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Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York Hardcover – March 9, 2021
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**WINNER OF THE EDGAR® AWARD FOR BEST FACT CRIME**
A "terrific, harrowing, true-crime account of an elusive serial killer who preyed upon gay men in the 1990s."
-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
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.
- Print length272 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherCeladon Books
- Publication dateMarch 9, 2021
- Dimensions6.27 x 1.03 x 9.68 inches
- ISBN-101250224357
- ISBN-13978-1250224354
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Editorial Reviews
Review
**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
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Celadon Books
- Publication date : March 9, 2021
- Language : English
- Print length : 272 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1250224357
- ISBN-13 : 978-1250224354
- Item Weight : 1 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.27 x 1.03 x 9.68 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,030,616 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #63 in Law Enforcement Biographies
- #174 in Serial Killers True Accounts
- #528 in Crime & Criminal Biographies
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Elon Green has written for The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, and The New Yorker, and appears in Unspeakable Acts, Sarah Weinman’s anthology of true crime. Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York was his first book and won the Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find this true crime book riveting and well-written, with excellent storytelling. Moreover, the book is well-researched, with one customer describing it as a thorough must-read debut non-fiction. Additionally, customers appreciate its pacing, with one review noting how it provides a valuable snapshot into LGBTQIA+ life.
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Customers find the book engaging and well-written, with one customer noting it reads like a suspenseful novel.
"...That's an interesting, colorful subject, so I would recommend this book to anybody, especially if you have an interest in LGBT subject matter, gay..." Read more
"Green does a masterful job foregrounding the victims and the space queer folks fell in during the 80s-90s...." Read more
"...Overall It was well written and had a strong narrative momentum in spite of all those details...." Read more
"“Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York”, is a good true crime book...." Read more
Customers praise the thorough research of the book, with one customer noting it is a must-read debut non-fiction, while another mentions how it makes characters and their relationships feel grounded.
"...focuses hard on giving the victims voices, and making them and their friends and family feel grounded. I think this one is an all-timer for the genre." Read more
"...Found the writing to be understanding and celebratory of each person being detailed so that they could be fully formed people and remembered for who..." Read more
"I am currently reading this murder mystery. It is quite interesting." Read more
"...It is well researched and I like that the author spends a great deal of time delving into the the lives of the victims...." Read more
Customers appreciate the writing quality of the book, finding it well written, with one customer noting it is concise.
"...Overall It was well written and had a strong narrative momentum in spite of all those details...." Read more
"...painstakingly researched book about the hunt for a monster is also a concise, fascinating history of the quite recent period when gay people were..." Read more
"...Found the writing to be understanding and celebratory of each person being detailed so that they could be fully formed people and remembered for who..." Read more
"Really well written with sympathy for the victims. Harsh comment on the homophobia of the time a d TBE indifference of the police and justice system." Read more
Customers appreciate the pacing of the book, with one review noting how it provides a valuable snapshot into LGBTQIA+ life, while another describes it as a fascinating portrait of gay closeted men.
"...Nestled within this true crime narrative is an intriguing sociological study of how a culture reveals its values through the pursuit of justice...." Read more
"...While the book is accessible and provides a valuable snapshot into LGBTQIA+ life during the height of the AIDS crisis, the author applies the..." Read more
"...also gets into the victims personal lives and offers a fascinating portrait of gay closeted men in the 1980s...." Read more
"...His research is meticulous and he paints a picture of the landscape of queer life that allowed a serial killer to get away with his crimes for so..." Read more
Customers find the book riveting.
"...I don’t read much true crime but this one was truly gripping and I was so amazed by the changes in our society during my lifetime, there’s quite a..." Read more
"Riveting and interesting read..." Read more
"Riveting. Excellent reporting..." Read more
Reviews with images

A thoroughly researched must-read debut non-fiction that reads like a novel
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2021True crime is decidedly not my genre (I can't even force myself to read or watch In Cold Blood even though I love Truman Capote), so this was, at face value, an unusual choice for me to pick up. However, an author on Twitter with 150K followers raved about it and described it in terms very un-crime-like, so I got the Kindle free sample and started reading.
The storytelling is so excellent and absorbing and humane that the book is hard to put down. It focuses mainly on gay men and piano bars in New York in the late 1980s and the 1990s. That's an interesting, colorful subject, so I would recommend this book to anybody, especially if you have an interest in LGBT subject matter, gay history, or even just great nonfiction/biography.
A lot of meticulous research, not to mention footwork, went into this book (apparently three years' worth), but that's not enough to make a book readable. It takes a skilled writer, and more than that a great storyteller, to pull something like this wide-ranging book off. And Elon Green has done exactly that. Hats off to him.
I highly recommend this to anybody. If, like me, you have a Kindle, check out the free sample. My bet is that you'll be sucked in right away just like I was.
- Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2024Green does a masterful job foregrounding the victims and the space queer folks fell in during the 80s-90s. He really focuses hard on giving the victims voices, and making them and their friends and family feel grounded. I think this one is an all-timer for the genre.
- Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2021People on Twitter were telling me to buy this book, and I’m glad I listened. I had just finished reading an awful book with awful characters and I needed a good read.
I really like what Green does here in looking at the Last Call Killer in that he really centers the victims and their stories. The book is more about these people and the setting more so than their tragic end.
That centering does lead to a couple of places where it was hard for me to keep track of all the characters and places but part of that is just me because I’m horrible with those details.
Overall It was well written and had a strong narrative momentum in spite of all those details. It is definitely one of those books that I’m going to pass onto my friends telling them they should read it too.
And as a side note: reading this book taught me there is a functional difference between dismemberment and disarticulation.
- Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2021“Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York”, is a good true crime book. It is the story of four dead bodies found in plastic garbage bags, in bins located along major roads in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. There were many garbage bags per victim because the killer cut all the bodies up into five or so pieces. “Headless Body Found in bodyless bin”, and all that. These men were all murdered and found between 1991 to 1993. Who was the murderer? And who were the victims?
Author Elon Green wanted to write a book that was more about who was killed, rather than who did the killing. All four victims were middle aged men. Two men were closeted married gay men and the other two were a little more “out”.
Three were picked up by the killer in New York City piano bars which were gay hangouts. Green details their lives until their deaths. He writes about worry within the gay community to. The threat of AIDS, job discrimination, and problems with the police in all three locations.
We learn about the murdered but given fairly little information about the killer and how he killed and disposed of the dismembered bodies. That’s a big hole in the middle of the book. WHY, WERE, WHEN, and HOW are questions left unasked and unanswered.
Elon Green’s book is actually quite good, if you can move past those pesky W and H questions. Green has many interviews with friends and family of the killer, the victims, and members of law enforcement. However, I don’t think he interviewed the killer.
- Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2022I wouldn’t have found this book if it hadn’t been for @bookaddictpnw ‘s fabulous review and I am so glad I read it. I don’t read much true crime but this one was truly gripping and I was so amazed by the changes in our society during my lifetime, there’s quite a difference between the early 90s when the crimes in this book took place and now.
A particularly vicious serial killer was preying upon gay men in New York. Body parts were found stuffed in trash bags in areas around the city. The victims frequented various bars that catered to Manhattan's gay community and the consensus was that the killer was very likely a patron, too. The police placed a low priority on the investigation into the grisly crimes and, during the years when AIDS was cutting its own swath of death across the city, there was little outcry from the public. This painstakingly researched book about the hunt for a monster is also a concise, fascinating history of the quite recent period when gay people were cast off in shadows of secrecy and denial and the delayed rising to the power to demand equality.
- Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2023Very much appreciated that the author told the story from the POV of the victims and their stories as opposed to devoting a book to a murderer. Found the writing to be understanding and celebratory of each person being detailed so that they could be fully formed people and remembered for who they were in life instead of how their death defined them. Interesting read for true crime enthusiasts craving to know more about the victims than the killers.
- Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2024I am currently reading this murder mystery. It is quite interesting.
Top reviews from other countries
- Amazon CustomerReviewed in the United Kingdom on June 26, 2021
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic book
Brilliant read, very well researched and written.