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Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Best Nonfiction (2021)The gripping true story, told here for the first time, of the Last Call Killer and the gay community of New York City that he preyed upon.
The Townhouse Bar, midtown, July 1992: The piano player seems to know every song ever written, the crowd belts out the lyrics to their favorites, and a man standing nearby is drinking a Scotch and water. The man strikes the piano player as forgettable.
He looks bland and inconspicuous. Not at all what you think a serial killer looks like. But that’s what he is, and tonight, he has his sights set on a gray haired man. He will not be his first victim.
Nor will he be his last.
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.
This gripping true-crime narrative tells the story of the Last Call Killer and the decades-long chase to find him. And at the same time, it paints a portrait of his victims and a vibrant community navigating threat and resilience.
The Townhouse Bar, midtown, July 1992: The piano player seems to know every song ever written, the crowd belts out the lyrics to their favorites, and a man standing nearby is drinking a Scotch and water. The man strikes the piano player as forgettable.
He looks bland and inconspicuous. Not at all what you think a serial killer looks like. But that’s what he is, and tonight, he has his sights set on a gray haired man. He will not be his first victim.
Nor will he be his last.
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.
This gripping true-crime narrative tells the story of the Last Call Killer and the decades-long chase to find him. And at the same time, it paints a portrait of his victims and a vibrant community navigating threat and resilience.
12 pages, Audiobook
First published March 9, 2021
About the author
Elon Green
5 books148 followersElon Green has written for The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, and The New Yorker, and appears in Unspeakable Acts, Sarah Weinman’s anthology of true crime. "Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York" was his first book and won the Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,399 reviews
June 3, 2024
The world was not warm or welcoming for gay men in the 1980s. Discrimination, bias and inexplicable hate made for an uncomfortable existence, at best. Not only was homosexuality grossly misunderstood; but AIDS was becoming a familiar fear for everyone.
Repercussions could be very real for any openly-gay man. Life turned from unpleasant to terrifying with the discovery of a dismembered male body. And later, another grisly, heart-wrenching find. More would follow.
Law enforcement was not convinced that the scarily-similar manner of disposal connected the crimes. Faint lines leading to New York City piano bars— where gay men felt somewhat safe—seemed more than a stretch. Prejudices towards the victims’ “life-styles” and the lack of a crime scene, coupled with “dump sites” in different jurisdictions, meant that these crimes were not priorities.
Family members, friends, Lesbian and Gay Advocate Groups would not allow these deaths to be ignored, though. Patrons, pianists, and bartenders all mentioned one man, in particular. The suspect was a nurse at a NYC hospital, but no one knew more than that.
In the same way that stellar wait-staff are inconspicuous when their service is spot-on, Mr. Green simply sets everything up, almost allowing each man to tell his own story.
This review was written by jv poore for Buried Under Books, with huge “Thank You!” to Celadon Books for the Advance Review Copy, which I will donate to my favorite high-school classroom library.
Repercussions could be very real for any openly-gay man. Life turned from unpleasant to terrifying with the discovery of a dismembered male body. And later, another grisly, heart-wrenching find. More would follow.
Law enforcement was not convinced that the scarily-similar manner of disposal connected the crimes. Faint lines leading to New York City piano bars— where gay men felt somewhat safe—seemed more than a stretch. Prejudices towards the victims’ “life-styles” and the lack of a crime scene, coupled with “dump sites” in different jurisdictions, meant that these crimes were not priorities.
Family members, friends, Lesbian and Gay Advocate Groups would not allow these deaths to be ignored, though. Patrons, pianists, and bartenders all mentioned one man, in particular. The suspect was a nurse at a NYC hospital, but no one knew more than that.
In the same way that stellar wait-staff are inconspicuous when their service is spot-on, Mr. Green simply sets everything up, almost allowing each man to tell his own story.
This review was written by jv poore for Buried Under Books, with huge “Thank You!” to Celadon Books for the Advance Review Copy, which I will donate to my favorite high-school classroom library.
April 28, 2021
This is a really great true crime book about the last call killer, who I knew nothing about. This book was so descriptive and so informative, it felt like I was listening to a true crime podcast.
June 15, 2021
While reading a back issue of “The Advocate” a few years ago, journalist Elon Green came across an article about a serial killer that terrorized New York in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s. How could it be that he’d never heard of these "Last Call Killer" murders? He turned to the internet to learn more, only to discover there wasn’t even a Wikipedia page about the LCK.
Green set out to tell the full story of the crime spree, which was specifically targeted at gay males who frequented The Townhouse Bar in Manhattan. The backdrop of the times, naturally and tragically, was the height of the AIDS epidemic and raging homophobia.
Last Call paints a vibrant portrait of not only the brutal crimes but also the zeitgeist of the era. Much more time is devoted to the victims’ stories than the killer himself. Some readers may find this approach unsatisfying, but I very much appreciated it. In fact, I even had to google the name of the killer again while writing this review. His arrest and trial are almost afterthoughts in the book, and since it clocks in at a mere 272 pages, a little more detail there could have been warranted.
Last Call is a very worthy entry into the canon of 20th century true crime exposés, and a must read for anyone looking to learn more about these crimes. As of today, there’s still not even a Wikipedia page about them.
Blog: https://www.confettibookshelf.com/
IG: @confettibookshelf
Green set out to tell the full story of the crime spree, which was specifically targeted at gay males who frequented The Townhouse Bar in Manhattan. The backdrop of the times, naturally and tragically, was the height of the AIDS epidemic and raging homophobia.
Last Call paints a vibrant portrait of not only the brutal crimes but also the zeitgeist of the era. Much more time is devoted to the victims’ stories than the killer himself. Some readers may find this approach unsatisfying, but I very much appreciated it. In fact, I even had to google the name of the killer again while writing this review. His arrest and trial are almost afterthoughts in the book, and since it clocks in at a mere 272 pages, a little more detail there could have been warranted.
Last Call is a very worthy entry into the canon of 20th century true crime exposés, and a must read for anyone looking to learn more about these crimes. As of today, there’s still not even a Wikipedia page about them.
Blog: https://www.confettibookshelf.com/
IG: @confettibookshelf
March 4, 2021
”Ten minutes short of three o’clock on a moderately warm Sunday afternoon, a turnpike maintenance worker was emptying the green barrels at a rest area in Lancaster County on the westbound side of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. He was looking for aluminum cans to sort, when he pulled hard on a plastic trash bag that he simply couldn’t lift. A strong five foot six, he’d never had a problem emptying the barrels in the six years on the job. What’s in this bag that I can’t lift?
Annoyed, he rooted around for a stick, and opened the bag. ‘But every time I opened one bag there was another bag,’ he recalled years later.
Another poke, another bag. Another poke, another bag. Another poke, another bag.
He assumed it was a deer carcass. Now he realized it was, in all likelihood, something more sinister.
When he finally got the last bag opened--eight in total--he couldn’t make out what it was.
‘It looked like a loaf of bread,’ he says. ‘But then I saw freckles.’”
It all begins with a John Doe.
But the story doesn’t begin with a dead body. This John Doe had a life before he was found brutally murdered. He had family and friends who cared about him. He had a successful career. We can hope that the discovery of his dismembered body in a turnpike trash can isn’t the end of his story. There are questions that need answers. His narrative must continue, and the only people who can insure that it continues are the detectives investigating his murder. They must write the end of his story.
They must find his killer.
This murder is just a random act of brutal violence until they find another dismembered body and then another. The killer doesn’t disarticulate the bodies, but saws them apart through the bones. He double bags and double knots to make sure the bags don’t leak fluid. The bodies are of small men, middle aged men, and as they begin to ID these men, they start to realize a pattern.
They are all gay men.
They are in the closet.
They are all successful men, except one.
It is the 1990s, and violence against gay men is at an all time high. The AIDS epidemic has made a bad situation worse. Roving bands of “heterosexual” men feel justified in beating the crap out of random men in New York they perceive to be gay. They are, in their small minds, cleansing the earth of a pestilence, and at the same time, they get to take out their failures and frustrations on a demographic that society has deemed contemptible.
I moved to San Francisco in the late nineties to pursue an opportunity to work for a prestigious bookstore. I can still remember when a staff member showed up to work with cuts, contusions, and a limp. He and a friend had been jumped and beaten coming home from a bar late at night. These attackers weren’t interested in robbing them. They were only interested in hurting them. It was hard for my friend to fathom the source of the rage that inspired these men to beat them so viciously. The older gay staff members all felt lucky to be alive as they had buried so many of their friends who had died horrible, lingering deaths from AIDS. After growing up in Kansas and going to college in Arizona, I was now getting a full education on what it meant to be gay in America.
They feel cursed because they are vilified, and God, if there is one, has turned his face away from them. They are seen as a weakness, a perversion in society by those who don’t understand how intelligent they are, how creative they are, and how caring they are. Still, I believed we were steadily moving forward to a more tolerant civilisation until 2016.
The problem back in the 1990s was to get the police to see that these crimes are not the murders of deviants and criminals, but the murders of people not that dissimilar from themselves. One police chief rails at his staff to leave their prejudices at home. Now, if these murdered men had been pretty women instead, then every effort would have been made to apprehend and stop the killer. The press would have demanded nothing less.
The author, Elon Green, is careful not to paint all the police with the same brush, but the police are a reflection of our society, and when we are racist, homophobic, and sexist, they feel very comfortable being so as well.
This killer picks his victims from patrons of gay bars and deems himself, appropriately, The Last Call Killer. Unlike other serial killers who have a wikipedia page with an in-depth listing of their notorious deeds, no such page exists for The Last Call Killer. It is as if there is a collective decision by those in the know to make sure these murders remain hidden from the public eye. Elon Green has rescued this disconcerting history from the dusty archives. It is a tale some believe best forgotten. This book is the story of the victims, the role of society in their deaths, and of the perpetrator who preyed on these vulnerable men. The victims were men who had the audacity to seek, at least for a few hours, the safe haven of a gay bar with heavy pours, a show tunes piano player, and the atmosphere of normalcy towards the aspect of their character that the rest of society deemed perverse.
Green will weave you through the events of a decades long hunt for the killer. You will feel anger, bafflement, frustration, but in the end you will see the killer caught. It will feel like a muted justice though because, like me, most of you will think to yourself, why don’t I know about this? Why were these events kept out of the glare of the public eye for so long? Why was this narrative left for Elon Green to tell in 2021?
This story is much bigger than just a series of murders. It is about queer New York in the 1990s and the resilency of a community under the threat of AIDS, under the threat of being beaten or murdered, and their ability to adapt to societies demands that they remain closeted. Don’t forget this was the era when Don’t ask Don’t tell began. Ignoring this story for so long was keeping the spotlight off of our collective prejudices. Thanks to Elon Green this dark time has been recast against the backdrop of the current issues with sexual orientation that continue to plague our society. The past and the present collide, but it doesn’t mean that we have to let the same issues cloud our future. Maybe we can achieve collective acceptance.
I would like to thank Lauren Dooley of Celadon Books for offering me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten and an Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/jeffreykeeten/
Annoyed, he rooted around for a stick, and opened the bag. ‘But every time I opened one bag there was another bag,’ he recalled years later.
Another poke, another bag. Another poke, another bag. Another poke, another bag.
He assumed it was a deer carcass. Now he realized it was, in all likelihood, something more sinister.
When he finally got the last bag opened--eight in total--he couldn’t make out what it was.
‘It looked like a loaf of bread,’ he says. ‘But then I saw freckles.’”
It all begins with a John Doe.
But the story doesn’t begin with a dead body. This John Doe had a life before he was found brutally murdered. He had family and friends who cared about him. He had a successful career. We can hope that the discovery of his dismembered body in a turnpike trash can isn’t the end of his story. There are questions that need answers. His narrative must continue, and the only people who can insure that it continues are the detectives investigating his murder. They must write the end of his story.
They must find his killer.
This murder is just a random act of brutal violence until they find another dismembered body and then another. The killer doesn’t disarticulate the bodies, but saws them apart through the bones. He double bags and double knots to make sure the bags don’t leak fluid. The bodies are of small men, middle aged men, and as they begin to ID these men, they start to realize a pattern.
They are all gay men.
They are in the closet.
They are all successful men, except one.
It is the 1990s, and violence against gay men is at an all time high. The AIDS epidemic has made a bad situation worse. Roving bands of “heterosexual” men feel justified in beating the crap out of random men in New York they perceive to be gay. They are, in their small minds, cleansing the earth of a pestilence, and at the same time, they get to take out their failures and frustrations on a demographic that society has deemed contemptible.
I moved to San Francisco in the late nineties to pursue an opportunity to work for a prestigious bookstore. I can still remember when a staff member showed up to work with cuts, contusions, and a limp. He and a friend had been jumped and beaten coming home from a bar late at night. These attackers weren’t interested in robbing them. They were only interested in hurting them. It was hard for my friend to fathom the source of the rage that inspired these men to beat them so viciously. The older gay staff members all felt lucky to be alive as they had buried so many of their friends who had died horrible, lingering deaths from AIDS. After growing up in Kansas and going to college in Arizona, I was now getting a full education on what it meant to be gay in America.
They feel cursed because they are vilified, and God, if there is one, has turned his face away from them. They are seen as a weakness, a perversion in society by those who don’t understand how intelligent they are, how creative they are, and how caring they are. Still, I believed we were steadily moving forward to a more tolerant civilisation until 2016.
The problem back in the 1990s was to get the police to see that these crimes are not the murders of deviants and criminals, but the murders of people not that dissimilar from themselves. One police chief rails at his staff to leave their prejudices at home. Now, if these murdered men had been pretty women instead, then every effort would have been made to apprehend and stop the killer. The press would have demanded nothing less.
The author, Elon Green, is careful not to paint all the police with the same brush, but the police are a reflection of our society, and when we are racist, homophobic, and sexist, they feel very comfortable being so as well.
This killer picks his victims from patrons of gay bars and deems himself, appropriately, The Last Call Killer. Unlike other serial killers who have a wikipedia page with an in-depth listing of their notorious deeds, no such page exists for The Last Call Killer. It is as if there is a collective decision by those in the know to make sure these murders remain hidden from the public eye. Elon Green has rescued this disconcerting history from the dusty archives. It is a tale some believe best forgotten. This book is the story of the victims, the role of society in their deaths, and of the perpetrator who preyed on these vulnerable men. The victims were men who had the audacity to seek, at least for a few hours, the safe haven of a gay bar with heavy pours, a show tunes piano player, and the atmosphere of normalcy towards the aspect of their character that the rest of society deemed perverse.
Green will weave you through the events of a decades long hunt for the killer. You will feel anger, bafflement, frustration, but in the end you will see the killer caught. It will feel like a muted justice though because, like me, most of you will think to yourself, why don’t I know about this? Why were these events kept out of the glare of the public eye for so long? Why was this narrative left for Elon Green to tell in 2021?
This story is much bigger than just a series of murders. It is about queer New York in the 1990s and the resilency of a community under the threat of AIDS, under the threat of being beaten or murdered, and their ability to adapt to societies demands that they remain closeted. Don’t forget this was the era when Don’t ask Don’t tell began. Ignoring this story for so long was keeping the spotlight off of our collective prejudices. Thanks to Elon Green this dark time has been recast against the backdrop of the current issues with sexual orientation that continue to plague our society. The past and the present collide, but it doesn’t mean that we have to let the same issues cloud our future. Maybe we can achieve collective acceptance.
I would like to thank Lauren Dooley of Celadon Books for offering me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten and an Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/jeffreykeeten/
December 30, 2020
This book deserves all the stars, and it completely broke my heart because it really happened. For true crime readers, this is a must for your lists.
The Last Call Killer went on a killing spree in the 80s and 90s, and his victims were gay men in New York. Abhorrently, according to the author, the murders didn't receive the attention they should have because of the time in which they happened. As a result, it took decades to solve them.
The book is about that manhunt, but it’s equally about the victims and sharing their stories. It’s also about the gay community of New York City, and in that way, Last Call is not your typical take on a true crime. It’s not a lengthy book, and in its brevity gets to the heart, beauty, and steadfastness of a community.
I received a gifted copy. All opinions are my own.
Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com and instagram: www.instagram.com/tarheelreader
The Last Call Killer went on a killing spree in the 80s and 90s, and his victims were gay men in New York. Abhorrently, according to the author, the murders didn't receive the attention they should have because of the time in which they happened. As a result, it took decades to solve them.
The book is about that manhunt, but it’s equally about the victims and sharing their stories. It’s also about the gay community of New York City, and in that way, Last Call is not your typical take on a true crime. It’s not a lengthy book, and in its brevity gets to the heart, beauty, and steadfastness of a community.
I received a gifted copy. All opinions are my own.
Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com and instagram: www.instagram.com/tarheelreader
December 27, 2020
First and foremost, a large thank you to NetGalley, Elon Green , and Celadon Books for providing me with a copy of this publication, which allows me to provide you with an unbiased review.
There’s nothing better than a riveting piece of true crime, especially when it’s written by someone who can artfully present the story. Elon Green does well with Last Call, where he explores the murder of a handful of men whose connection to a gay bar in New York City eventually led to locating a killer no one suspected. Full of great descriptions, both of the victims and the LGBTQ+ scene in New York in the 1980s/90s, Green keeps the reader wanting to know more until the final reveal. Likely a piece true crime fans will want to add to their collection.
It all began with the discovery of a dismembered body along a Pennsylvania highway. When the authorities discovered the body, cut into pieces and bagged multiple times, they knew this was something that needed their undivided attention. With the help of some identification, found in a trash can up the road, the search began to better understand the victim and why he might have been targeted.
Green explores the victim and his ties to the LGBTQ+ community, which he colloquially calls the ‘queer scene’, and some of the local establishments in the early 1990s. This was at a time when gay rights were still not prominent and the police had less respect for an overall protection of citizens, no matter their orientation. There was also a comprehensive discussion to the ‘secret life’ lived by the victim, likely part of the veiled persona gay men presented at the time, while also holding down a job in a profession where homosexuality was not as accepted.
When a man is found killed and dismembered in New Jersey, officials are equally as baffled, but also quite intrigued at the attention paid to dispose of the body. This was not a simple slash and dump, but a detailed understanding of the body and how it is ‘assembled’, thereby providing key steps to cut and properly package a body before leaving it to be collected. The authorities noted this attention to detail could only have come from someone in the medical profession, or with access to the various tools.
Green circles back to explore gay rights and the LGBTQ+ scene in the early 1980s, particularly in the early years of HIV/AIDS. The detail offered about how medical professionals were downplaying it and then labelling it as a disease of homosexuals offers the reader some insight into how the community was treated and branded by the larger American society. Green depicts this so well and keeps the reader wondering as he slowly discusses progress and the emergence of gay rights amongst local and state politicians.
Green comes around to explore how one man’s long history of luring and attacking gay men as far back as the 1970s played a role in the identification of a person of interest. The meticulous planning and playacting to lure victims to his home helped to create a sense of calm, only to be destroyed after drugging and attacking these men. While the ending came together quickly in the final few chapters, the reader can see how a single lead, in the form of an expunged record of forensics, brought the case together, providing a termportary sense of relief to those who felt themselves constant targets.
While I am not a regular reader of true crime, I can respect those who enjoy the genre. Elon Green does a decentr job of piecing together the story and filling in many of the gaps he discovered in news coverage. Many of these cases are from close to three decades ago, when reporting was less thorough and not as easily accessed. As Green stresses throughout, it was also a time when ‘gay crimes’ were seen as more ‘unfortunate events’ than being on par with those of the heterosexual community.
While discussion of the crime scenes was great (who does not like to hear how the body was discovered in eight layers of bags?), it was the social commentary on gay rights and the HIV/AIDS situation in New York that had me quite intrigued. I wanted to see how things would progress and how little was done at a time when America (and much of the world) was still trying to come to terms with violence against some, while the authorities did nothing. Green effectively presents the struggles and issues with class, educating the reader throughout the book.
Green writes very effectively and efficiently, providing the reader what they need to understand how things fit together. There is some great social commentary on the legal acceptance of gay rights and how hate crimes were slow to catch up, all while HIV/AIDS became the face of the LGBTQ+ community. With chapters that vary from overviews of the situation to highly detailed, Green offers the reader what they need, told with a strong narrative that pushes the story along.
If I had to find a downside to the book, it would have to be the abrupt end to things. The last few chapters became more of a halting train than the smooth ride that the book presented beforehand. Once the killer’s identity became known, it was a rush through the legal process and the reader was left to sigh that this was not added to a pile of cold cases. Green’s great build up seemed almost trumped by that anti-climactic end.
Kudos, Mr. Green, for an interesting look into this series of crimes. I will have to see what else you’ve penned that may be of interest.
Be sure to check for my review, first posted on Mystery and Suspense, as well as a number of other insightful comments by other reviewers.
https://www.mysteryandsuspense.com/re...
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
There’s nothing better than a riveting piece of true crime, especially when it’s written by someone who can artfully present the story. Elon Green does well with Last Call, where he explores the murder of a handful of men whose connection to a gay bar in New York City eventually led to locating a killer no one suspected. Full of great descriptions, both of the victims and the LGBTQ+ scene in New York in the 1980s/90s, Green keeps the reader wanting to know more until the final reveal. Likely a piece true crime fans will want to add to their collection.
It all began with the discovery of a dismembered body along a Pennsylvania highway. When the authorities discovered the body, cut into pieces and bagged multiple times, they knew this was something that needed their undivided attention. With the help of some identification, found in a trash can up the road, the search began to better understand the victim and why he might have been targeted.
Green explores the victim and his ties to the LGBTQ+ community, which he colloquially calls the ‘queer scene’, and some of the local establishments in the early 1990s. This was at a time when gay rights were still not prominent and the police had less respect for an overall protection of citizens, no matter their orientation. There was also a comprehensive discussion to the ‘secret life’ lived by the victim, likely part of the veiled persona gay men presented at the time, while also holding down a job in a profession where homosexuality was not as accepted.
When a man is found killed and dismembered in New Jersey, officials are equally as baffled, but also quite intrigued at the attention paid to dispose of the body. This was not a simple slash and dump, but a detailed understanding of the body and how it is ‘assembled’, thereby providing key steps to cut and properly package a body before leaving it to be collected. The authorities noted this attention to detail could only have come from someone in the medical profession, or with access to the various tools.
Green circles back to explore gay rights and the LGBTQ+ scene in the early 1980s, particularly in the early years of HIV/AIDS. The detail offered about how medical professionals were downplaying it and then labelling it as a disease of homosexuals offers the reader some insight into how the community was treated and branded by the larger American society. Green depicts this so well and keeps the reader wondering as he slowly discusses progress and the emergence of gay rights amongst local and state politicians.
Green comes around to explore how one man’s long history of luring and attacking gay men as far back as the 1970s played a role in the identification of a person of interest. The meticulous planning and playacting to lure victims to his home helped to create a sense of calm, only to be destroyed after drugging and attacking these men. While the ending came together quickly in the final few chapters, the reader can see how a single lead, in the form of an expunged record of forensics, brought the case together, providing a termportary sense of relief to those who felt themselves constant targets.
While I am not a regular reader of true crime, I can respect those who enjoy the genre. Elon Green does a decentr job of piecing together the story and filling in many of the gaps he discovered in news coverage. Many of these cases are from close to three decades ago, when reporting was less thorough and not as easily accessed. As Green stresses throughout, it was also a time when ‘gay crimes’ were seen as more ‘unfortunate events’ than being on par with those of the heterosexual community.
While discussion of the crime scenes was great (who does not like to hear how the body was discovered in eight layers of bags?), it was the social commentary on gay rights and the HIV/AIDS situation in New York that had me quite intrigued. I wanted to see how things would progress and how little was done at a time when America (and much of the world) was still trying to come to terms with violence against some, while the authorities did nothing. Green effectively presents the struggles and issues with class, educating the reader throughout the book.
Green writes very effectively and efficiently, providing the reader what they need to understand how things fit together. There is some great social commentary on the legal acceptance of gay rights and how hate crimes were slow to catch up, all while HIV/AIDS became the face of the LGBTQ+ community. With chapters that vary from overviews of the situation to highly detailed, Green offers the reader what they need, told with a strong narrative that pushes the story along.
If I had to find a downside to the book, it would have to be the abrupt end to things. The last few chapters became more of a halting train than the smooth ride that the book presented beforehand. Once the killer’s identity became known, it was a rush through the legal process and the reader was left to sigh that this was not added to a pile of cold cases. Green’s great build up seemed almost trumped by that anti-climactic end.
Kudos, Mr. Green, for an interesting look into this series of crimes. I will have to see what else you’ve penned that may be of interest.
Be sure to check for my review, first posted on Mystery and Suspense, as well as a number of other insightful comments by other reviewers.
https://www.mysteryandsuspense.com/re...
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
April 28, 2022
Author Elon Green
In the early 1990s a serial killer was murdering gay men who frequented New York City bars and pick-up spots, but the crimes got little press coverage and passed below most people's radar. Now that true crime has become such a popular genre, Elon Green tells the story of the 'Last Call Killer', who eluded law enforcement for many years.
The story starts on May 5, 1991, when a maintenance worker on the Pennsylvania Turnpike found a body wrapped in plastic bags in a rest area trash can.
The victim was Peter Anderson, fifty-four, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The next year, on July 10, 1992, two New Jersey Department of Transportation employees found a disarticulated body in plastic bags at a rest stop in the Garden State.
The dead man was Thomas Mulcahy, fifty-seven, of Sudbury, Massachusetts.
Then on May 10, 1993, plastic bags containing the dismembered body of Anthony Edward Marrero, forty-four, of Philadelphia, was found on a roadway in New Jersey.
And finally, on July 31, 1993, the butchered body of Michael Sakara, fifty-six, from Manhattan, was found in plastic bags on a roadside in Rockland County, New York.
Road in Rockland County, New York
When investigators on the separate cases shared information, it became clear a serial killer was at work, and authorities speculated about additional victims, as yet unfound. A multistate task force was assembled to catch the perpetrator, but the killer was elusive, and the endeavor took years.
In addition to describing the murders and the police investigations, author Elon Green delves into the history of the victims and the anti-gay atmosphere that forms the background for the crimes.
The 1900s were not friendly to queer people. A 1923 New York State law made it a criminal act for a man to even ASK another man for sex, and after WWII "the U.S. State Department was purged of gays and lesbians, whom Senator Joseph McCarthy deemed a threat to national security." Prejudice against gays increased when the AIDS pandemic started to spread in 1980, and gay-bashing in the streets of New York became common.
A man kneels down at a memorial for Mark Carson, after another man yelled homophobic slurs at him before shooting him in the head. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Sadly, New York City law enforcement showed "systemic indifference" to crimes against queer people. As an example, Green writes about three gay men in Chelsea who were attacked by white kids with bats in 1980. "One man lost two teeth; another sustained thirty-six stitches to his forehead, a damaged eye, and a broken nose. Reporting such crimes to the police was considered not worth the trouble, for there was rarely any recourse. An activist told the Daily News, 'If you go to court and it's brought out that you're gay, the defense will make a bum out of you'." This feeling was commonplace, and many queer victims suffered in silence.
To meet in a relatively safe atmosphere, homosexual men would congregate in gay bars, which spanned the gamut from cheap joints to elegant piano bars. Green describes many New York City gay bars - their location, atmosphere, and clientele.
A gay dive bar in NYC
The Townhouse piano bar in NYC
The Townhouse, a gay bar that opened in 1989, was old-fashioned by design. Green writes, "Geographically, the Townhouse wasn't so far away from the noise and the grime and the cut-rate sex workers - walking distance even. But milling around that warm, inviting back room nursing a cocktail, a few feet away from the piano and elegantly attired men, you could almost pretend it was another country."
The police learned that several of the serial killer's victims frequented the Townhouse bar, which seemed to be a favorite hunting ground for the perp. The murderer was thought to pick up a victim near closing time, and he was dubbed the 'Last Call Killer. '
Serial killing, even of gay people, was anathema, and the push to protect the queer community was assisted by the Anti-Violence Project (AVP), which began on the cusp of the AIDS epidemic. Green details the birth and evolution of the AVP, which was instrumental in making the police and district attorney more accountable for anti-gay crime in New York.
The slayer is identified toward the latter part of the book, and Green outlines his background, appearance, profession, habits, modus operandi, etc.
The Last Call Killer
The author tried to interview the perp, but the killer refused to cooperate, so Green's analysis is incomplete, but still very informative.
The author's end-notes demonstrate how much research went into the book, which is an encompassing account of LGBTQ issues in 20th century New York and a fascinating story of the Last Call killer and his crimes....which began before he took the life of Peter Anderson in 1991. I don't want to give away spoilers, so for a complete picture, you'll have to read the book.
Thanks to Celadon Books for a review copy.
You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.com
March 7, 2021
I received this Advanced Reading Copy from Celadon Books for an unbiased review.
It has been many years since I have read a true crime non-fiction book.
The book is well written and meticulously researched. I was impressed at the amount of research Elon Green did as well as the amount of detail he presents. The appealing thing is with all is with all the research and detail the book is not boring. In fact, it reads as if it was a novel. The story takes place in New York City in the 1980s-90s. It follows a serial killer of gay men during the AIDS’ epidemic. If you enjoy true crime stories, this book Is for you.
I read this as a soft back book. It contains 255 pages and is published in 2021 by Celadon Books.
It has been many years since I have read a true crime non-fiction book.
The book is well written and meticulously researched. I was impressed at the amount of research Elon Green did as well as the amount of detail he presents. The appealing thing is with all is with all the research and detail the book is not boring. In fact, it reads as if it was a novel. The story takes place in New York City in the 1980s-90s. It follows a serial killer of gay men during the AIDS’ epidemic. If you enjoy true crime stories, this book Is for you.
I read this as a soft back book. It contains 255 pages and is published in 2021 by Celadon Books.
October 28, 2020
3.5 stars
In the 1980s and 1990s, the Last Call killer targeted gay men in New York. I've read quite a few true crime books over the years, and it's not hard to feel sorry for the victims and the loved ones they left behind. My heart weighed extra heavy after reading this book knowing due in part to the victims' sexuality not much attention was paid to the crimes back then or even now. What is also sad is knowing there are most likely other undiscovered victims of this serial killer.
If you do not count the Acknowledgments and Notes, this book is a little bit over 200 pages which is on the shorter side for a true crime book especially one featuring multiple crimes. I think it is worth noting that even though you get some of the details of the crimes, the victims, and the killer, this book is also just as much about the gay community in New York during the 80s and 90s. The author does a good job painting the picture of what life was like for a gay man during that era. You have the AIDs epidemic, the fear of being outed if you were closeted, rampant homophobia, and hate crimes that weren't taken very seriously by the general public or law enforcement. It's a heartbreaking and infuriating read but one that is certainly important in order not to forget the history.
I think this book is a worthwhile read but it is not the strongest true crime book I have ever read. I felt more like I was getting a snapshot of the victim's life and then the author would move on to the next one. There were many names brought up in the book, not just victims, but others that were part of the NYC social scene and it was difficult at times to keep track of everyone. I also was surprised the author barely devoted any time to the court case. That's just minor criticism though as overall I found it to be a fascinating read.
I received an advance copy from Celadon Books. All thoughts expressed are my honest opinion.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the Last Call killer targeted gay men in New York. I've read quite a few true crime books over the years, and it's not hard to feel sorry for the victims and the loved ones they left behind. My heart weighed extra heavy after reading this book knowing due in part to the victims' sexuality not much attention was paid to the crimes back then or even now. What is also sad is knowing there are most likely other undiscovered victims of this serial killer.
If you do not count the Acknowledgments and Notes, this book is a little bit over 200 pages which is on the shorter side for a true crime book especially one featuring multiple crimes. I think it is worth noting that even though you get some of the details of the crimes, the victims, and the killer, this book is also just as much about the gay community in New York during the 80s and 90s. The author does a good job painting the picture of what life was like for a gay man during that era. You have the AIDs epidemic, the fear of being outed if you were closeted, rampant homophobia, and hate crimes that weren't taken very seriously by the general public or law enforcement. It's a heartbreaking and infuriating read but one that is certainly important in order not to forget the history.
I think this book is a worthwhile read but it is not the strongest true crime book I have ever read. I felt more like I was getting a snapshot of the victim's life and then the author would move on to the next one. There were many names brought up in the book, not just victims, but others that were part of the NYC social scene and it was difficult at times to keep track of everyone. I also was surprised the author barely devoted any time to the court case. That's just minor criticism though as overall I found it to be a fascinating read.
I received an advance copy from Celadon Books. All thoughts expressed are my honest opinion.
March 18, 2021
This plainly written heartfelt true crime book focuses on the four victims, which is refreshing, of course, and very laudable, yes, but uncomfortably serves to remind us nasty readers that we’re much more interested in the criminal who commits the vile acts than the poor ordinary blighters that stumbled into his grisly purview. We probably really shouldn't be, but we are.
There were four distinctive murders of men, all of them dismembered post-mortem, drained of blood, bagged, double-bagged and dumped in rural trash bins. The cracking of the case had to wait some years for forensic science to develop a much better technique for lifting prints off the bags. Or to be more accurate, it had to wait for one of the cops working these cases to stumble over the information that a much better technique for lifting prints off plastic bags had been available for some years already.
Yes, this book exposes the often chaotic nature of policing in the USA. There was no national fingerprint database, for instance. So investigators had to laboriously send their prints, when they finally got them, to ALL FIFTY state crime laboratories, and wait for the results. Can you imagine!
Plus, the initial fingerprinting of individuals left quite a lot to be desired: “The patrolman or the sheriff often didn’t have the expertise and didn’t know how to take fingerprints” says Maine’s crime lab guy.
All too frequently, there was too much ink on the pad, and the print would be smeared, or there wasn’t enough ink, so the print lacked the necessary detail. As a consequence, many of the hundreds of thousands of ten-prints scanned …were functionally useless
Insert facepalm emoji here.
So anyway finally they find the murderer and there’s this casually dropped in on page 200 :
The investigators didn’t talk about it at the time, but they all believed he had killed dozens of men. In fact, they assumed he killed people whenever he went on vacation.
Well, the murderer is currently languishing in New Jersey State Pen, aged 70. The victims, however many there really were, are still dead.
This was a very solid account of a complicated case. Nothing spectacular, but a fine example of uncovering case that should not have been forgotten.
There were four distinctive murders of men, all of them dismembered post-mortem, drained of blood, bagged, double-bagged and dumped in rural trash bins. The cracking of the case had to wait some years for forensic science to develop a much better technique for lifting prints off the bags. Or to be more accurate, it had to wait for one of the cops working these cases to stumble over the information that a much better technique for lifting prints off plastic bags had been available for some years already.
Yes, this book exposes the often chaotic nature of policing in the USA. There was no national fingerprint database, for instance. So investigators had to laboriously send their prints, when they finally got them, to ALL FIFTY state crime laboratories, and wait for the results. Can you imagine!
Plus, the initial fingerprinting of individuals left quite a lot to be desired: “The patrolman or the sheriff often didn’t have the expertise and didn’t know how to take fingerprints” says Maine’s crime lab guy.
All too frequently, there was too much ink on the pad, and the print would be smeared, or there wasn’t enough ink, so the print lacked the necessary detail. As a consequence, many of the hundreds of thousands of ten-prints scanned …were functionally useless
Insert facepalm emoji here.
So anyway finally they find the murderer and there’s this casually dropped in on page 200 :
The investigators didn’t talk about it at the time, but they all believed he had killed dozens of men. In fact, they assumed he killed people whenever he went on vacation.
Well, the murderer is currently languishing in New Jersey State Pen, aged 70. The victims, however many there really were, are still dead.
This was a very solid account of a complicated case. Nothing spectacular, but a fine example of uncovering case that should not have been forgotten.
April 14, 2021
“Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, And Murder In Queer New York” (2021) is a remarkable and commendable true crime narrative of literary achievement written by Elon Green. In the years between 1991-1993, several men were last seen in a Manhattan gay piano bar, and were found brutally murdered at locations in three different states. Despite the horrific nature of these crimes, the “Last Call Killer” remained at large for nearly a decade. This is a notable and important book of the LGBTQ community and history, the Anti-Gay Violence Project (AVP) and hundreds of volunteers that demanded justice and fiercely battled against tidal wave of hate crimes and homophobia, and the law enforcement officials that never gave up the search to find a viscous killer.
“Queer people don’t grow up as ourselves, we grow up playing a version of ourselves that sacrifices authenticity to minimize humiliation and prejudice. The massive task of our adult lives us to unpick which parts of ourselves are truly us and which parts we’ve created to protect us.” ~Alexander Leon
The men who were murdered, someone’s son, father, husband, grandfather, brother, uncle: Peter Stickney Anderson 54, of Philadelphia - Thomas Mulcahy 57, of Sudbury, MA. – Anthony Marrero 44, of Philadelphia – Michael Sakara 56, of Manhattan. Green included illistrated maps and thoughtfully written biographical portraits of each man based on research and interviews-- these men were loved and mourned by distraught family members and friends.
In the past, Homosexuality was illegal in many states-- it was considered a crime in some states for one man to ask another for a date. Outrageous bias, prejudice, and stigma existed for decades against gay men. Hate crimes increased 86% from 1985-1986. Many of these crimes weren’t reported, as unknown numbers of men were closeted and fearful for their personal safety. In addition to victimization by strangers, many gay men were harassed unmercifully by law enforcement officials and targeted for arrest in sting operations, some men lost jobs, marriages, and social status.
There was a degree of acceptance, respite, and safety in the vibrant culture surrounding gay bars, nightclubs, and restaurants—The Five Oaks and Townhouse (est.1989-) were popular in the Manhattan club scene where some of the victims were last seen.
“Violence Against Homosexuals Rising” NYT (1987) this was the first article taken seriously to appear in a major newspaper, and was related to the AIDS crisis and epidemic. Previously HR3193 was the first Bill introduced that provided data collection that represented LGBT people. Gay and Lesbian rights activists refused to stop fighting for their rights. Lt. Matthew Kuehn took the investigation to another level after watching a documentary on Vacuum Medal Deposition (VMD) a Canadian lab located in Toronto agreed to test the crime scene evidence at no charge. A major breakthrough was connected to the murder of Frederick Allen Spencer (1973). Green explained how the “Gay Panic Defense” was used to unleash a monster that violently destroyed human life while working as a registered nurse at a Staten Island Hospital. Elon Green’s writing has been featured in NYT Magazine; he has been an editor since 2011, "Last Call" is his first book.
“Queer people don’t grow up as ourselves, we grow up playing a version of ourselves that sacrifices authenticity to minimize humiliation and prejudice. The massive task of our adult lives us to unpick which parts of ourselves are truly us and which parts we’ve created to protect us.” ~Alexander Leon
The men who were murdered, someone’s son, father, husband, grandfather, brother, uncle: Peter Stickney Anderson 54, of Philadelphia - Thomas Mulcahy 57, of Sudbury, MA. – Anthony Marrero 44, of Philadelphia – Michael Sakara 56, of Manhattan. Green included illistrated maps and thoughtfully written biographical portraits of each man based on research and interviews-- these men were loved and mourned by distraught family members and friends.
In the past, Homosexuality was illegal in many states-- it was considered a crime in some states for one man to ask another for a date. Outrageous bias, prejudice, and stigma existed for decades against gay men. Hate crimes increased 86% from 1985-1986. Many of these crimes weren’t reported, as unknown numbers of men were closeted and fearful for their personal safety. In addition to victimization by strangers, many gay men were harassed unmercifully by law enforcement officials and targeted for arrest in sting operations, some men lost jobs, marriages, and social status.
There was a degree of acceptance, respite, and safety in the vibrant culture surrounding gay bars, nightclubs, and restaurants—The Five Oaks and Townhouse (est.1989-) were popular in the Manhattan club scene where some of the victims were last seen.
“Violence Against Homosexuals Rising” NYT (1987) this was the first article taken seriously to appear in a major newspaper, and was related to the AIDS crisis and epidemic. Previously HR3193 was the first Bill introduced that provided data collection that represented LGBT people. Gay and Lesbian rights activists refused to stop fighting for their rights. Lt. Matthew Kuehn took the investigation to another level after watching a documentary on Vacuum Medal Deposition (VMD) a Canadian lab located in Toronto agreed to test the crime scene evidence at no charge. A major breakthrough was connected to the murder of Frederick Allen Spencer (1973). Green explained how the “Gay Panic Defense” was used to unleash a monster that violently destroyed human life while working as a registered nurse at a Staten Island Hospital. Elon Green’s writing has been featured in NYT Magazine; he has been an editor since 2011, "Last Call" is his first book.
February 1, 2021
I haven't read a True Crime book in a while and this reminded me that I need to try and read more. Elon Green is the perfect author for this book. He meticulously researched the many cases involved and brought the victims to life. His compassion for the victims and the lgbtq community shined through as well as his goal of bringing this killer to light.
Not only did the investigation of the case hold my interest, but I also found the social history of the time equally as interesting and important in terms of how the case was eventually solved. I found the author's note quite moving and could easily see how much Mr. Green cared about getting this story exposure so the victims had some justice. I also appreciate how he highlighted the circumstances that aligned in order for law enforcement to catch the killer.
My slight criticism and reasons for adjusting down to 4 stars is because the first half was a little bogged down with superfluous facts about the victim's lives. Some might appreciate the deep, deep dive, but I felt it took away from the story a little bit and more importantly, made it hard for me to keep track of the information I was learning. The amount of names in the victim's family, every day life, each member of law enforcement was getting confusing and kind of interfered with my overall enjoyment. I'm happy to say once the book moved to the second half, this lessened and I felt much more immersed in the story.
What really has stayed with me these past few days since I finished the book was just how terrible those assumed to be gay or were out as gay were treated. Reading some of the transcripts provided made me physically wince with how abhorrent the language was. I think the author did a great job highlighting an underlying theme of why these cases didn't receive the attention they should have given the nature in how the bodies were discovered (there is a quote in the book dedication that left me speechless on what it feels like to be your true self). Ultimately, this is a great read and one I will be recommending.
Thanks to Celadon Books and Elon Green for the advanced review copy.
Review Date: 02/01/2021
Publication Date: 03/09/21
Not only did the investigation of the case hold my interest, but I also found the social history of the time equally as interesting and important in terms of how the case was eventually solved. I found the author's note quite moving and could easily see how much Mr. Green cared about getting this story exposure so the victims had some justice. I also appreciate how he highlighted the circumstances that aligned in order for law enforcement to catch the killer.
My slight criticism and reasons for adjusting down to 4 stars is because the first half was a little bogged down with superfluous facts about the victim's lives. Some might appreciate the deep, deep dive, but I felt it took away from the story a little bit and more importantly, made it hard for me to keep track of the information I was learning. The amount of names in the victim's family, every day life, each member of law enforcement was getting confusing and kind of interfered with my overall enjoyment. I'm happy to say once the book moved to the second half, this lessened and I felt much more immersed in the story.
What really has stayed with me these past few days since I finished the book was just how terrible those assumed to be gay or were out as gay were treated. Reading some of the transcripts provided made me physically wince with how abhorrent the language was. I think the author did a great job highlighting an underlying theme of why these cases didn't receive the attention they should have given the nature in how the bodies were discovered (there is a quote in the book dedication that left me speechless on what it feels like to be your true self). Ultimately, this is a great read and one I will be recommending.
Thanks to Celadon Books and Elon Green for the advanced review copy.
Review Date: 02/01/2021
Publication Date: 03/09/21
March 27, 2021
I have long been a true crime junkie, and this is an interesting book about murders that took place in the 80s and 90s that many people have never even heard about.
What I appreciated the most about this book was the author's focus on the victims and their lives rather than putting the spotlight on the murderer. Yes, the reader does find out who killed them, but the focus is more on why these murders didn't garner much of a mention--mostly because they took place in the gay community of New York City during a time where that community was forced behind closed doors and blamed for the incidents themselves rather than the true culprit.
What didn't work as well for me was the endless mentions of people and places and details that just bogged the narrative down overall. This is a very short book, and learning about the different clubs and who ran them and how they were run made me glaze over a bit. I can understand that the author really wants to acknowledge the victims and those who loved them and try to put a more human face on the community as a whole, but for readers not familiar with New York City the details were overwhelming.
This book does a great job with emphasizing the humanity and horror that these men experienced, and the jaw-dropping things the killer got away with in the years leading up to his final arrest and conviction. And again, I really applaud the author for his care and dedication to bring the focus onto the victims rather than the killer. I think that it is far from time that we stop focusing on evil people and shine a bright light onto those whose lives have been mercilessly cut too short.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own.
What I appreciated the most about this book was the author's focus on the victims and their lives rather than putting the spotlight on the murderer. Yes, the reader does find out who killed them, but the focus is more on why these murders didn't garner much of a mention--mostly because they took place in the gay community of New York City during a time where that community was forced behind closed doors and blamed for the incidents themselves rather than the true culprit.
What didn't work as well for me was the endless mentions of people and places and details that just bogged the narrative down overall. This is a very short book, and learning about the different clubs and who ran them and how they were run made me glaze over a bit. I can understand that the author really wants to acknowledge the victims and those who loved them and try to put a more human face on the community as a whole, but for readers not familiar with New York City the details were overwhelming.
This book does a great job with emphasizing the humanity and horror that these men experienced, and the jaw-dropping things the killer got away with in the years leading up to his final arrest and conviction. And again, I really applaud the author for his care and dedication to bring the focus onto the victims rather than the killer. I think that it is far from time that we stop focusing on evil people and shine a bright light onto those whose lives have been mercilessly cut too short.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own.
January 24, 2021
I love reading thrillers and murder mysteries, but reading a true crime novel, especially this one written by Elon Green, “Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York” blew my mind in this truly gripping read.
The Last Call tells the story of the killer who was a pediatric nurse in NYC, and the killing spree that affected the gay and queer community in the East Coast, that took decades to solve.
The whole time I was reading this, I was so immersed into the stories and the lives of the victims and their families, the detectives, and the forensic scientists that worked on this case. I found that the layout of how the book was presented, to the time you learn about the killer, is so well done that you yourself will feel a part of this manhunt. Green included a plethora of minute details into the book, that you will feel the depth and years of research that went into this amazing true crime novel.
If you love reading mysteries and true crime novels, this is a must read for you and not to be missed.
Thank you Celadon books for providing this ARC and having me as an early reader. All opinions are my own.
The Last Call tells the story of the killer who was a pediatric nurse in NYC, and the killing spree that affected the gay and queer community in the East Coast, that took decades to solve.
The whole time I was reading this, I was so immersed into the stories and the lives of the victims and their families, the detectives, and the forensic scientists that worked on this case. I found that the layout of how the book was presented, to the time you learn about the killer, is so well done that you yourself will feel a part of this manhunt. Green included a plethora of minute details into the book, that you will feel the depth and years of research that went into this amazing true crime novel.
If you love reading mysteries and true crime novels, this is a must read for you and not to be missed.
Thank you Celadon books for providing this ARC and having me as an early reader. All opinions are my own.
February 23, 2021
Last Call is a true crime novel of a notorious serial killer that stalked the gay bars of New York and how he lured men with his charms into a deadly end. The story occurs during the '90s, at a time where the climate towards gay men was hostile. Because of that, the investigations into the grisly murders stalled until breakthrough fingerprint technology emerges. It is with that new technology that the Last Call Killer is finally identified and brought to justice.
The Last Call is a gripping tale about the seemingly endless hunt for the Last Call Killer during a time of the AIDS epidemic and how that epidemic played into the stagnant and lackadaisical attitude of the people charged with investigating the crimes.
Elon Green has done a superb job in his research as evidenced by the copious amount of notes at the back of the book. Green has crafted an outstanding true crime story that is not only intense but shockingly real. A must read for true crime fans. Five stars.
I received a physical ARC from Celadon Books through the Bookish First raffle. The review herein is completely my own and contains my honest thoughts and opinions.
The Last Call is a gripping tale about the seemingly endless hunt for the Last Call Killer during a time of the AIDS epidemic and how that epidemic played into the stagnant and lackadaisical attitude of the people charged with investigating the crimes.
Elon Green has done a superb job in his research as evidenced by the copious amount of notes at the back of the book. Green has crafted an outstanding true crime story that is not only intense but shockingly real. A must read for true crime fans. Five stars.
I received a physical ARC from Celadon Books through the Bookish First raffle. The review herein is completely my own and contains my honest thoughts and opinions.
March 9, 2021
Thank you so much to Celadon Books for the free advanced copy of Last Call in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own!
I am coming to love the true crime genre, except this book reads more like a history/biography. The author focuses on the victims and the history of, and violence in queer New York City, paying little eventual attention to the trial and investigation of the murderer himself.
Overall this is not a bad read at all. I am left to assume that there’s either not a ton of info available on the trial and murderer, his motives or interviews, or that’s just not what the author was primarily getting at. I think the murders themselves were well described and covered as well as the investigation, but the trial and post apprehension of the killer was practically nonexistent so my curiosity is only amplified now.
The odd part is that the book was SO painfully detailed up to that point that the ending felt bizarre. There are pages and pages on unrelated things like where the victims’ parents’ went to high school, and a whole chapter on a piano player who was not even involved in the killings except as someone that played in the bars and spotted the killer once. I just frankly don’t care about that guy’s time on a cruise ship or where the murder victims parents grew up. For all those minute details, the trial consisted of about… Heck I don’t know, one or two pages?
The book offers a fairly comprehensive history of certain gay bars and queer violence in New York City, among other towns, but the majority of the book is about the victims more than the crimes. Some parts of their lives were actually interesting, and other parts, like sex life details and queer metro life such as “subway sammies” made me cringe a little bit as a healthcare worker.
Tracking the history of law enforcement and queer violence was probably where the book shined most. Some parts seemed to have some organizational issues (for example, one random paragraph mentions another serial killer spotted in a bar, and he was never mentioned again), but the history of the bars and violence, right up through Cuomo Sr and Giuliani were well organized and presented in interesting ways.
The killer was portrayed in the final section of the book with a brief look at his college years and professional career, not in any kind of chronological order. It doesn’t seem like a huge effort was made to find where he did the killings or even why, as no true motive was established. The only part of the trial consisted of one family member’s statement so I guess it was all based on the victims families? Where is the detail for this part of the story? I’m guessing sealed court documents or something but this is just not mentioned.
Overall: I know the author wasn’t focused on the killer, but he could have trimmed some of the inane details and had plenty of page space to write about the post apprehension and trial period.
Last but not least: I think it’s time for a good old fashioned @OneReadingNurse medical digression! Right at the end, an interviewee mentions PReP on the last page of the book. I guess I don’t think about AIDS much in healthcare these days unless it is noted that a patient is HIV or AIDS+, but the piano player from above asserts that the Queer community assumes undetected HIV is the same thing as uninfected, which seems scary to me. PReP is covered by most insurances and asserts between 74-99% effectiveness based on the goal of use, according to the CDC. https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/prep.html It seems affordable and/but I didn’t realize people even in 2020 are just turning to drugs vs safe sex practices? What about other STDs? I guess that guy��s statement would require more research but it seems like the last thing the author wants readers to think about is how there are still extremely unsafe sexual practices occuring, which is something these people definitely need to be aware of. I didn’t know it, anyway.
Thank you again to Celadon Books for my copy!! I am stating neutral on the rating and again say check it out, releasing 3/9, if it sounds up your alley!
I am coming to love the true crime genre, except this book reads more like a history/biography. The author focuses on the victims and the history of, and violence in queer New York City, paying little eventual attention to the trial and investigation of the murderer himself.
Overall this is not a bad read at all. I am left to assume that there’s either not a ton of info available on the trial and murderer, his motives or interviews, or that’s just not what the author was primarily getting at. I think the murders themselves were well described and covered as well as the investigation, but the trial and post apprehension of the killer was practically nonexistent so my curiosity is only amplified now.
The odd part is that the book was SO painfully detailed up to that point that the ending felt bizarre. There are pages and pages on unrelated things like where the victims’ parents’ went to high school, and a whole chapter on a piano player who was not even involved in the killings except as someone that played in the bars and spotted the killer once. I just frankly don’t care about that guy’s time on a cruise ship or where the murder victims parents grew up. For all those minute details, the trial consisted of about… Heck I don’t know, one or two pages?
The book offers a fairly comprehensive history of certain gay bars and queer violence in New York City, among other towns, but the majority of the book is about the victims more than the crimes. Some parts of their lives were actually interesting, and other parts, like sex life details and queer metro life such as “subway sammies” made me cringe a little bit as a healthcare worker.
Tracking the history of law enforcement and queer violence was probably where the book shined most. Some parts seemed to have some organizational issues (for example, one random paragraph mentions another serial killer spotted in a bar, and he was never mentioned again), but the history of the bars and violence, right up through Cuomo Sr and Giuliani were well organized and presented in interesting ways.
The killer was portrayed in the final section of the book with a brief look at his college years and professional career, not in any kind of chronological order. It doesn’t seem like a huge effort was made to find where he did the killings or even why, as no true motive was established. The only part of the trial consisted of one family member’s statement so I guess it was all based on the victims families? Where is the detail for this part of the story? I’m guessing sealed court documents or something but this is just not mentioned.
Overall: I know the author wasn’t focused on the killer, but he could have trimmed some of the inane details and had plenty of page space to write about the post apprehension and trial period.
Last but not least: I think it’s time for a good old fashioned @OneReadingNurse medical digression! Right at the end, an interviewee mentions PReP on the last page of the book. I guess I don’t think about AIDS much in healthcare these days unless it is noted that a patient is HIV or AIDS+, but the piano player from above asserts that the Queer community assumes undetected HIV is the same thing as uninfected, which seems scary to me. PReP is covered by most insurances and asserts between 74-99% effectiveness based on the goal of use, according to the CDC. https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/prep.html It seems affordable and/but I didn’t realize people even in 2020 are just turning to drugs vs safe sex practices? What about other STDs? I guess that guy��s statement would require more research but it seems like the last thing the author wants readers to think about is how there are still extremely unsafe sexual practices occuring, which is something these people definitely need to be aware of. I didn’t know it, anyway.
Thank you again to Celadon Books for my copy!! I am stating neutral on the rating and again say check it out, releasing 3/9, if it sounds up your alley!
May 8, 2020
In LAST CALL, Elon Green traces the 90s-era police investigations of interrelated murders of gay men who were picked up in Manhattan bars. Not only is this book intensely researched with insight into the lives of these deceased men from their beginnings to their untimely deaths, but also Green provides rich context into an earlier NYC whose landmarks carry a horrific reminder in LGBTQIA history. Though the material is heavy, Green's ambition and steadfastness make for a read that is neither dry nor lagging. He does his due diligence to these men and their lives and the circumstances surrounding what happened that only a skillful writer would not careen into trauma porn. This is a necessary document.
December 23, 2021
I’d found the story by accident, surfaced by an errant Web search. Most of these so-called true crime cases don’t stay with me, but this one I couldn’t let go. Once I got past the murders and the investigations, and my own disbelief that it had all been forgotten—a string of killings in New York City didn’t merit so much as a Wikipedia entry?—I became obsessed with the lives of the victims. I became obsessed with the lives they wanted but couldn’t have. Here was a generation of men, more or less, for whom it was difficult to be visibly gay. To be visibly whole.
The first person to be referred to in this book is ‘Jay Musser’, described as “a tall, fresh-faced officer with bangs cut straight across his forehead…” (1% into the Kindle version). At 2%, suddenly there is reference to “Harnish, clean-shaven and trim, wearing a suit…” I actually went back to check who this person was, and if I had missed the mention of his first name. I only realised it was an editing oversight when ‘Carl Harnish’ is mentioned finally at 8%.
This kind of obvious snafu always make me jittery in the context of a non-fiction book, where the reader has to implicitly trust in the veracity of the material being presented. (How it is contextualised is another matter.) Of course, this is not a mistake per se, but it is baffling given the number of eyes that must have passed over the text from research to writing stage. And the research is meticulous and extensive: At under 300 pages, the actual book itself is only 71%, with the rest being notes and attributions.
It is interesting how the ‘true crime’ sub-genre has its own tropes, well-established in early books like The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer by Brian Masters. The focus is invariably on the pathology of the killer, not to mention the salacious details of his (they always seem to be male) atrocities. Elon Green tries to subvert this genre by deliberately focusing on the four known victims of Richard Rogers, presenting detailed accounts of their lives and loves, and how they attempted to fit in as gay in an often hostile world.
Personally for me this is where the book falters a bit, as Green’s depiction of the gay world of the era is something like a sensationalised Disneyland tour, focusing mainly on the different bars, hook-up spots, the diverse clientele and their equally diverse predilections. But this is a minor quibble, for Green manages to compile a devastating portrait of just difficult it was to be gay in the period from the 1960s to the 1990s, and how the AIDS crisis was a catalyst for gay paranoia, hatred and hate crimes.
Exactly why America was (and is?) so fearful of alternative lifestyles is a much larger question that hovers in the shadows of what ends up being quite an emotionally wrenching read. I have always wondered about those people who survived the AIDS era, only to have succumbed to the latest global pandemic – this is a fate of a key character here, and it seems quite surreal.
Yes, we do get a chapter on Richard Rogers himself eventually. It is utterly astonishing to read that he was acquitted of the murder of a colleague when he was only 22 (there is a suggestion that the infamous ‘gay panic’ defense was used). Later he was also acquitted of drugging and tying up a man in New York, with the defense suggesting that the victim made up the attack as Rogers had rejected his (gay) sexual advances.
Green does seem to highlight that these were trial runs for the killer’s eventual successful modus operandi. When the task team is eventually disbanded as no new dismembered victims turn up, Green quotes a State trooper who simply points out that maybe had just become much better at hiding.
What is interesting is Green’s comments to the media subsequent to the publication of his book: “I should say that I went into the book assuming that one of the reasons the case wasn’t solved for so long was pure indifference and negligence because the victims were gay. That was my bias. And it turned out to not be true, for the most part,” he told Film Daily on 4 April 2021. That “for the most part” is actually a large chunk of the book itself.
The same interview quotes a comment Green made to A&E, where he clarifies the complex role that law enforcement ended up playing in the case: “I felt that if the reader didn’t know what was going on at the time in New York, with the legal system, the judicial system, law enforcement … there would be no way to understand the bigger picture of why these cases were treated the way they were. You had to understand the stakes of what was going on around everybody: This was a time of tremendous, unmitigated violence. It made no sense to be writing about these murders as if they happened in a vacuum.”
I do think that an interesting question posed by this book – and it one that is left for the reader to resolve – is the issue of social justice versus digging up an unsolved serial-killing spree with all the bells and whistles of Richard Rogers (the fraught politics, the gay culture) and using this as the basis of a book with the rather lurid subtitle of ‘A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York’.
Interestingly, we get none of the ‘armchair profiling’ of Richard Rogers that also typifies this genre, just the bare bones of his arrest, trial and subsequent incarceration. Fittingly, the book ends where the story began: “… Only the placement of the paintings on the wall is noticeably different from the night the bar opened in 1989. The liquor is still high-end, the pours still heavy,” notes Rick.
The Townhouse – where Peter spent part of his last night alive – has forgotten Richard Westall Rogers Jr., who for fourteen years has been locked away in the New Jersey State Prison. Rogers spends his time watching movies, keeping abreast of current events, and writing letters.
The first person to be referred to in this book is ‘Jay Musser’, described as “a tall, fresh-faced officer with bangs cut straight across his forehead…” (1% into the Kindle version). At 2%, suddenly there is reference to “Harnish, clean-shaven and trim, wearing a suit…” I actually went back to check who this person was, and if I had missed the mention of his first name. I only realised it was an editing oversight when ‘Carl Harnish’ is mentioned finally at 8%.
This kind of obvious snafu always make me jittery in the context of a non-fiction book, where the reader has to implicitly trust in the veracity of the material being presented. (How it is contextualised is another matter.) Of course, this is not a mistake per se, but it is baffling given the number of eyes that must have passed over the text from research to writing stage. And the research is meticulous and extensive: At under 300 pages, the actual book itself is only 71%, with the rest being notes and attributions.
It is interesting how the ‘true crime’ sub-genre has its own tropes, well-established in early books like The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer by Brian Masters. The focus is invariably on the pathology of the killer, not to mention the salacious details of his (they always seem to be male) atrocities. Elon Green tries to subvert this genre by deliberately focusing on the four known victims of Richard Rogers, presenting detailed accounts of their lives and loves, and how they attempted to fit in as gay in an often hostile world.
Personally for me this is where the book falters a bit, as Green’s depiction of the gay world of the era is something like a sensationalised Disneyland tour, focusing mainly on the different bars, hook-up spots, the diverse clientele and their equally diverse predilections. But this is a minor quibble, for Green manages to compile a devastating portrait of just difficult it was to be gay in the period from the 1960s to the 1990s, and how the AIDS crisis was a catalyst for gay paranoia, hatred and hate crimes.
Exactly why America was (and is?) so fearful of alternative lifestyles is a much larger question that hovers in the shadows of what ends up being quite an emotionally wrenching read. I have always wondered about those people who survived the AIDS era, only to have succumbed to the latest global pandemic – this is a fate of a key character here, and it seems quite surreal.
Yes, we do get a chapter on Richard Rogers himself eventually. It is utterly astonishing to read that he was acquitted of the murder of a colleague when he was only 22 (there is a suggestion that the infamous ‘gay panic’ defense was used). Later he was also acquitted of drugging and tying up a man in New York, with the defense suggesting that the victim made up the attack as Rogers had rejected his (gay) sexual advances.
Green does seem to highlight that these were trial runs for the killer’s eventual successful modus operandi. When the task team is eventually disbanded as no new dismembered victims turn up, Green quotes a State trooper who simply points out that maybe had just become much better at hiding.
What is interesting is Green’s comments to the media subsequent to the publication of his book: “I should say that I went into the book assuming that one of the reasons the case wasn’t solved for so long was pure indifference and negligence because the victims were gay. That was my bias. And it turned out to not be true, for the most part,” he told Film Daily on 4 April 2021. That “for the most part” is actually a large chunk of the book itself.
The same interview quotes a comment Green made to A&E, where he clarifies the complex role that law enforcement ended up playing in the case: “I felt that if the reader didn’t know what was going on at the time in New York, with the legal system, the judicial system, law enforcement … there would be no way to understand the bigger picture of why these cases were treated the way they were. You had to understand the stakes of what was going on around everybody: This was a time of tremendous, unmitigated violence. It made no sense to be writing about these murders as if they happened in a vacuum.”
I do think that an interesting question posed by this book – and it one that is left for the reader to resolve – is the issue of social justice versus digging up an unsolved serial-killing spree with all the bells and whistles of Richard Rogers (the fraught politics, the gay culture) and using this as the basis of a book with the rather lurid subtitle of ‘A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York’.
Interestingly, we get none of the ‘armchair profiling’ of Richard Rogers that also typifies this genre, just the bare bones of his arrest, trial and subsequent incarceration. Fittingly, the book ends where the story began: “… Only the placement of the paintings on the wall is noticeably different from the night the bar opened in 1989. The liquor is still high-end, the pours still heavy,” notes Rick.
The Townhouse – where Peter spent part of his last night alive – has forgotten Richard Westall Rogers Jr., who for fourteen years has been locked away in the New Jersey State Prison. Rogers spends his time watching movies, keeping abreast of current events, and writing letters.
February 7, 2022
A well-researched and well-written look into the murders of 5 gay men in New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey in the 1990s, Last Call is top-notch true crime. The author thought when he began his research that he would find that not much attention was paid to this serial killer, because this was the time of the AIDs crisis when gay men and their lifestyles were being doubly vilified in the United States. He was pleasantly surprised to find that the Pennsylvania and New Jersey police were on it; it was only in New York where the authorities were lackadaisical about looking into the crimes. The New York police were known for rousting gay bars and areas, as well, running the men in just to humiliate and denigrate them. The general public was terrified of AIDs and everyone associated gay men with it, which was disheartening after the strides gays had made earlier in the 70s and 80s.
I remember it well, as I was a college student in the eighties and had a ton of gay friends being an art major (enough said) who loved the kids in the drama department too. The story of the men is heartbreaking. Each one had friends and family and a community that loved them. The killer is an enigma. He was caught in an interesting way. It was almost accidental. The fact that he got away with it for probably 20 years is horrific. He was lucky or justice is blind. I don't know which.
I remember it well, as I was a college student in the eighties and had a ton of gay friends being an art major (enough said) who loved the kids in the drama department too. The story of the men is heartbreaking. Each one had friends and family and a community that loved them. The killer is an enigma. He was caught in an interesting way. It was almost accidental. The fact that he got away with it for probably 20 years is horrific. He was lucky or justice is blind. I don't know which.
June 29, 2022
"It took courage to stop pretending."
°•*⁀➷
This is completely insane.
The bigotry that exists in this country baffles me. The way that opinions are seen as fact and never corrected, always coming back to hurting another minority group.
Will it ever end?
I think recent events just proves that it won't.
I'm sad. And I'm glad Elon Green decided to tell this story of a "forgotten" serial killer simply because the victims were gay men instead of beautiful white women. I'm so very sad.
When Elon explained that "gay panic" used to be a plea used to excuse killing a gay man because of the "fear for their own life" I could not believe what I was hearing. The way that we've adapted that into something completely different from a "VALID EXCUSE" to kill people...
As for the three stars, it wasn't the most well thought out writing structure I've ever seen. But that doesn't take away from how good the content was.
- Paige
°•*⁀➷
This is completely insane.
The bigotry that exists in this country baffles me. The way that opinions are seen as fact and never corrected, always coming back to hurting another minority group.
Will it ever end?
I think recent events just proves that it won't.
I'm sad. And I'm glad Elon Green decided to tell this story of a "forgotten" serial killer simply because the victims were gay men instead of beautiful white women. I'm so very sad.
When Elon explained that "gay panic" used to be a plea used to excuse killing a gay man because of the "fear for their own life" I could not believe what I was hearing. The way that we've adapted that into something completely different from a "VALID EXCUSE" to kill people...
As for the three stars, it wasn't the most well thought out writing structure I've ever seen. But that doesn't take away from how good the content was.
- Paige
May 23, 2021
I vaguely remember reading in the gay papers ca. 1992-94 about the suspicion that there was a serial killer of gay men about, who would pick up tricks at various upscale piano bars in Manhattan, kill and dismember them, leaving their remains in plastic garbage bags in remote locations. By the time the culprit was apprehended in 2001 and convicted in 2005, interest in the case had waned, so it is nice to have this meticulously researched and fast paced true crime volume to satisfy one's curiosity on the particulars.
Green has obviously done a thorough job of sifting through the clues, synthesizing information from a vast array of sources, and putting it out there for readers in a forthright fashion - but be warned - much of this material is NOT for the faint of heart. If occasionally it gets bogged down in superfluous details, or becomes momentarily difficult to follow (there is a plethora of 'characters', since there were at least four separate jurisdictions working the cases), many of these details enrich the story, and Green does an exemplary job of foregrounding the histories of the five known victims, showing what was lost with their untimely deaths.
If the book leaves one with a lot of questions about the perpetrator and his motives, that is by no means the fault of the author, who tried but failed to get any cooperation from the murderer. And Green himself graciously acknowledges that, not being a member of the LGBTQ+ community himself, perhaps his perspective is not quite adequate to parse out some aspects of the case - he does upon occasion over explain things for the 'straights' that are self evident to queer readers.
Be that as it may, the book is riveting; I raced through it in a day, and it also does a yeoman's job of demonstrating the lack of police protection for the LGBTQ+ community until very recently. But a minor quibble with the subtitle - it's titillating, but there is really NO love or lust in the book at ALL!
My sincere thanks to Netgalley, the author, and Celadon books for providing me with BOTH eBook and print ARCs of the book, in exchange for this honest review.
Green has obviously done a thorough job of sifting through the clues, synthesizing information from a vast array of sources, and putting it out there for readers in a forthright fashion - but be warned - much of this material is NOT for the faint of heart. If occasionally it gets bogged down in superfluous details, or becomes momentarily difficult to follow (there is a plethora of 'characters', since there were at least four separate jurisdictions working the cases), many of these details enrich the story, and Green does an exemplary job of foregrounding the histories of the five known victims, showing what was lost with their untimely deaths.
If the book leaves one with a lot of questions about the perpetrator and his motives, that is by no means the fault of the author, who tried but failed to get any cooperation from the murderer. And Green himself graciously acknowledges that, not being a member of the LGBTQ+ community himself, perhaps his perspective is not quite adequate to parse out some aspects of the case - he does upon occasion over explain things for the 'straights' that are self evident to queer readers.
Be that as it may, the book is riveting; I raced through it in a day, and it also does a yeoman's job of demonstrating the lack of police protection for the LGBTQ+ community until very recently. But a minor quibble with the subtitle - it's titillating, but there is really NO love or lust in the book at ALL!
My sincere thanks to Netgalley, the author, and Celadon books for providing me with BOTH eBook and print ARCs of the book, in exchange for this honest review.
August 22, 2023
**4.5-stars**
Last Call is a very solid True Crime novel. Some of the organization of information was a bit wonky for me, but overall, a well-researched, horrifying piece of history.
Last Call is a very solid True Crime novel. Some of the organization of information was a bit wonky for me, but overall, a well-researched, horrifying piece of history.
May 15, 2024
If you were here a couple of weeks ago for the Great Author Tantrum of ’24 when apparently I should have been drawn and quartered for failing to read/review an advanced copy within a week of receiving it, then maybe I should be burned at the stake for this one since it was released in 2021, I received it as an ARC and three years later I just now finally got around to it. And to be 100% honest, I probably wouldn’t have even then if I had not been looking for a murder show to binge on the television and saw this title pop up which led to “hmmmmm, don’t I have a book by that name????” Also? I didn’t even read it. This was my latest “walk ‘n talk” that I finished during my lunch hour just now that I checked out via audio from the library.
But I digress . . . .
I REALLY appreciated the way this was delivered. I’m not a big true crime reader, but this approach to tell the VICTIM’S story with the perpetrator only coming in at the end to wrap up how he was caught and for him to get his comeuppance was such a change of pace.
This story of a serial killer literally didn’t even have a Wikipedia page before the book was written was one that had already been mishandled for eternity, so I appreciated the sensitivity with which it was told. I also “enjoyed” (wrong term, but I’m no tortured poet so you get what you get) the history of the hole-in-the-wall sort of gay bar scene in NYC during the late ‘80s and early ‘90s instead of only ever hearing about the Stonewall Riots, the terror of the AIDS epidemic, and how newfound technology so often cracks the cold case (like the new way of lifting fingerprints here or “23andMe” with the Golden State Killer).
If you are looking for a gory detailed sort of bloodbath serial killer book, this won’t be for you, but I thought it was so well done and the narration was great. Orrrrrrrrr, if you have Max you can simply watch the docuseries.
ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
October 24, 2020
✨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) 📚
•
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. 📚
•
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. 📚
•
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. 📚
•
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. 📚
•
Content warnings: Addiction, alcoholism, deat), gore (it's REALLY gory, y'all), hate crime, homophobia, physical abuse, torture, violence, police brutality, kidnapping. 📚
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) 📚
•
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. 📚
•
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. 📚
•
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. 📚
•
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. 📚
•
Content warnings: Addiction, alcoholism, deat), gore (it's REALLY gory, y'all), hate crime, homophobia, physical abuse, torture, violence, police brutality, kidnapping. 📚
January 26, 2022
4 Stars
December 6, 2021
An excellent example of what I have learned is known as narrative non-fiction. I highly recommend the audiobook as the narrator, David Pittu is truly a joy to listen to. This is the story of a serial killer who preyed specifically on gay men in the late 80s through the early 90s. A time when people were particularly homophobic and blamed gay men for the AIDS epidemic. The murders were horribly grisly, and unbelievably forgotten. According to Elon Green there isn't even a wikipedia entry!
Green unearths the details of the investigation, or the lack there of. His message is that these gay men were people and worthy of our attention. He sort to understand these men as people and he succeeds in truly honoring their lives in Last Call. He writes of his motive for researching and writing this book:
"I simply wanted to know about Anthony Marrero, Michael Sakara, Tom Mulcahy, Fred Spencer and Peter Anderson before they became victims. Who were they? What brought each of the men into the path of Richard Rogers. What brought them to New York? to Port Authority? to the Five Oaks, to Orono to the Townhouse?"
Green unearths the details of the investigation, or the lack there of. His message is that these gay men were people and worthy of our attention. He sort to understand these men as people and he succeeds in truly honoring their lives in Last Call. He writes of his motive for researching and writing this book:
"I simply wanted to know about Anthony Marrero, Michael Sakara, Tom Mulcahy, Fred Spencer and Peter Anderson before they became victims. Who were they? What brought each of the men into the path of Richard Rogers. What brought them to New York? to Port Authority? to the Five Oaks, to Orono to the Townhouse?"
April 7, 2021
Audio - 5 Stars
Story - 4 Stars
Story - 4 Stars
November 11, 2020
I rarely read true crime, even though I'm trying to read more. One of my most anticipated true crime reads on my TBR was Elon Green's
Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York
, a detailed depiction of a serial killer often overlooked, The Last Call Killer. At a little over 200 pages, you can read this book in one sitting easily!
Last Call tackles the backstories of The Last Call Killer's victims, while also talking about how life was for queer people in the 1960s up until the last victim's death. This book was so interesting to me, because as a gay man, I always want to know why people are continuously trying to bring my community down. As I ventured on with the story, the author does a great job immersing you into the case. I did feel that the writing was a bit dry, but I've come to accept that when it comes to nonfiction storytelling. I do wish we got more into the serial killer's backstory, but I do believe that Elon Green did the best he could with the content he was able to find. I'm excited to see what's next for Elon Green's true crime writing career.
Last Call tackles the backstories of The Last Call Killer's victims, while also talking about how life was for queer people in the 1960s up until the last victim's death. This book was so interesting to me, because as a gay man, I always want to know why people are continuously trying to bring my community down. As I ventured on with the story, the author does a great job immersing you into the case. I did feel that the writing was a bit dry, but I've come to accept that when it comes to nonfiction storytelling. I do wish we got more into the serial killer's backstory, but I do believe that Elon Green did the best he could with the content he was able to find. I'm excited to see what's next for Elon Green's true crime writing career.
March 6, 2021
I am brand new to the world of True Crime. This is definitely a very eye opening read. The details of the murders are gruesome. It's horrible to think of real people suffering in such brutal ways. I really can not begin to imagine what these poor families went through.
In the 80's and 90's, the Last Call Killer preyed on gay men in NYC. Unfortunately law enforcement was not convinced that these murders were connected and so they failed to receive the police attention they deserved.
While this book is clearly well researched and packed with information I found it a bit overwhelming. At times it was confusing with too many details, too many people. I struggled to get through this one. But I'm marking it as "it's me, not the book."
Thanks to Celadonbooks for my review copy!
In the 80's and 90's, the Last Call Killer preyed on gay men in NYC. Unfortunately law enforcement was not convinced that these murders were connected and so they failed to receive the police attention they deserved.
While this book is clearly well researched and packed with information I found it a bit overwhelming. At times it was confusing with too many details, too many people. I struggled to get through this one. But I'm marking it as "it's me, not the book."
Thanks to Celadonbooks for my review copy!
August 6, 2023
First, I don't know if I've mentioned this before but the tv channel Oxygen home of Snapped and other True Crime shows has or had a Book Club( the official website doesn't list any recent book picks) and you know me I love to passively read from book club selections. So I've read 2 or 3 picks from Oxygen and I've really enjoyed them(check out my True Crime shelf).
Last Call is the gripping story of a serial killer who in the 1980's and 1990's terrorized the gay community in New York...it won't surprise you to learn that law enforcement and political leaders didn't give a shit that gay men were being hunted, killed and dismembered. This was afterall happening at the height of the AIDS epidemic and being gay was still treated as a crime by law enforcement. It also didn't help that crime in New York was sky high so law enforcement and politicians cared less about actually solving or preventing crime and more about appearing in the media to lower the crime rate.
So while body parts of gay men some out and some closeted appeared along highways in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, law enforcement and media ignored it. Letting an unassuming killer have free reign over the city's gay hangouts. It's almost as if some lives don't matter.
I had vaguely heard of this case and I think I even knew about this book but it wasn't top of mind. Not until a couple weeks ago I stumbled across a YouTube video by Inside Edition covering this case. I immediately wanted to read this book to learn more. Last Call is Elon Green's first book and I really hope it isn't the last. Last Call is a fast paced and riveting real life thriller. The victims are treated as real people who had families who loved them not just as gay men who died horribly. In fact the killer isn't even introduced until the last 50 or so pages. This book is about the victims and the impact these crimes had on the gay community.
It seems weird to say I enjoyed this boo but I did find it interesting and heartbreaking. If you "enjoy" True Crime then you should definitely add this book to your tbr.
Last Call is the gripping story of a serial killer who in the 1980's and 1990's terrorized the gay community in New York...it won't surprise you to learn that law enforcement and political leaders didn't give a shit that gay men were being hunted, killed and dismembered. This was afterall happening at the height of the AIDS epidemic and being gay was still treated as a crime by law enforcement. It also didn't help that crime in New York was sky high so law enforcement and politicians cared less about actually solving or preventing crime and more about appearing in the media to lower the crime rate.
So while body parts of gay men some out and some closeted appeared along highways in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, law enforcement and media ignored it. Letting an unassuming killer have free reign over the city's gay hangouts. It's almost as if some lives don't matter.
I had vaguely heard of this case and I think I even knew about this book but it wasn't top of mind. Not until a couple weeks ago I stumbled across a YouTube video by Inside Edition covering this case. I immediately wanted to read this book to learn more. Last Call is Elon Green's first book and I really hope it isn't the last. Last Call is a fast paced and riveting real life thriller. The victims are treated as real people who had families who loved them not just as gay men who died horribly. In fact the killer isn't even introduced until the last 50 or so pages. This book is about the victims and the impact these crimes had on the gay community.
It seems weird to say I enjoyed this boo but I did find it interesting and heartbreaking. If you "enjoy" True Crime then you should definitely add this book to your tbr.
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