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A review by leucocrystal
The System by Ryan Gattis
5.0
Ryan Gattis don't miss! I knew that going in, so I had high expectations, but this still ended up rising to meet them and then some, which is always one of my favorite experiences to have with a new book. The fact that it opens with a quote from a favorite Anne Sexton poem of mine (on which my favorite Peter Gabriel song was based, no less) was just an extra specific bit of icing on the cake.
I'm still so impressed by the skill involved with taking a particular cast of characters — let alone one that can be tied realistically the another group in one of his other novels — and rotating among all their various points of view from section to section, always moving chronologically forward, never overlapping time, and yet also never bringing the interwoven plots to any point of confusion. I can only imagine what his outlines must look like. Yes, he's worked in this style multiple times, but does that make it any less gripping or impressive, at least for me? Not at all. Frankly, he could stick with it through several more novels, and as long as they remain this tight, I can't imagine growing tired of it.
The short version: If you're a fan of LA crime writing, but grew tired of, let's say, Ellroy's overdone shtick (including but certainly not limited to: his thinly veiled personal obsessions, heavy-handed sprinklings of racism, not to mention his bizarre love affair with cops, all of which ages more poorly by the year), and instead are more interested in exploring LA crime fiction through a refreshing, more challenging lens, featuring just as many (and far more diverse, non-caricature) characters written by someone who clearly knows what their lives are more likely to be like, the ins and outs of their neighborhoods and, most of all here, all about the reality of the law enforcement/the carceral complex/the criminal justice system... Go with Gattis. He won't steer you wrong.
Take it from me. I'm a picky as hell bookseller who used to be a criminologist. Here's to many more from Ryan Gattis.
I'm still so impressed by the skill involved with taking a particular cast of characters — let alone one that can be tied realistically the another group in one of his other novels — and rotating among all their various points of view from section to section, always moving chronologically forward, never overlapping time, and yet also never bringing the interwoven plots to any point of confusion. I can only imagine what his outlines must look like. Yes, he's worked in this style multiple times, but does that make it any less gripping or impressive, at least for me? Not at all. Frankly, he could stick with it through several more novels, and as long as they remain this tight, I can't imagine growing tired of it.
The short version: If you're a fan of LA crime writing, but grew tired of, let's say, Ellroy's overdone shtick (including but certainly not limited to: his thinly veiled personal obsessions, heavy-handed sprinklings of racism, not to mention his bizarre love affair with cops, all of which ages more poorly by the year), and instead are more interested in exploring LA crime fiction through a refreshing, more challenging lens, featuring just as many (and far more diverse, non-caricature) characters written by someone who clearly knows what their lives are more likely to be like, the ins and outs of their neighborhoods and, most of all here, all about the reality of the law enforcement/the carceral complex/the criminal justice system... Go with Gattis. He won't steer you wrong.
Take it from me. I'm a picky as hell bookseller who used to be a criminologist. Here's to many more from Ryan Gattis.