#BookReview Last Call by Elon Green @CeladonBooks #ReadLastCall #CeladonBooks #CeladonReads Title: Last Call

Author: Elon Green

Published by: Celadon Books on Mar. 9, 2021

Pages: 272

Format: Paperback, ARC

Source: Celadon Books

Book Rating: 9/10

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.


Review:

Engrossing, graphic, and gritty!

Last Call is the candid, comprehensive true story of the grisly murder and dismemberment of multiple gay men in Manhattan during the late 80s, early 90s, including an in-depth look into the lives of the victims, the investigations and media attention (or lack thereof), the political climate and social atmosphere of the time, and the scientific breakthrough that ultimately led to the killer’s identification and subsequent incarceration.

It is without a doubt an insightful, disturbing, exceptionally descriptive, well-researched tale by Green that left me horrified, satisfied, and intrigued to learn more, and is definitely one of the best true-crime stories I’ve read in quite some time.

This novel is available on March 9, 2021.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

                   

 

 

 

Thank you to Celadon Books for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About 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.