The System

Longlisted for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger 2021 ‘Excellent, lucid, intelligent and gripping’ – Scotsman ‘An utterly riveting read’ – Guardian, Thriller of the Month 6 December 1993. A drug dealer called Scrappy is shot and left for dead on her mother’s lawn in South Central Los Angeles. Two local gang members, Wizard and Dreamer, are arrested. The problem is: one is guilty, the other wasn’t even there. It had to be a frame-up. And the cops had to be responsible, didn’t they? Narrated by the characters involved – the suspects, the victim, the families who love them, and those simply doing their jobs – The System tells the story of one crime, from the moments before shots are fired to the verdict and its violent aftershocks. It’s a breakneck journey through the American criminal justice system. A system that can save you, or break you.

About the Author :
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.

Review :
Pacy, immersive and vivid, with strong characterisation and no punches pulled, this is an utterly riveting read Gripping, meticulously-researched and smartly-plotted, I devoured this brilliant novel over the course of a weekend. The most compelling courtroom drama I have read this year A portrait of Nineties LA to sit alongside that of James Ellroy’s depiction of it in the Forties A crime novel and a thriller, but, like the best in the genre, it invites you to think as well as feel Gattis tells a muscular tale about injustice, systemic racism and a US city abandoned by Californian and national government, and infuses it with humanity and supersonic excitement Powerfully illuminates every corner of the law-and-order universe . . . accessible and irresistible 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. 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. 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. Through multiple narrators, [Ryan Gattis] tells a muscular, rousing tale of injustice, systemic racism and the desperation of those chunks of urban America abandoned by local and national government. 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. Gripping, fascinating, moving, and so very, very real. The System is one of the best books I’ve read in years. Ryan Gattis ingeniously casts deeply researched novels of social protest as page-turning crime fiction . . . This book blew my mind. 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.