Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

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

21 reviews

jmross10's review against another edition

dark informative sad tense medium-paced

I will not be rating this book owing to the subject matter but that is not a reflection of my feelings. 

I think it was very well written and does not suffer from timeline confusion many historical nonfiction books do. It follows the narrative in a mostly linear fashion which makes it easier for readers to follow. 

Green did a good job of explaining the circumstances around the murders but also, in my opinion, trying to make these men more than just victims. He took the time to tell their life story separate from their tragic deaths which is so important. It forces readers to remember they are people and not just another name on the page. 

There is an air of mystery around the outcome which Green handles well. Not for the sake of monopolizing on the unknown but because that’s where it makes the most sense in the narrative. Once they start looking for legitimate suspects, the information about those individuals (including the guilty parties) is revealed. 

As a whole, I think it did a good job recounting the events. It had some information about forensics practices but didn’t overwhelm the reader with it. The historical context was helpful for those who didn’t have that information without being dry or feeling alienating. There was discussion of politics and society as well that made the history more fleshed out than just dates. Lastly, the commentary from his interviewees was well used and distributed throughout the book. It felt like a cohesive narrative and not just a hodge podge of other people’s work.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Homophobia, Murder, Violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Hate crime, Outing, Blood, and Gore

Moderate: Drug use, Grief, Medical trauma, Racism, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Medical content, Police brutality, and Suicide

kayla_hehe's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Murder, and Hate crime

bi_n_large's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Murder, Homophobia, Bullying, and Hate crime

Moderate: Transphobia, Drug use, Mental illness, Police brutality, and Alcoholism

Minor: Infidelity, Sexual violence, and Sexual content

danimacuk's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Violence, Death, Hate crime, Rape, Sexual assault, Homophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

amergens's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Gore, Homophobia, and Murder

cghegan's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Homophobia, and Death

Moderate: Hate crime

iadoreforks's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Hate crime, and Murder

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

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

arlangrey17's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

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