Disclaimer: I was sent an ARC by the publisher in exchange
for a fair review.
Last
Call is entirely a true crime book.
This is
not a criticism.
Green’s
starting point is the murders. He starts
with Peter Anderson but gives the reader a sense of who Anderson was the loss
to society and family. He does the same
with other victims, Tom Mulcahy, Anthony Marrero, Michael J Sakara, and Fred
Spencer. The reader gets to know the
victims in great deal as well as the lost to family, friends, and society at
large.
But even
them it is more than that. It is a
snapshot of a time and a place. Green focuses
on the Queer bar scene in NYC, after Stonewall.
He gives he reader a view of the anti-gay violence in the city as well
as the country as a whole/ In fact, the focus of the book is on the society
that existed during the time of the killings.
It isn’t
just the conflict or disconnect (disrespect) between the Queer community and
the police force, but also how accepting towns/societies/are were of the
community, the pressures put on man to marry and father children, and the “gay
panic” defense. Green looks at how fear
of not only physical harm but the worry of being publicity outed. He looks at the outbreak of the AIDS epidemic
(and ends with the COVID-19 pandemic which makes a for disturbing
bookend).
In many
ways, this is what crime fiction should be.
The focus on the victims, on what was ripped away. Instead of speculating on the why the
murderer committed his acts, the focus is on the time and the people affected. This something crime fiction should do more
often. With this book, we get the long
view, the impact that has occurred over time.
He does this in part though the use of Rick Unterberg, a piano player at
The Townhouse.
The research
that Green does as well as the drive that led him to do it, is conveyed though every
single word that Green uses to tell the story.
Because the story is not widely known, or even completely technically solved,
Green’s book is important because it brings to light not only a case that
should be more widely known, but also is a timely reminder of how recently criminalization
of love occurred and how secretive people had to be in order to live their lives.
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