Pacy, immersive and vivid, with strong characterisation and no punches pulled, this is an utterly riveting read -- Laura Wilson * Guardian *
'It is superb. It's weighty, authentic to its bone marrow, questioning and thoughtful . . . I am in awe of Gattis's plotting, characters, sense of pace and most of all his ear for language and diction and dialect . . . The System reinvigorates my idea of what fiction is capable of being.' -- David Mitchell, author of Cloud Atlas
Gripping, meticulously-researched and smartly-plotted, I devoured this brilliant novel over the course of a weekend. -- Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train
The book is the fruit of six years' research and there are all sorts of details that ring true . . . the most compelling courtroom drama I have read this year. -- Jake Kerridge, Sunday Telegraph, Novel of the Week
The novel follows Ryan Gattis's previous books in sketching a portrait of Nineties LA to sit alongside that of James Ellroy's depiction of it in the Forties . . . so finely nuanced are the individual voices and so visceral in particular are the scenes of prison life, with its hierarchies and fault lines, that the writing accumulates a heft that forces you to care -- Thriller of the Month * The Times *
A crime novel and a novel of social criticism . . . the trial scenes which occupy the last third of the novel are excellent, lucid, intelligent and utterly gripping . . . One should add that this is possible only because the groundwork had been well laid by intelligent and cunning plotting . . . The System is a crime novel and a thriller, but, like the best in the genre, is invites you to think as well as feel -- Allan Massie * Scotsman *
A muscular, rousing tale of injustice, systemic racism and the desperation of those chunks of urban America abandoned by local and national government * Metro *
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. -- David Dow, author of Confessions of an Innocent Man
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. -- Gustavo "Goose" Alvarez, author of The Pawn
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. -- Patrick Hoffman, author of Clean Hands
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. -- Joe Ide, author of the IQ series
Gripping, fascinating, moving, and so very, very real. The System is one of the best books I've read in years. -- Marcia Clark, author of Final Judgment and former Criminal Prosecutor
Ryan Gattis ingeniously casts deeply researched novels of social protest as page-turning crime fiction . . . This book blew my mind. -- Dan Slater, author of Wolf Boys: Two American Teenagers
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. -- David Swinson, author of The Second Girl
