Reviews tagging 'Death'

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

29 reviews

siobhanward's review against another edition

dark informative medium-paced

3.5

 The content of the book was solid but at times it felt a bit all over the place. Some of the pacing was off - I understand Green's desire to focus on the victims rather than the killer, but this resulted in a very hasty account of a trial that definitely could have been more fleshed out. That being said, I enjoyed Green's approach - highlighting systemic failures that allowed these cases to be largely ignored for years (and even to this day in some cases) was really interesting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, and Murder

ckbarnard_0317's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious tense fast-paced

4.25

True crime+ respectful reporting+ queer history= yes please. I was surprised that this was a debut book because it was so well-structured, with a good balance between the true crime aspects and historical context.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Torture, Police brutality, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

goose's review against another edition

dark informative sad slow-paced

3.75

I wanted to love this book more than I did, but maybe Green’s writing style isn’t for me. The writing of the book isn’t straightforward and sometimes take a meandering stroll down an avenue that you can’t quite figure out the relevance of until the next page break. However, in terms of bringing to light a forgotten case as well as bringing to life that time in Manhattan for queer people it does a great job. I also think centering the book around the victims and their lives is how true crime should be. I do wish we got to hear more from the Anti Violence Group, maybe that would be for a different book. I also commend the sheer amount of work researching for the book must have been. Truly bravo on that front. The followups in the epilogue as well as in the addition written in 2021 for this edition were a nice treat, even though they come with bad news. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Homophobia

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Blood, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

cghegan's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, and Murder

Moderate: Hate crime

book_enjoyer's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious tense fast-paced

4.0

I’m not usually one for true crime, or even fictional murder mysteries, but I enjoyed this one. Green lays out the details of the Last Call Killer’s murders in unflinching, brutal detail, but he takes equal care with the victims’ lives and the gay bar culture that forms the setting of the book. As a queer reader, I appreciated that the book didn’t feel like it was written for a straight audience—Green doesn’t pause to explain what a bear or a leather daddy is, for example—and didn’t shy away from detailing the level of casual homophobia present at the time. In the epilogue, Green expresses some hesitancy as to whether he, a straight man, should be telling this story: “Could I do right by the queer community and its history? That’s not for me to say. What I tried to do in this book was let my sources tell the story.” In my opinion, he has risen to this challenge. Last Call is compelling, atmospheric, and thoroughly-researched, and it sheds light on a brutal serial killer whose actions were ignored for too long because of his victims’ sexuality. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Homophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Medical content, and Alcohol

arlangrey17's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Outing, and Alcohol

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious reflective fast-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Violence, Medical content, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Rape, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use and Panic attacks/disorders

hmatt's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

2.5

I'm firmly out of my true crime phase, but I suspect this book might be better liked by those who are more interested in the genre. 

I found the narration pretty dry and scattered. I know the author was attempting to tell the victims' stories, but it resulted in so many tangents about people who had no relevance to the crimes and made it hard for me to follow the main story. There wasn't a whole lot of mystery to the whole thing, but I don't think there was supposed to be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Homophobia, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

It's true crime, so everything that's described is done in a very matter-of-fact way and is not glorified if that makes a difference.

killerpancake's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious sad fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Medical content, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Cursing, Racism, and Blood

This is true crime where the victims were gay men and includes crime scene information. I appreciate that it focused more on the victim's lives instead of venerating the killer.