Ryan Gattis looks beyond the process in crime and courts
In “The System,” the shooting of a local drug dealer leads police to a pair of gang members named Wizard and Dreamer. The catch is that only one of them is involved in the crime.
The latest book from South Los Angeles-based author Ryan Gattis is a thriller, but it also delves into the impact of incarceration.
“Incarceration is never something that simply affects one person,” says Gattis. “It affects everybody who loves them and impacts finances and everything else. It becomes a hardship, not just economically but emotionally and even spiritually.”
Set in and around Lynwood in the ’90s and told from the perspectives of multiple characters, “The System” presents a wide-angle look at the criminal justice system, taking readers from the scene of the crime through the investigation and to the trial. The format will appeal to anyone who has watched an episode of “Law & Order,” but the difference is that Gattis’ characters show how that system affects everyone.
It’s not just about the cops and the attorneys, or the victim and the accused.
“I think procedure, perhaps by its very nature, is concerned with the process of how things proceed,” says Gattis. “Perhaps it cares about the professional aspects of the process more than it cares about the human aspects and the consequences of the process.”
Gattis began work on “The System” shortly after finishing the edit of “All Involved,” his 2016 awardwinning novel set during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. It was a research- heavy process. He spent about a year with one parole agent, attending a class on jails and prisons and visiting various facilities. Gattis talked to lawyers as well; the author’s wife is an attorney who previously worked in the district attorney’s office.
“I think the most affecting part of all the research and background was really spending a tremendous amount of time with folks who have been previously incarcerated and just discussing the aftermath, what it was like at the time, how heavy it was,” Gattis says. “Things of that nature were pretty important.”