Rather than focus on the killer—who has all the allure of a wet cocktail napkin—he foregrounds the lives and milieus of the victims. It’s a reparative act that doubles as an extended elegy for the decades of closeted or bullied queers who encountered similar demons in schoolyards, across dinner tables, in pews, or in the browser histories they desperately erased.

... a stunning addition to the gay corner of the true-crime genre.

Last Call is Green’s first book, and it admirably demonstrates his commitment to sidestepping easy sensationalism for the far grittier work of checking sources, poring over police reports and reinterviewing witnesses.

Weaving together multiple histories and jumping back and forth in time can be hit-or-miss as a narrative structure, but Last Call does it well, thanks to Green’s original reporting conducted with law enforcement, politicians, victims’ families and patrons at gay bars where Rogers lurked.

While Last Call is about Rogers’ crimes, the heart of the book belongs to the victims, as Elon Green takes special care to maintain their humanity and dignity in this true-crime outing. Green’s writing is sensitive and powerful, and the tale he tells is compelling and tragic. The victims deserve to be remembered for who they were and not just how they died, and Green takes care to see that this is done...[and] provides a broad view of why homophobia continues to be a real and persistent threat. Overall, this is a fascinating addition to the genre, written with a literary style and uncommon tenderness..

Right from the beginning, Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York by Elon Green reads like the hardboiled true crime book that it is. 'John Doe' is the opening chapter's title, and on its first page readers are already treated to the stranger-than-fiction language of real people finding themselves in the middle of a horror show they never signed up for.

... this is more than a run of the mill account true crime account of a cunningly elusive serial killer. The author’s stated purpose for wanting to write the book is so that the victims would be remembered for who they were before they became one more statistic in a voyeuristic psychological profile of a deranged murderer .... The observations from family members particularly moving, as they express their loss and understanding of what these men endured emotionally in having to live a secret life.

The book spends much of its time telling the backstories of the victims, putting them at the center of the story rather than the killer.

... 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.

more than just a standard true crime exploration of these killings. Using meticulous research and engaging prose, The Last Call tells the complete stories of the men who died in these killings, giving them dignity after death and shining a light on the issues queer people faced several decades ago that still ring true today. Green creates a detailed, sometimes sobering picture of both queer New York in the time period of the killings and the places throughout the country where the men lived before, highlighting the lengths they went to gain acceptance and, often, the sad consequences of never receiving it. Green uses the same detailed approach in his retelling of the crimes, which may prove too gory for some squeamish readers; however, the book never veers into the purely salacious, and every detail feels necessary. This captivating and thought-provoking read is a humanity-filled twist on the true crime genre..

... gripping.

... ambitious if flawed.