★ 11/01/2020
Opening with the discovery of the mutilated body of a Philadelphia gay man, journalist Green's work devoted to the victims of the Last Call Killer appears at first to be another lurid account of homicide. However, the author treats the victims, gay men murdered in the early 1990s, who were picked up at gay bars in New York City, with respect, describing how they shared an identity that left them vulnerable not only to a sadistic criminal but also to indifference and sometimes open hostility from those charged with solving their murders. 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. The author examines the shortcomings of the justice system and how a group of queer Chelsea residents formed an antiviolence group, pushing elected officials and the police to take the crimes seriously. Reflecting both its author's compassion and journalistic chops, this gripping narrative also focuses on forensic innovation and jurisdictional intrigue. VERDICT A stellar tale of justice eluded, to add to the growing queer true crime genre justice.—Bart Everts, Rutgers Univ.-Camden Lib., NJ
2020-11-17
The grisly account of a serial killer’s stint of murders in Manhattan in the early 1990s, unknown to many true-crime fans because his victims—older gay men—were viewed as dispensable.
It’s not until nearly halfway through this gripping book that Green cites the name of the killer, Richard Rogers Jr. That approach allows the author to expertly direct the suspense, leading readers to speculate about the background and personality of someone who was capable of dismembering a victim and placing the remains in trash bags. Those bags in particular—Rogers had a penchant for stuffing his targets in bags—were discovered by a maintenance worker at a rest area along the Pennsylvania Turnpike in 1991. Born in 1950 in Plymouth, Massachusetts, Rogers was a “gangly, awkward teenager” teased for his effeminacy, and he had few friends. Eventually, he developed into a bland, fanatic neatnik who commuted from his apartment on Staten Island to his job as a nurse at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. Rogers liked to chat up patrons of the Townhouse, a gay bar in Midtown that catered to professionals and had a “famous tendency for generous pours.” Green focuses on five of Rogers’ victims, though there is speculation he may have killed more. In addition to bestowing humanity and dignity on the victims, Green demonstrates impressive reporting chops. For example, he unearthed Rogers’ earliest killing in Maine even though the trial ended in an expunged record. The author also provides substantive documentation of the New York media’s and New York Police Department’s callous neglect of the murders. Only occasionally is the text marred by insipid writing—e.g., “Dead bodies tend to smell bad after a while.” Even though Green made dogged, repeated attempts to interview Rogers, who refused, the narrative would have benefitted from an analysis of the abnormal psychology that compelled Rogers, a gay man, to choose other gay men as his prey.
A deeply researched reclamation of a series of unfairly forgotten, gruesome crimes.
**WINNER OF THE EDGAR® AWARD FOR BEST FACT CRIME**
A Bustle Most Anticipated Debut of 2021
An O Magazine LGBTQ Book That Will Change the Literary Landscape in 2021
A Cosmopolitan LGBTQ+ Book to Add to Your Reading List in 2021
A Buzzfeed Best LGBTQ+ Book of 2021
A Good Housekeeping Best True Crime Book of All Time
A Suspense Magazine Best Book of 2021
An NBC News 10 Most Notable LGBTQ Book of 2021
A "terrific, harrowing, true-crime account of an elusive serial killer who preyed upon gay men in the 1990s... [Green] provides an adrenalized police-procedural plot without ever losing sight of the fact that these were innocent human beings who were duped, butchered and discarded."
-The New York Times (Editor's Pick)
"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 is not only a great book, nor a mere historical correction. It is an act of compassion..."
-The Boston Globe
"A stunning addition to the gay corner of the true-crime genre... As an investigative crime writer Elon puts in the work, with a sense of sensitivity and compassion... The care, the research, the investment on display in Last Call signals to me, at least, that Elon Green rises above the function of a dispassionate observer. He writes like a communal friend."
-Lambda Literary
"[A] true-crime stunner... Green’s sensitive portraits of the victims, and his deeply researched re-creation of an epoch of gay history, provide its soul. Inherently shocking material needs no dramatization... 'Last Call' is the kind of book that keeps you wide awake all night turning the pages."
-The New York Times
"Last Call, Elon Green's riveting true-crime thriller, works 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, 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 hunt for a serial killer 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
"Last Call is both a riveting whodunnit and a broad cultural history of the times."
-People
"[In true crime], the killers often become the focus, the object of fascination. This is not true in Last Call, which puts the victims first, and which, when it does reveal the discovery of the killer, doesn't attempt to make him seem like an anti-hero."
-NPR
"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."
-Library Journal, starred review
“In these riveting pages, Green reclaims a time, a place, and a community, weaving together a decades-long forensic investigation with a poignant elegy to murdered men.”
-Esquire
"A true crime thriller and lovingly detailed portrait of the gay community in New York during the 1990s, Last Call is a gripping read."
-Buzzfeed
"Far more than just a catch-a-killer tale, this book is a monument to the glittering, vibrant world created by a community well acquainted with mortality."
-Harper's Bazaar
"Departing from the tendency of the true-crime genre to centre on the killers, Mr. Green focuses on the victims in all their complexity. This is no easy feat."
-The Economist
"A sensitive and respectful page-turner, the very definition of a must-read."
-The Bay Area Reporter
"True crime too often focuses on the "bad guys".... In Last Call, Green instead foregrounds [the] known victims. He shows us the people they were and the lives they left behind. Their lives mattered, and Last Call is a testament to how homophobia shaped these men's lives and, eventually, their deaths."
-BookPage, starred review
"This captivating and thought-provoking read is a humanity-filled twist on the true crime genre."
-Booklist
"It’s not until nearly halfway through this gripping book that Green cites the name of the killer. That approach allows the author to expertly direct the suspense, leading readers to speculate about the background and personality of someone who was capable of dismembering a victim and placing the remains in trash bags... A deeply researched reclamation of a series of unfairly forgotten, gruesome crimes."
-Kirkus Reviews
"The most emotionally affecting non-fiction book I’ve read in 2021... [it] has the intrigue of a detective novel, yet the author also personalizes these victims with significant amounts of text for each. The result is a sad, deeply felt, extraordinarily memorable read."
-The Film Stage
"Green’s excellent treatment of an underreported topic makes this a book true crime readers won’t want to miss."
-BookPage
