A propulsive and ambitious novel as electrifying as The Wire, from a writer hailed as the West Coast's Richard Price—a mesmerizing epic of crime and opportunity, race, revenge, and loyalty, set in the chaotic streets of South Central L.A. in the wake of one of the most notorious and incendiary trials of the 1990s
At 3:15 p.m. on April 29, 1992, a jury acquitted three white Los Angeles Police Department officers charged with using excessive force to subdue a black man named Rodney King, and failed to reach a verdict on the same charges involving a fourth officer. Less than two hours later, the city exploded in violence that lasted six days. In nearly 121 hours, fifty-three lives were lost. But there were even more deaths unaccounted for: violence that occurred outside of active rioting sites by those who used the chaos to viciously settle old scores.
A gritty and cinematic work of fiction, All Involved vividly re-creates this turbulent and terrifying time, set in a sliver of Los Angeles largely ignored by the media during the riots. Ryan Gattis tells seventeen interconnected first-person narratives that paint a portrait of modern America itself—laying bare our history, our prejudices, and our complexities. With characters that capture the voices of gang members, firefighters, graffiti kids, and nurses caught up in these extraordinary circumstances, All Involved is a literary tour de force that catapults this edgy writer into the ranks of such legendary talents as Dennis Lehane and George V. Higgins.

All Involved: A Novel

Literature & Fiction

Gattis, Ryan

United States

Ecco

ALL INVOLVED

EccoPress

Wear your gear. Bring your blades. Back your family. Fight for your life. MLK High School has collapsed into Kung Fu High School--where Jen B. and her brother, Cue, belong to one of two gangs still standing against the puppet principal and the drug kingpin who pulls his strings. Cousin Jimmy--a world-champion martial arts master of mythic stature--arrives in town after swearing to his mother that he'll never fight again. His rep precedes him and everyone's itching to see him "kicked in"--Kung Fu's brutal initiation ritual. But he won't break his vow and defend himself, so Cue steps in when things go too far. Soon, a surprise counterstrike sends Kung Fu spinning toward one final, raging battle. Teachers flee, students break out full weaponry, and Jimmy must make a decision that will brand him a coward--or a hero.

Kung Fu High School

Teen & Young Adult

Mariner Books

Contemporary

Hodder Mobius

The System: A Novel

"Gripping, meticulously researched, and smartly plotted, I devoured this brilliant novel over the course of a weekend." --Paula Hawkins, author of Into the Water "Fascinating, moving, and so very, very real. It grabbed me by the heart and mind from page one and never let me go." --Marcia Clark, author of The Final Judgment An electrifying, multi-voiced thriller tackling our criminal justice system, from the writer Michael Connelly has called "one of our most gifted novelists." On December 6, 1993, a drug dealer called Scrappy is shot and left for dead on the lawn outside her mother's house in South Central Los Angeles. Augie, a heroin addict, witnesses the whole thing--before he steals all the drugs on her person, as well as the gun that was dropped at the scene. When Augie gets busted, he names local gang members Wizard and Dreamer the shooters. But only one of them is guilty. A search of Wizard and Dreamer's premises uncovers the gun that was used in the shooting, and a warrant goes out for their arrest. They know it's a frame-up, but the word from the gang is to keep their mouths shut and face the charges. With these two off the streets and headed for jail, Dreamer's friend Little, the unlikeliest of new gang members, is given one job: discover how the gun got moved, and why. Played out in the streets, precincts, jails, and courtrooms of Los Angeles, Ryan Gattis's The System is the harrowing story of a crime--from moments before the bullets are fired, to the verdict and its violent aftershocks--told through the vivid chorus of those involved, guilty, the innocent, and everyone in between.

Genre Fiction

“[An] ultraviolent, dystopian debut novel from Ryan Gattis, the spawn of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Cormier.” ―Publishers Weekly
High school is brutal, but Jen B. has learned to pick her battles. Except the first one―that one is mandatory. At the Good Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King High School, aka “Kung Fu,” everyone gets beaten to a pulp in their first week. Getting “kicked in” helps Ridley, the drug kingpin who runs the school and everyone in it, maintain order. He's the reason that 99.5 percent of the students know some form of martial art, and why they suit up in body armor and blades before class.
Jen’s life is savage but simple until the day her cousin Jimmy, a world-famous kung fu champion, shows up. Everyone at Kung Fu wants a piece of him, especially Ridley, but Jimmy’s made a promise never to fight again―a promise that sends the whole school hurtling toward a colossal clash, ending in an epic bloody showdown.
Ryan Gattis’s dystopian satire, Kung Fu High School, is a cult classic in the making―a darkly comic, gleefully graphic, barbaric opera about loyalty, survival, and the horrors of high school, which earned comparison with the works of such icons as Chuck Palahniuk, Richard Price, and Anthony Burgess.

Humor & Entertainment

Humor

MCD x FSG Originals

Winner of the First Annual McIntyre’s Fine Books Mystery Prize “Safe is a propulsive thriller that confirms Ryan Gattis as one of our most gifted novelists.” ―Michael Connelly, author of The Wrong Side of Goodbye
Ryan Gattis' gritty, fast-paced thriller, Safe, hurtles readers toward a shocking conclusion that asks the toughest question of all: how far would you go to protect the ones you love?
Ricky ‘Ghost’ Mendoza, Jr. is trying to be good. In recovery and working as a freelance safecracker for the DEA, the FBI, and any other government agency willing to pay him, Ghost is determined to live clean for the rest of his days. And maybe he could, if the most important person in his life hadn’t gotten into serious financial trouble. To fix it, all Ghost has to do is crack a safe and steal drug money from under the noses of the gangs and the Feds without getting caught. Or killed.
Rudy ‘Glasses’ Reyes runs drugs and cleans up messes for the baddest of bad men. When Ghost hits one of his safes, Glasses must hunt him down or be held accountable. But Glasses is worried about more than just money. The heist puts everything in his life at risk―his livelihood, his freedom, even his family.

Safe: A Novel

After killing a yakuza in self-defense, an ex-military translator owes a debt that is payable only one way: take the dead man’s place searching for a missing woman in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles. Fusing gritty yakuza action with elements of classic noir in the city that started it all, the novella smashes Johnny Ban into a rarely explored corner of Los Angeles, sending him in search of two distinct parts of his past: his long-buried Americanness, and his first love—a Japanese woman up to her neck in trouble.

The Big Drop: Homecoming (Contemporary American Novellas)

Literary

Black Hill Press

After finally locating Emi Sato, Johnny Ban loses her just as quickly as he found her. Their too-brief reunion sends him careening after her once more—this time setting him up for a chain of surprises that will forever change how he sees himself and those he trusts most—as his doomed rescue mission spirals to its horrific conclusion.

The Big Drop: Impermanence (Contemporary American Novellas)

After 17-year-old Grey witnesses the tragic death of his mother in Colorado, he is shipped off to live with his aunt in inner-city Baltimore, where he struggles to fit in to a new school and community. His new friend Akil introduces him to the enigmatic Kurtis, the leader of a group that uses high-octane sports as a form of social activism. By challenging the police with death-defying stunts and posting videos of them online, Kurtis, Grey, and their group become unlikely heroes in the fight against the prejudice that surrounds them.
As Kurtis takes Grey under his wing, they create a group name, an insignia, and a cause attracting more and more followers as they post videos of their extreme acts. The lines between social activism and criminal behavior blur and their escalating stunts become a rallying point for the underprivileged and disenfranchised around the country, spreading like wildfire across the Internet. How far will Grey and Kurtis go to push their message, and can their friendship withstand their growing notoriety?

Adaptive Studios

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Gattis, Ryan. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Gattis, Ryan

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Gattis, Ryan. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

All Involved: A Novel

ALL INVOLVED

Kung Fu High School

Kung Fu High School

The System: A Novel

Kung Fu High School

Safe: A Novel

The Big Drop: Homecoming (Contemporary American Novellas)

The Big Drop: Impermanence (Contemporary American Novellas)

Air