This is a mainly excellent crime novel: violent, propulsive, thats goes beyond what could feel like a poor quality movie. Set during the 1992 LA riots, All Involved moves beyond the chaos and explores what happens in the shadow of it.
Plot in a Nutshell
This novel is set against the backdrop of the 1992 LA riots. The plot starts when a young man is brutally killed. Whilst not a gang member himself his death is meant as a stark warning to his siblings. It is the first in a large number throughout the novel as people take advantage of an overstretched police force to settle scores.
Thoughts
Although the riots frame the novel, the real focus is on Hispanic gangs in Lynwood. These gangs see the unrest not as something to react to, but as an opportunity. The Rodney King verdict is almost incidental; what matters is the sudden absence of constraint as the city burns and chaos starts to rein. That choice feels deliberate and effective.
The underlying plot is undeniably brutal, but never gratuitously violent. On its own, it would make a strong crime novel. What makes All Involved more powerful, though, is its story telling model. Seventeen chapters unfold across the six days of the riots, each told from a different character’s point of view. Within those relatively tight spans, Gattis manages to create rich and complex characters with quite different voices. This works well because we hear from each but also see them from the perspective of others.
Many of these voices belong to gang members and criminals. There is a danger that in less capable hands this structure would risk descending into stereotype. Instead, while poverty, drug abuse, and limited opportunity recur across backstories, the characters remain distinct. There is a strong sense of responsibility, loyalty, and familial obligation running through the book. I found myself empathising with several characters despite abhorring their choices, not because the novel excuses them, but because it insists on their full humanity. Life is rarely binary and that was super clear in this story.
They don’t understand what happens to people with no money who live in a neighborhood where crime is actually a viable career path when there are no other opportunities, and I’m not excusing it or condoning it or saying it can’t be avoided, but I’m saying that’s how it is.”
The multi-voiced structure, though largely a success, does carry some risk. Not every voice lands with the same impact. For me, the chapters narrated by Jeremy, the graffiti artist, and Kim, the schoolboy, lacked the character-driven punch of the others and added relatively little to the overall arc. They don’t derail the novel, but they slightly dilute.
Taken as a whole, All Involved can be read in several ways at once: as a sharp depiction of gang culture, a study of drugs and police brutality, an examination of social injustice, and a gripping crime novel with genuinely strong character work. It is also, very specifically, a Los Angeles novel, rooted in place and a very specific moment in history.
A note on on voices
Gattis is writing about a community he does not belong to. I found however his depth of research and immersion shownin the specificity and restraint of the voices he created. The novel never feels lazy or stereotyped, and its empathy is grounded and feels real. Still, All Involved is not a definitive account, nor does it pretend to be. Its real value lies in how convincingly it occupies one perspective within a much larger story, I would recommend one best read in conjunction with other voices.