Bright Young Women

"A fictionalized account of the POV of victims and survivors of a famous unnamed 70s serial killer. To hold with the author’s intent I won’t name him either but the one that popped into your head first is probably correct. The title is a play on the “you’re a very bright young man” line from the defendant’s trial. This is a powerful story of how many very bright young women’s lives were violently and carelessly changed forever..or callously ended. This book stayed with me for a long time. It made me angry at how even men who kill are taken more seriously than their female victims, bestowed with both fame and infamy, sometimes adoration. The story is disturbing and frustrating, the act horrifying in its casualness, the aftermath heartbreaking. Yet there’s so much that is moving and empowering. Still it’s not a perfect book..but it’s a powerful one, an important one. "Law enforcement would rather we remember a dull man as brilliant than take a good hard look at the role they played in this absolute horror show, and I am sick to death of watching them in their pressed shirts and cowboy boots, in their comfortable leather interview chairs, in hugely successful and critically acclaimed crime documentaries, talking about the intelligence and charm and wiliness of an ordinary misogynist. This story is not that. This story is not that.""

"Mixed thoughts about this book. Although I like the idea of not wanting to give anymore attention to a famous murderer, but maybe not the idea of taking the pain of real victims and changing everything. I'm just not sure this type of book is for me. Great writing. Great flow. Just not for me and that's ok. I sincerely hope everyone else enjoyed it. "

"Page turner! Highly recommend. Very unique."

"A very unique thriller that emphasizes the victims, the law, and the press. It shows the ugly underbelly of how these killers are mythologized at the expense of the victims and the truth. Very compelling read."

"When will we believe and hear women’s stories? Knoll presents a fictional reimagining of the 1978 FSU Chi Omega sorority murders committed by Ted Bundy. She mainly focuses on the victims and follows the friend of one of the victims while she joins forces with another woman in a similar position to try and bring this killer to justice. "

"4.5 stars - I think I’m just going to split my review into two parts. Positives and negatives. <br/><br/>As someone who doesn’t read a lot of thriller books or ones focused on true crime, Bright Young Women pulled me in from the start. I could not put this book down and was eager to read faster the entire time. I think Pamela was a well rounded character that really helped me get in vested in the story. I loved that the author chose not to focus on Ted Bundy in the story and always referred to him as “The Defendant.” I also thought it was a good choice to focus on the women of this story and show how average “The Defendant” truly was. He could barely get into law school and was all around just a mediocre guy that law enforcement tried to make seem larger than life to cover their own ineptitude. <br/><br/>However, I do have some issues. First, I think it’s weird for the author to have put so much work into researching this case and have all of this very specific detail only for the story to be fiction. I wish this was a non fiction book because that would seem more ethical and respectful of the victims that were impacted by Ted Bundy. Also, the two POVs in this story, Pamela and Ruth, were impossible to tell apart. I needed to read the chapter headings every time. I wish they had more distinguished voices that made it clear whose story we were reading. <br/><br/>Thank you to the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review."

"Loved! Love love loved! I didn’t entirely realize it was based on the Ted Bundy trials until it was mentioned later on that they made a movie with Zack Effron. "

"intriguing"

"Haunting, sad, lonely, but ultimately full of strength found by each woman in their own narration. A must read!"

"I went into this novel not knowing too much about it. I knew it was true crime fiction, and I knew I loved Jessica Knoll's previous books, and that was all I needed to know. The opening scene felt harrowingly familiar, and as I continued to read, I realized why: these were some of the young women targeted by He Who Shall Not Be Named, a notorious serial killer in the 1970s. I had heard this story dozens of times.<br/><br/>The premise of this book was ambitious and risky: adapting the lives of women who were murdered, assaulted, and traumatized by an infamous serial killer into a novel, but Knoll succeeded. It wasn't exactly a thriller, but I still had a hard time putting it down. Knoll captures the injustice and the emotions that come along with it so brilliantly. I especially appreciated how the killer was never named, which is why I will not be naming him in my review. Names have power. His name has been thrown around in the media and beyond for decades. He has even been called a "bright young man", hence the title of the book. A bright young man? You mean a sadistic serial killer and rapist? Please. These women had their entire lives ahead of them; lives that were tragically cut short by, frankly, an incel loser. He Who Shall Not Be Named was nothing close to a bright young man. In fact, he had a low IQ and simply didn't know how to interact with the opposite sex, which made him angry and aggressive. His "conventionally attractive" (ew) looks let him sneak under the radar, but anyone who encountered him soon realized he was extremely socially awkward and insecure.<br/><br/>Bright Young Women focuses on the women who suffered as a result of a notorious serial killer's crimes and paints a more accurate picture of He Who Shall Not Be Named. It smashes the notion that he was a handsome, charming Zac Efron-esque looking swindler (and yes, that movie is mentioned in the book as well and it is one I will never watch). When he wasn't breaking and entering to brutally assault college women in the middle of the night, he was trying to pick women up in broad daylight. But he didn't succeed because he was handsome and charming, rather these women immediately sensed something off about him and felt sorry for him.<br/><br/>Jessica Knoll took a risk with this one, and it paid off. I hope this is the start of a real reckoning with the problematic true crime obsession that has swept the nation and of putting the focus back where it belongs: on the victims and survivors."