Received an early copy from NetGalley & was intrigued by the premise. It’s a take on the Ted Buddy murders but highlights the victims. The execution of the story gave me mixed feelings, so I’m landing in the middle with 2.5 rounded up to 3⭐️.

Bright Young Women is a novel about real events and a real serial killer. One thing I love about it is the serial killer’s name is not used. We hear a lot about him, but we don’t hear his name. Instead the focus is on the women whose lives he intersected. I would love for the media to report like this. Let the names of the murdered and survivors be named, if they/their families consent, and leave out the perpetrator’s name.
This is a great read, even if you don’t recognize the killer, full of vivid characters and a thrilling chase.

This books feels like one of those books where you can believe the hype, it’s really just that good. Bright Young Women grabbed me from the first page and didn’t let go until the end. This is a fictionalized true crime novel focusing on two women connected by the crimes of Ted Bundy. The story is told from two different points of view, Pamela and Ruth, and is told in two different timelines. Pamela is the president of the sorority Ted Bundy attacked at Florida State University and Ruth is one of his early victims in Seattle. The way Knoll wrote this book from the victims’ perspectives rather than focusing on the serial killer himself is what sets this book apart from most all other true crime novels. Bright Young Women is disturbing, liberating, and so well written. 5 stars all around. Thanks to Net Galley for the advanced copy of this book!

I was interested in the premise of this - fictionalized true crime based on Ted Bundy’s killings but focused on the women instead of on him. However I found the format really disjointed and the Ruth chapters kept taking me out of the story in a way that wasn’t working for me. Ultimately I decided to DNF at 50%. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free ebook.

This fictional novel is inspired by the murders of the infamous Ted Bundy. Pamela is a bright law student who is the president of her sorority. A tragic break in at the sorority house leaves young women injured or dead. On another time line, we meet Ruth, a recently divorced young woman living with her mother. After joining a complex grief group, Ruth connects with a woman who changes her life. Eventually the women’s lives intersect in a very unexpected way.

I found the story to be slow moving at first. Once it picked up, I was hooked. Even though the killer isn’t outed as Ted Bundy, any true crime fan will pick up on the details. The story surprised me many times with unexpected twists. Overall, I enjoyed this read and would recommend others add it to their reading list.

This is a spectacular book and will be on my list of my favorites of 2023.

Jessica Knoll is such a talent. I have been a fan of hers since her stunning debut, Luckiest Girl Alive; but she has exceeded even that masterpiece with this sensitive, thoughtful, striking, important feminist book.

As you may have read, this book is a fictionalized account of the Ted Bundy murders. But it is so much more than that. Knoll creates two extremely compelling main characters -- Pamela (a sorority president and eyewitness to the crime who no one believes) and Ruth, an eventual victim of Bundy's. The intertwining stories and alternating timelines work so well here and so many important topics are explored, such as the way no one believes women (especially in the 1970s), the way the handsome Bundy was romanticized and idealized by the press, the way homosexuality was treated in the 1970s as a mental illness, and the way the police tend to bungle sex crime investigations. The book was heartbreaking in so many ways, but also uplifting. I adores the character of Pamela, who I so identifies with, and Ruth, whose life journey was so different from my own, but so compelling.

I really cannot urge people, especially women, enough to read this book. What is wonderful about Knoll's writing is that it is so engrossing, beautiful and compelling as it delivers striking lessons and explores important topics. Despite all the deep and important issues it is always engrossing and never feels like work to read it.

One of the best books of the year. Read it!

Many thanks to the publisher and Jessica Knoll for the advance copy, which was one of my most anticipated books of the year and exceeded every expectation.

This was a well written complicated story. While I appreciate that, I cannot say I enjoyed it. But, I don't think that was the point.

Bright Young Women is a gripping novel based on a true story of a sorority targeted by a serial killer. This definitely held my interest, especially given the way the story centered the women, and not the killer, as such stories often do. It effectively gives women some of their power back, while critiquing the system that largely ignores or undermines them as these investigations unfold.

Thank you Jessica Knoll, Simon Element, S&S/ Marysue Rucci Books, and NetGalley for providing this ARC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

I finished this book last week and I’m still not completely sure on how I feel about it. I wanted to love it but to be honest it was kind of a miss for me. Bright Young Women is classified as a thriller but to me it reads straight as a crime novel, so I really feel like it’s not marketed correctly. It started off a bit slow at the beginning but then it picked up some but then it slowed down again. I didn’t hate this book it really just left me feeling meh. I’m probably the minority on this one so if you like true crime don’t let my review sway you from reading this.

This book was so compelling and well done. I found the story fascinating, and loved how it told the perspective of the victims, who are often ignored. I also found it very emotional-and ultimately emotionally satisfying, although it was far from a happy ending. It was a very well done book that I have already reccommended to several people.

Completely brilliant, my favorite Jessica Knoll book to date. I love the concept of flipping the true crime genre on its head and focusing only on the victims instead of the perpetrator. The commitment to this is so strong that while this book is based on an actual serial killer and his attacks, she never uses his name, referring to him only as “The Defendant.”

The blending of true crime with fiction gave Knoll the space to create real women where there are normally just names, humanizing his victims rather than the murderer. Recommend this one for anyone who enjoys true crime and female empowerment.

I didn't realize this book was based on Ted Bundy's killing spree back in the day. I love that it focused on the two women and not the monster. I thought it was beautiful, strong, and heart wrenching. I really enjoyed it. Being that this is my first Jessica Knoll book, I'm excited to read more!

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

I loved this book so much. It was phenomenal. It was engaging, outstanding, captivating. And it was infuriating.

It takes a story you know focused around a male monster and completely upends the narrative, shedding light on the lives of the brilliant young women he tragically affected and forever changed for the worse

The notion of this book is weaved into each detail; to the point where the serial killer remains unnamed, only referred to only as "the defendant," underscoring his insignificance. Despite being often depicted as charming and intelligent, the author unequivocally underscores that he was utterly ordinary and, above all, a MONSTER.

He terrorized the nation for years, and the protagonist is an eyewitness to his crime (murdering her friends) and bears the responsibility of ensuring he faces justice through her eyewitness testimony.

The story also delves into a broader storyline encompassing the other women and their respective backgrounds, histories, intellect and what they could’ve been

I recently watched an interview with Jessica Knoll, and in her discussions, she, too, refrains from saying his name, a choice I deeply applaud for pushing this narrative even further. During the interview, she shared her inspiration for the book's title. She explained that the media and even the trial's judge continued to refer to the defendant as a "partner" or a "young man." Even in his death sentencing, there were comments about his potential as a "bright young man." This pervasive narrative, where men are often portrayed as great individuals who simply make mistakes, while women's accounts are still questioned, remains disturbingly prevalent today.

I am a fan of Jessica Knoll's early work but this book blew me away. I had no idea going in that Bright Young Women was based on true events of the past. This one kept me on the edge of my seat & kept my interest throughout.
Thank you to Netgalley as well as Simon Element, S&S/ Marysue Rucci Books for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. 4 stars.

There's this thing about serial killers and brutal crimes: the public tends to gravitate towards the killers - who almost always become “famous” -, but only families and friends keep remembering the victims. Their names, their normal lives, their aspirations and dreams for the future, what they were doing and where they were before getting killed… all little details in the killer's great scheme of action. We don't get fascinated by them, we don't want to know more about them; they're not individuals, but numbers.
We study the killer and everything that concerns his life - and don't get me wrong, it's extremely important to do so -, but how about them? All those movies, all those books, they're not about them, about what they've been through in their last hour of life, about what they could become. The story is about the man.
But not in Jessica Knoll’s version.

Call me mysandric, but men can't understand the psychological aspect of this story. They can try and be sympathetic, but they can't understand it as much as our fear of walking alone at night or the uncertainty when being approached by male strangers.
But we feel it, that tingle in the back of our head that reminds us of not trusting anyone, not even a good-looking guy with the best intentions. To not turn around when someone on the street calls us “gorgeous”. To move when on a bus a man is approaching our spot.
And this is what “Young Bright Women” is also about. Not the story of a man, but the story of his victims and his survivors, the reminder that we could all be them and that that tingle could save our life.

Jessica Knoll did not disappoint with this one. She did her research, she tried a different point of view, she decided to destroy her readers till the last chapter and went for it.
Now I could talk about the characters, the place, the narration, the true details behind the story… or you could just read it.
Also, I loved the way she sneaked spoilers here and there, not only about a future we won't properly read about but even what will happen ten chapters after.
My only note is about the dual POV: I loved Pamela as much as Ruth - and their respective journeys -, but I felt like their voices were too similar; different situations and tempers, and still more than once I thought just one person could be talking.

Part of me wanted Pamela to end up with Carl - the only trustable man for the first half of the book -, but I get that this is not a love story.
On the opposite, Carl is the perfect example of how you should never trust men, not nice men, not men with cute dogs or babies, and not your childhood crush because only a few of them won't end up disappointing you.

A little last-minute warning - since I hope that I’ve now convinced you to read it: Ruth is not an easy character, it's important to remember that we don't know her story till the very end and that it takes time to acknowledge the toxic relationships in our life, and how to deal with them.
And if you are hopeful people like me, be prepared: those last chapters hit me harder than anything I've read in the last couple of months. Is it stupid of me to think that maybe she did it, she survived all along? It is, but what kind of people are we if we don't hope for the best outcome?

Last thing and then I'll let you free, I know some people were shocked when that reference to Zac Efron hit them, but the moment she describes “The Defendant” - aka, the killer -, I knew who this story was about.
And sure, it's fiction based on some similar true events, but look at this description:
“But it made for a more salable story if he was portrayed as someone who did not have to kill to get his kicks, who had prospects in his romantic life and his career. […]
The Defendant peered back at me with black vacant eyes. They are scary eyes, don’t get me wrong, but what frightens me, what infuriates me, is that there isn’t anything exceptionally clever going on behind them.
A series of national ineptitudes and a parsimonious attitude toward crimes against women created a kind of secret tunnel through which a college dropout with severe emotional disturbances moved with impunity for the better part of the seventies.”

Goosebumps.

Thanks to Simon Element and NetGalley, who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

QUICK TAKE: definitely my favorite Jessica Knoll book yet, a unique mix of true crime and thriller that really gives agency to the female victims of a violent crime, while also breathing life in complex, nuanced characters, something that tends to get passed over in other books in the genre in favor of gotcha twists.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Simon & Schuster Simon Element/Marysue Rucci Books for gifting me a digital ARC of the wonderful new book by Jessica Knoll - 5 stars!

In January 1978, Pamela Schumacher, president of her sorority at Florida State University, is startled awake in the early morning by a noise and chooses to investigate. She catches a look at a man fleeing the house, first thinking he is one of her sister's boyfriends. The horror soon sets in that the man brutally murdered two of the sisters and injured another before fleeing. Pamela is soon thrust into the investigation which will last for decades. On the other side of the country, Tina has been tracking the man she believes killed her girlfriend, Ruth. When she hears about the slayings in Florida, she travels there to meet with Pamela. They meet up with an investigative reporter, Carl, who as a man has access they don't.

This is a fictionalized story of the Ted Bundy murders, known only as The Defendant in this book. The focus of the story is on the bright young women in his path instead of on him, which I loved. It portrays him as average, instead of the smart, good looking man portrayed in the media. The story is told from both Pamela's and Tina's POV, in different timelines presented in such a creative way. Hard to read because you know it's based on facts, but I couldn't put this one down - highly recommended!

I have to say, this book has me confused. The book itself is not confusing, but I’m confused as to whether I liked it or not. Basically, this is a book about the victims of Ted Bundy, the serial killer whose judge called him a “bright young man”. The author has flipped that, and wrote about the bright young women who were taken from this world too soon. Because I’m conflicted, I’m going to go with pros and the one con with this one.

Pros:
-I love that in this book, we are celebrating both the women who were murdered, and those who survived. Ted Bundy is only known as “The Defendant”, because his name isn’t the important one in this recounting.
-The writing was great!

Con:
-I wish our main characters were real. This focuses mainly on a sorority house where two women were killed and two horribly injured. Those events did happen, but not exactly how it went in the book. The odd mixture of true crime and fictional characters is what I think totally threw me off with this book.

I’m going with a 3.5 star rating on this one. I enjoyed it, but I think I may have liked it more if the characters were real. I love the idea for this though, and how it takes power away from the small, sad man known as Ted Bundy.

(Thank you to S&S/Marysue Rucci Books, Jessica Knoll and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.)

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book!

Bright Young Women is darkly unique. Based on the true Ted Bundy murders, this book is chilling but without giving power to the murderer himself. The author gave voices to the victims and I loved that. All of the characters were very compelling, even if there were times that I didn't like them all that much.

Overall this was a great read and I will be checking out other work by Jessica Knoll!

Bright Young Women turns a well-known true crime story on its head and instead of focusing on the man who committed violent acts, it instead tells the story of two women who crossed his path--one a witness and one a victim. I went into this assuming it would read more like a standard thriller, but it was very literary. I thoroughly enjoyed the writing and the way the characters were written! Highly recommend for any true crime fans!