Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

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

13 reviews

akchanda's review against another edition

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dark informative mysterious sad medium-paced

4.0

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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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