All Involved - Hardcover

Ryan Gattis

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1447283163 ISBN 13: 9781447283164

Publisher: Picador, 2015

Synopsis

For six days, Los Angeles is a city ablaze.
For six days, seventeen people are caught in the chaos.
For six days, Los Angeles shows the world what happens when laws are no longer enforceable.

Ernesto Vera is walking home from his job at a taco truck when three guys jump out of a car and assault him. Ernesto's not in a gang, he's not involved, but his sister is - and when Payasa hears that her innocent brother has been murdered, she wants revenge. As widespread rioting breaks out across the city, Ernesto's death triggers an astonishing sequence of events, not just for the gangs involved, but for the firefighters, nurses and law enforcement who must deal with the consequences.

In April 1992, after one of the most notorious, racially charged trials in American history, the city of L.A. exploded in violence. All Involved tells the interconnected stories of seventeen characters over six life-changing days, and transforms the truly extraordinary story of the L.A. riots into a vivid, electrifying and addictive work of fiction.

About this title

From the Back Cover

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

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 the city exploded in violence. Fifty-three lives were lost. But there were even more deaths unaccounted for: murders that occurred outside active rioting sites, including some committed 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 through seventeen interconnected first-person narratives. Focusing on a sliver of Los Angeles almost completely ignored by the media during the riots, Ryan Gattis paints a portrait of modern America itself—laying bare our history, our prejudices, and our complexities. Resonant with the voices of gang members, firefighters, graffiti kids, and nurses caught up in these extraordinary circumstances, All Involved is a literary tour de force.

“A symphonic, pitch-perfect, superlative novel....It swallowed me whole.”—David Mitchell, author of Cloud Atlas

“A heartbreaking portrait of a city tearing itself apart.”—Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train

“Corrosive, timely, vividly realized scenes of urban warfare and thwarted dreams by a writer who clearly knows his subject.”—Joyce Carol Oates

“A monumental achievement.” —Dennis Lehane

About the Author

Ryan Gattis is a writer and educator. His latest work, All Involved, is grounded in nearly two and a half years of research and background spent with former Latino gang members, firefighters, and other L.A. citizens who lived through the 1992 riots. Gattis lives in Los Angeles, where he is a member of the street art crew UGLARworks.

Edition details

• Publisher: Picador
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1447283163
• ISBN 13: 9781447283164
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 372