Reviews with content warning for Death - Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York

Reviews tagging 'Death'

Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York by Elon Green

28 reviews

thesaltiestlibrarian's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad tense slow-paced

4.0

RTC

Thanks to Edelweiss for the ARC. The opinions expressed herein are mine alone and may not reflect the views of the author, publisher, or distributor.

I have a problem with looking up crime scene photos when a case piques my interest. I think this book has cured that problem.

LAST CALL details several killings in the late 80s and early 90s in and around the NYC area. All the victims were gay men, whether closeted or not, and were particularly gruesome. New Jersey, Manhattan, even Pennsylvania became dumping spots for the Last Call killer's victims. The MO was to dismember and decapitate the bodies, deposit the parts into separate garbage bags, double bad and double tie them, and leave them in 55-gallon barrels along the highways. You can see how that would be easy disposal in such a huge metropolitan area.

Elon Green really does justice to this case with all of the history of the gay communities affected and objective analysis of the police work. He outlines the lives and histories of each victim, painting them in the most human light, and covering wholly the tragic loss of each life. Even though I knew who was going to be murdered, I hated that their life stories came to that end. It's like my brain was beating against the current for a different turnout.

And really, THAT is EXACTLY how true crime should be written. Green knocked it out of the park here. He focused his narrative on the victims and their families, not the killer. People who don't understand the true crime community believe that we're focused on the killer because he or she is fascinating and "cool" in the morbid sense, and that's just not true. (Well, 99% of the time. Sometimes the worrisome fandom pops up, i.e. serial killer crushes.) Yes, the psychology and sociology is a fascinating area of study, but the killers themselves are not the point of the true crime community. The victims are. Their families are. The gaps in law enforcement that show when a unique crime happens, rectifying those deficiencies are the point.

Justice is the point.

Elon Green has crafted a little-known story into a beautiful, heartbreaking, totally human history and case study. True crime books don't usually get under my skin. I've been through a lot of crap in my short life, and it's hard to shock me. But Green's writing--his depiction of brutality against a marginalized community--won't be leaving this ally anytime soon.

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rachbake's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.75

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alylentz's review against another edition

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dark funny informative medium-paced

4.0

Absolutely loved this. Accomplished the very difficult mission of true crime that examines the killer while really giving us a sense of who the victims were and the sense of loss they left behind. I enjoyed it as an audiobook and I think that would be a great choice for those who already listen to true crime podcasts.

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ktdakotareads's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

3.0

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imstephtacular's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative mysterious sad medium-paced

3.75

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pomoevareads's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative mysterious sad slow-paced

4.0

“Sometimes you want to go

Where everybody knows your name

And they're always glad you came

You want to be where you can see

Our troubles are all the same

You want to be where everybody knows your name”

-Cheers theme song lyrics

This theme song fits in with The Townhouse and/or Five Oaks bars for many gay men in New York in the 1990s. There men could find other men, usually with a significant age difference either way, that they were attracted to and hang out over a piano and have drinks. The men had to be careful about who they decided to leave with as AIDS was taking a large population of men away from their friends and families.

Author and long form journalist Elon Green writes about The Last Call killer who frequented these establishments and preyed upon the men who found a security in these neighbourhood piano bars. Perhaps more correctly, Green writes about the men who became the victims. He writes about their upbringing and personality while sharing how the police finally cracked the case.

I particularly enjoyed the details about the victims and the investigators to humanize the story. The author spent 3 years investigating and writing this book after realizing that there wasn’t even a Wikipedia page for this serial killer. This was a community of human beings that the community just seemed to have forgotten. There were errors in police handling of the evidence and in a seemingly political decision about when to arrest the suspect. Green also acknowledges a group of investigators who prioritized this case and without whom the killer may still be loose.

Thank you to @celadonbooks for this book in exchange for an honest review. True crime fans will enjoy this book that came out March 9.

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wherethewildreadsare's review against another edition

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dark informative mysterious tense fast-paced

5.0

Wow, a fantastically researched story about a serial killer that isn’t as talked about due to the sexuality of his victims. Doesn’t dwell on the killer but brings to life the victims. Who they were before they were “victims” and what in their lives led them into the path of their killer!

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caseythereader's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.75

✨REVIEW✨ [ @celadonbooks #partner ]

The Last Call Killer preyed upon gay men in New York in the ‘80s and ‘90s and had all the hallmarks of the most notorious serial killers. Yet because of the sexuality of his victims, the skyhigh murder rates, and the AIDS epidemic, his murders have been almost entirely forgotten. (via Goodreads) 📚

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LAST CALL is not your typical portrait of a killer. Yes, there is some examination of his life, but this book is primarily a look at the Last Call Killer's known victims. We read about their daily lives, their personalities, and how they simply tried to cope with being gay in an era when people often even refused to touch gay people for fear of catching AIDS. 📚

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Green has managed to distill a huge amount of information - this book is clearly so deeply reported - into an easy to follow narrative. No small feat for a story that includes police and investigators from multiple states and precincts, victims with double lives, and more than a few dead ends. 📚

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LAST CALL is also a loving look at New York and its many subcultures. I could practically see the bar districts discussed here, feel the sticky floors and mourn the loss of gay bars with their patrons. 📚

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On top of all that, the final sections of the book, when the clues are coming together and the court case is proceeding had me on the edge of my seat. If you have any interest in true crime and/or queer history, put LAST CALL on your list. 📚

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Content warnings: Addiction, alcoholism, deat), gore (it's REALLY gory, y'all), hate crime, homophobia, physical abuse, torture, violence, police brutality, kidnapping. 📚

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