"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."
I should probably NEVER read true-crime stories in the middle of the night, cause this scared me playing the scenes in my head 😱. Yep, I may watch true crime stories and read them occasionally, but certainly not at night. A scaredy-cat I am 🙋🏽♀️ for graphic dismembered body parts.
#LastCall is a gripping true-crime narrative that tells the story of the 'Last Call Killer' (serial killer) who preyed upon gay men in New York in the ‘80s and ‘90s. All of whom were in or around a small circle of gay bars in Manhattan (one famously known as 'The Townhouse Bar') — and the decades-long chase to find him.
The author conducted repeated interviews with selected family members, friends, and associates of the victims, as well as dozens of law enforcement officials. Trial transcripts of newspapers and magazines To flesh out the contours of each homicide investigation.
One of the interesting bits I highlighted and appreciate about the author's writing was the clear indication that 'because of the sexuality of the victims, the sky-high murder rates, and the AIDS epidemic, these murders have been almost entirely forgotten. Intense investigations and forensic tests weren't made a priority for them. They were delayed far too long.
We get to see the way some of these victims lived, their families and loved ones, the other sides of them being happy with plans for the future, despite what happened to them.
Once I got past the murders and the investigations," the author wrote in the epilogue, "and my disbelief that it has all been forgotten — a string of killings in New York City didn't merit so much as a Wikipedia entry? — I became obsessed with the lives of the victims. I became obsessed with the lives they wanted but couldn't have. Here was a generation of men, more or less, for whom it was difficult to be visibly gay. To be visibly whole."
Do you enjoy true crime stories?
I highly recommend this one.