All Involved, Gattis - B+

                                               This absolutely amazing novel is set in LA in the middle of the Rodney King riots.  The theme is revenge because during the 6 days of urban explosion there was no other policing going on in most sections of the city and everybody (including the authorities) who wanted a little pay backing took advantage. The author speaks in a street-wise vernacular  and uses a very interesting technique over and over again. All of the characters speak in the first person, including some right up to the moment they meet a particularly violent end. It's unnerving.  Each narrator is tied to someone who came before them in the development of the story within the story within the nightmare. This connectedness makes a tale told from very different perspectives ( a junkie, say and a fireman) flow smoothly. The title refers to someone who is a gang participant. This tale totally immerses the reader in a world that we don't know and that quite frankly, I can barely comprehend as part of our country.                            '.