Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder
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.
Reviews
"In this astonishing and powerful work of nonfiction, Green
meticulously reports on a series of baffling and brutal crimes targeting
gay men. It is an investigation filled with twists and turns, but this
is much more than a compelling true crime story. Green has shed light on
those whose lives for too long have been forgotten, and rescued an
important part of American history."-David Grann, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon
"Last Call
feels like the most timeless literary true-crime classics, even as it
forges a path through uncharted territory in the genre. Elon Green
tenaciously yet gracefully investigates a time when so many lived in
secret, and those secrets made them vulnerable to predation. A resonant,
powerful book."-Robert Kolker, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Lost Girls and Hidden Valley Road
"Last Call,
Elon Green's riveting true-crime account of a serial killer preying on
gay men in the final decades of the twentieth century, takes in the
oppression of the closet, the perils of the age of AIDS, and the
maddeningly meandering course of police investigation and criminal
justice, and it does its work so vividly, so persuasively, that you feel
as if Green was there through it all. He wasn't, to be sure, but his
incisively detailed reportage will have you feeling that you are there
too, to witness, with unnerving intimacy, a story as heartbreaking as it
is harrowing."-Benjamin Dreyer, New York Times bestselling author of Dreyer's English
"Last Call is
a great read, a beautifully written account of a serial killer preying
on gay men in New York City in the '80s and '90s. It is rich in history,
humanity, and suspense. I couldn't put it down."-Anne Lamott, New York Times bestselling author
"Last Call,
Elon Green's stunner of a debut, scaffolds the gripping account of a
serial killer stalking the bars and hangouts of early 1990s queer New
York over a heartfelt elegy to the lost lives of the murdered men, of a
community ravaged by AIDS, and of a city in perpetual ruin and revival.
This is a book I will reread again and again and find new and
astonishing insights every time."-Sarah Weinman, award-winning author of The Real Lolita and editor of Unspeakable Acts: True Tales of Crime, Murder, Deceit & Obsession
"These
crimes have been covered before, but Green sets his work apart by
offering nuanced portraits of the victims and exploring how they
navigated lives that led them to the bars that might have seemed like
safe spaces but turned out to be anything but. ...Reflecting both its
author’s compassion and journalistic chops, this gripping narrative also
focuses on forensic innovation and jurisdictional intrigue. A stellar
tale of justice eluded, to add to the growing queer true crime genre
justice." -Library Journal, starred review
Elon Green
Elon Green has written for The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, and The Columbia Journalism Review, and appears in Sarah Weinman's forthcoming anthology of true crime. He has been an editor at Longform for nearly a decade.
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