Last Call is a fascinating true-crime narrative about a serial killer who is largely unknown to most and still a mystery even to those who have read this book. The Last Call Killer preyed upon gay men in an era when AIDS and homophobia were also threatening their existence, and indifference to their plight by government, police, and the general public made finding the killer and bringing him to justice just that much harder. Thanks to the efforts of a dogged anti-violence community group and a few investigators determined to eventually crack the case, the Last Call Killer was finally identified and apprehended--but why this gripping story is just now being told, decades after it started, is also a mystery.
Elon Green has gone to great lengths to research and write about this lost case. He provides context and insight into the culture of gay nightlife in NYC at the time of the murders, in addition to identifying and describing the societal, cultural, and political forces that made life extremely difficult for the queer community, especially in the 1980's-1990's. Mr. Green goes into great detail to profile the victims from an early age and give the reader a sense of each man's successes and struggles in life while also eloquently reminding the reader of each man's humanity. The investigation into the killings and the hunt for the killer are also meticulously detailed, so much so that at times I felt it difficult to keep all the investigators and jurisdictions straight. The one aspect of this story that I felt was a bit underexplained was the killer's trial--the chapter regarding this was barely four pages in length, and was not nearly as detailed as previous chapters regarding the investigation. As it took four years from apprehension of the killer to the start of the actual trial, I would think that there would be much more to delineate about the evidence and testimony collected in that interval and presented at trial. There are also some unanswered questions about this case (motive? more unknown victims?) but I think the answers to those may never be known unless the killer himself decides to speak someday.
I appreciate the exhaustive amount of research that Mr. Green did for this book in order to present as much factual information as possible about a case that has been virtually unpublicized outside of the NYC/New Jersey area. There are multitudes of footnotes and 26 pages of notes and sources that include court documents, newspaper articles, medical journals, and untold hours of personal interviews with what seems like everyone involved in the case. There are also maps included periodically through the book showing the locations where victims' remains were found in relation to the bars they were last seen in and the killer's residences. I appreciated the maps but felt that they were a bit redundant-each map added another set of remains or a new bar or other NYC location pertinent to the story but otherwise were quite similar. I would have been perfectly fine with one or two comprehensive maps instead of five, but I recognize that these were included periodically through the book to help build the case narrative and show a pattern.
I enjoyed this book even though it is ultimately a sad story of a vulnerable population hunted, tormented, and in this case, brutally murdered--while almost no one at the time raised an eyebrow. By shedding light on this case and these victims, the author provides visibility and dignity to those affected by the prejudice and violence of that era and reminds us what is at stake when society turns a blind eye to intolerance.
Thanks to Celadon Books and Bookish First for the advance reading copy and the opportunity to read and review this book.
Elon Green has gone to great lengths to research and write about this lost case. He provides context and insight into the culture of gay nightlife in NYC at the time of the murders, in addition to identifying and describing the societal, cultural, and political forces that made life extremely difficult for the queer community, especially in the 1980's-1990's. Mr. Green goes into great detail to profile the victims from an early age and give the reader a sense of each man's successes and struggles in life while also eloquently reminding the reader of each man's humanity. The investigation into the killings and the hunt for the killer are also meticulously detailed, so much so that at times I felt it difficult to keep all the investigators and jurisdictions straight. The one aspect of this story that I felt was a bit underexplained was the killer's trial--the chapter regarding this was barely four pages in length, and was not nearly as detailed as previous chapters regarding the investigation. As it took four years from apprehension of the killer to the start of the actual trial, I would think that there would be much more to delineate about the evidence and testimony collected in that interval and presented at trial. There are also some unanswered questions about this case (motive? more unknown victims?) but I think the answers to those may never be known unless the killer himself decides to speak someday.
I appreciate the exhaustive amount of research that Mr. Green did for this book in order to present as much factual information as possible about a case that has been virtually unpublicized outside of the NYC/New Jersey area. There are multitudes of footnotes and 26 pages of notes and sources that include court documents, newspaper articles, medical journals, and untold hours of personal interviews with what seems like everyone involved in the case. There are also maps included periodically through the book showing the locations where victims' remains were found in relation to the bars they were last seen in and the killer's residences. I appreciated the maps but felt that they were a bit redundant-each map added another set of remains or a new bar or other NYC location pertinent to the story but otherwise were quite similar. I would have been perfectly fine with one or two comprehensive maps instead of five, but I recognize that these were included periodically through the book to help build the case narrative and show a pattern.
I enjoyed this book even though it is ultimately a sad story of a vulnerable population hunted, tormented, and in this case, brutally murdered--while almost no one at the time raised an eyebrow. By shedding light on this case and these victims, the author provides visibility and dignity to those affected by the prejudice and violence of that era and reminds us what is at stake when society turns a blind eye to intolerance.
Thanks to Celadon Books and Bookish First for the advance reading copy and the opportunity to read and review this book.