gritty truth of life and the streets as I've ever read. It shoots you down a path that is fraught with surprise and insight, and you can't ask for more than that. -- Michael Connelly, creator of the Harry Bosch and Mickey Haller series. Praise for Ryan Gattis' last book - Safe: A thrilling heist novel with a big beating heart -- Paula Hawkins, author of<i> Girl on the train</i>

Praise for All Involved: 'A symphonic, pitch-perfect, superlative novel. It is visceral and adrenalin-fuelled, yet tender and even darkly comic. It is audacious, unflinching and subversive. It doesn't judge. It swallowed me whole.' -- David Mitchell No ordinary gangster cat-and-mouse chase . . . While the gangsters-with-a-heart story might sound improbable, Gattis compensates with whip-smart vernacular and a narrative that zips along. Gattis has created a gripping novel about opportunity, transformation and hope. -- Observer A literary novel and a thriller with more twists than a DVD box-set make quite a combination. There is a lathed quality to Ryan Gattis's prose, which is reminiscent of Raymond Carver or Ernest Hemingway. Gattis is superb with the staccato sentence, honed to a few words. I have previously been enthusiastic about Gattis's polyphonic All Involved; this duet shows he is as assured on a closer frame. -- The Scotsman Inherently compelling. This macho, faster-than-a-speeding-bullet novel benefits from the extensive research Gattis has done on the L.A. gang scene and that deep knowledge informs electrifying plot twists. -- Time Tenderness in the midst of stories of brutality, Safe is the perfect read to have in your suitcase -- GQ SAFE is a propulsive thriller that confirms Ryan Gattis as one of our most gifted novelists. The book has unstoppable momentum yet is as finely layered and detailed with the gritty truth of life and the streets as I've ever read. It shoots you down a path that is fraught with surprise and insight, and you can't ask for more than that. -- Michael Connelly, creator of the Harry Bosch and Mickey Haller series. Praise for Ryan Gattis' last book - Safe: A thrilling heist novel with a big beating heart -- Paula Hawkins, author of<i> Girl on the train</i>

Praise for All Involved: 'A symphonic, pitch-perfect, superlative novel. It is visceral and adrenalin-fuelled, yet tender and even darkly comic. It is audacious, unflinching and subversive. It doesn't judge. It swallowed me whole.' -- David Mitchell No ordinary gangster cat-and-mouse chase . . . While the gangsters-with-a-heart story might sound improbable, Gattis compensates with whip-smart vernacular and a narrative that zips along. Gattis has created a gripping novel about opportunity, transformation and hope. -- Observer A literary novel and a thriller with more twists than a DVD box-set make quite a combination. There is a lathed quality to Ryan Gattis's prose, which is reminiscent of Raymond Carver or Ernest Hemingway. Gattis is superb with the staccato sentence, honed to a few words. I have previously been enthusiastic about Gattis's polyphonic All Involved; this duet shows he is as assured on a closer frame. -- The Scotsman Inherently compelling. This macho, faster-than-a-speeding-bullet novel benefits from the extensive research Gattis has done on the L.A. gang scene and that deep knowledge informs electrifying plot twists. -- Time Combining All Involved's facility for tenderness in the midst of stories of brutality, Safe is the perfect read to have in your suitcase -- GQ SAFE is a propulsive thriller that confirms Ryan Gattis as one of our most gifted novelists. The book has unstoppable momentum yet is as finely layered and detailed with the gritty truth of life and the streets as I've ever read. It shoots you down a path that is fraught with surprise and insight, and you can't ask for more than that. -- Michael Connelly, creator of the Harry Bosch and Mickey Haller series. Praise for Ryan Gattis' last book - Safe: A thrilling heist novel with a big beating heart -- Paula Hawkins, author of<i> Girl on the train</i>

Pacy, immersive and vivid, with strong characterisation and no punches pulled, this is an utterly riveting read -- Laura Wilson * Guardian * 'It is superb. It's weighty, authentic to its bone marrow, questioning and thoughtful . . . I am in awe of Gattis's plotting, characters, sense of pace and most of all his ear for language and diction and dialect . . . The System reinvigorates my idea of what fiction is capable of being.' -- David Mitchell, author of <i>Cloud Atlas</i> Gripping, meticulously-researched and smartly-plotted, I devoured this brilliant novel over the course of a weekend. -- Paula Hawkins, author of <i>The Girl on the Train</i> The book is the fruit of six years' research and there are all sorts of details that ring true . . . the most compelling courtroom drama I have read this year. -- Jake Kerridge, <i>Sunday Telegraph</i>, Novel of the Week The novel follows Ryan Gattis's previous books in sketching a portrait of Nineties LA to sit alongside that of James Ellroy's depiction of it in the Forties . . . so finely nuanced are the individual voices and so visceral in particular are the scenes of prison life, with its hierarchies and fault lines, that the writing accumulates a heft that forces you to care -- Thriller of the Month * The Times * A crime novel and a novel of social criticism . . . the trial scenes which occupy the last third of the novel are excellent, lucid, intelligent and utterly gripping . . . One should add that this is possible only because the groundwork had been well laid by intelligent and cunning plotting . . . The System is a crime novel and a thriller, but, like the best in the genre, is invites you to think as well as feel -- Allan Massie * Scotsman * A muscular, rousing tale of injustice, systemic racism and the desperation of those chunks of urban America abandoned by local and national government * Metro * The System is a tour de force . . . It is a page-turner, but one you will want to read slowly in order to savor every gorgeous sentence . . . Ryan Gattis is a magician. -- David Dow, author of <i>Confessions of an Innocent Man</i> I relate so much to this book, it's painful . . . That's how real this novel is . . . Front to back, it's not just an incredible work, it's an experience. -- Gustavo<i> </i> Goose Alvarez, author of <i>The Pawn</i> The System's panoramic approach-eschewing one main character for a whole set of people associated with a crime-sets it apart . . . A tale of redemption, an examination of loyalty and a love song for family bonds. -- Patrick Hoffman, author of <i>Clean Hands</i> The System is an odyssey through the legal system . . . The dialogue isn't dialogue; it's what you'd actually hear - on the street, in a courtroom, on the prison yard. -- Joe Ide, author of the IQ series Gripping, fascinating, moving, and so very, very real. The System is one of the best books I've read in years. -- Marcia Clark, author of <i>Final Judgment </i>and former Criminal Prosecutor Ryan Gattis ingeniously casts deeply researched novels of social protest as page-turning crime fiction . . . This book blew my mind. -- Dan Slater, author of <i>Wolf Boys: Two American Teenagers</i> The System is as real as it gets - often brutal, but a beautifully written reality of not only life on the street, but also getting caught up or working in the justice system. -- David Swinson, author of <i>The Second Girl</i>

Praise for All Involved: 'A symphonic, pitch-perfect, superlative novel. It is visceral and adrenalin-fuelled, yet tender and even darkly comic. It is audacious, unflinching and subversive. It doesn't judge. It swallowed me whole.' -- David Mitchell No ordinary gangster cat-and-mouse chase . . . While the gangsters-with-a-heart story might sound improbable, Gattis compensates with whip-smart vernacular and a narrative that zips along. Gattis has created a gripping novel about opportunity, transformation and hope. * Observer * A literary novel and a thriller with more twists than a DVD box-set make quite a combination. There is a lathed quality to Ryan Gattis's prose, which is reminiscent of Raymond Carver or Ernest Hemingway. Gattis is superb with the staccato sentence, honed to a few words. I have previously been enthusiastic about Gattis's polyphonic All Involved; this duet shows he is as assured on a closer frame. * The Scotsman * Inherently compelling. This macho, faster-than-a-speeding-bullet novel benefits from the extensive research Gattis has done on the L.A. gang scene and that deep knowledge informs electrifying plot twists. * Time * Tenderness in the midst of stories of brutality, Safe is the perfect read to have in your suitcase * GQ * Praise for Ryan Gattis' last book - Safe: A thrilling heist novel with a big beating heart -- Paula Hawkins, author of<i> Girl on the train</i> SAFE is a propulsive thriller that confirms Ryan Gattis as one of our most gifted novelists. The book has unstoppable momentum yet is as finely layered and detailed with the gritty truth of life and the streets as I've ever read. It shoots you down a path that is fraught with surprise and insight, and you can't ask for more than that. -- Michael Connelly, creator of the Harry Bosch and Mickey Haller series. The System took me back, powerfully, to my incarceration in the early 90s. Wow. I relate so much to this book, it's painful. I could swear I did time with one of these characters in County. That's how real this novel is. I had to keep reminding myself it was fiction. Front to back, it's not just an incredible work, it's an experience. Especially for those with no idea what it's like to be inside. -- Gustavo<i> </i>'Goose' Alvarez, author of <i>The Pawn</i> and <i>Prison Ramen</i> The System is a tour de force that shatters all the usual categories: It is a page-turner, but one you will want to read slowly in order to savor every gorgeous sentence. It's got bad guys and good guys, but you're never quite sure who belongs in which category. And if a novel is magical when you feel like you know the characters intimately, and like them, despite the fact they are mostly people you would ordinarily cross the street to avoid, then Ryan Gattis is a magician. -- David Dow, author of <i>Confessions of an Innocent Man</i> Follow an unforgettable cast of characters as they navigate The System in Ryan Gattis' pacy, polyphonic, hyper-real crime novel. Gripping, meticulously-researched and smartly-plotted, I devoured this brilliant novel over the course of a weekend. -- Paula Hawkins

Author Information

Ryan Gattis is the author of Safe, Kung Fu High School, and All Involved, which won the American Library Association's Alex Award and the Lire Award for Noir of the Year in France. He lives and writes in South Los Angeles, where he is a member of art collective UGLARworks, a founding board member of arts non-profit Heritage Future, and a PEN America Prison Writing Mentor.

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