Why a Booktrail?
2008: When there’s no money in LA, there’s still plenty of illegal ways to get it
Safe
What you need to know before your trail
Set in LA against the backdrop of the 2008 financial crash, this is the story of Rudy Reyes (a.k.a. Glasses), a gangster-turned-double-agent who wants out of the high-stakes high-risk criminal life, and Ricky Mendoza, Junior (a.k.a. Ghost), a DEA safe-cracker with terminal cancer who’s got nothing to lose. When Ghost goes rogue and steals thousands of dollars from a safe that belongs to Rooster, an LA crime lord who happens to be Glasses’ boss, he endangers a deal Glasses had with a DEA official. As Ghost sets out to steal as much money as he can get his hands on – all with the plan to give it to those hit hardest by the crash – and Rooster gets ever closer to catching him, Glasses tries desperately to keep his plans on track.
Locations
Reset- America/USA - CA - Los Angeles
- A: First Street
- B: US Drug Enforcement Administration
- C: 5th St
- D: Korean Bell Park
- E: Los Angeles Police Department Headquarters
Travel Guide
Los Angeles
Set firmly in the dark underbelly of Los Angeles
This is a city on the edge in many ways. The Financial crash of 2008 has caused chaos and pain, and the only people making money now are the drugs gangs.
Ricky “Ghost” Mendoza and Rudy “Glasses” Reyes are the voices of the story and a guide to the city. It’s a city with fire and violence in its belly though – with drugs, guns, money, lot of money running through its streets.
When Ghost is spotted at the site of a a drug deal, he becomes the hunted. He’s also a bit of a Robin Hood as well as a reformed drug dealer, but leaving the drugs trade behind is not going to be easy – impossible if they have anything to do with it.
The gang culture and vernacular help this novel to really evoke the time and period of the mean streets in LA during the financial crisis.
Booktrailer Review
Susan:@thebooktrailer
Perhaps one of the grittiest and most raw novels I’ve read in a long while. I certainly felt that spending so much time with a reformed drug runner turned double agent left me feeling exhausted..in a good way. There’s plenty of drama here but good, raw honesty in the way the characters are portrayed and even down to how they speak and to each other in particular.
This is not the La the tourist board would have you believe. It’s the mean streets of the drugs gangs and those where there is a large Mexican and hispanic population. The areas are those of the ‘projects’ where the poverty and social deprivation is everywhere, but it’s also where the heart and the humour of a people often lives too.
It all feels very real and very threatening but it fast paced. Not the heist novel it’s billed to be though – I think it’s more than that. A raw honest look at the underbelly of the city – but not for the fainthearted!
Booktrail Boarding Pass: Safe
Destination : Los Angeles Author/Guide: Ryan Gattis Departure Time: 2008
Back to ResultsWhere Next?
