It’s just another typical night in The House—or so Pamela thinks until she sees a masked intruder sneaking out of her sorority house. What soon follows is a nightmare beyond her imagining: whoever it was Pamela saw killed two of her sisters and left another two permanently maimed, and worst of all is the police refuse to help Pamela and her sisters understand the tragedy.

So Pamela goes rogue. With the help of Tina, a vigilante therapist, and Carl, an investigative reporter, they discover they’ve crossed paths with a serial killer who somehow was able to repeat his pattern around the country. It’s up to the three of them to bring the killer to justice and they vow they will—even if the police are hellbent on standing in their way.
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So this was intriguing as all hell. Basically you have a fictionalized account of the Bundy murders told from the POV of a witness and a victim. It’s obvious a lot of research went into this both in terms of the case and time period, and I also appreciated how Knoll gave us two perspectives that spanned across decades too.

But I gotta admit that at times this was really dry and long-winded. It was also a little confusing to follow along Pamela’s POV because of how everything was written. The conclusion also felt a little rushed and kinda incomplete—I was really expecting more absolution I guess. I didn’t hate this by any means but I wasn’t blown away like I expected to be. I still think fans of Knoll’s and those who followed the Bundy case should still give this a try though, so definitely go for it if you get the chance to snag it on Netgalley.

Shocking to nobody, a Jessica Knoll book is incredibly well written, well thought out and expertly pulled together for a masterful experience.

I enjoyed this - but I guess I was expecting something more loosely based on Ted Bundy and I felt this basically followed that to a T. Maybe that was the goal here, again I went in with a preconceived notion of what to expect.

I liked the story and the sub stories within the main story. I found the slow burn to work well and loved the build up and the back stories and the “based on true events” aspect.

Overall you cannot go wrong with a Knoll Novel!

I really enjoyed Luckiest Girl Alive and was excited when I was granted an ARC of Bright Young Women on Netgalley, but it fell a little short for me overall. I thought the writing and dialogue felt very true to the time period the book was set in for both Pamela and Ruth's perspectives, and the Ted Bundy parallels were of course fascinating.

The pacing was great up until the Ruth chapters started. That made it slow down too much for me. I felt bad for not caring as much about reading her story directly, but I could really have used less of it until the end segment, which matched the pace of the rest of the story.

Something that felt true to the time period but I also could have used less of was the emphasis on the blatant homophobia that I'm sure was rampant at the time. I understand why it was important to the story, but it felt overemphasized unnecessarily.

Overall I did enjoy this book, but I liked Luckiest Girl Alive much better - it felt tighter and more fluid.

Shocking to nobody, a Jessica Knoll book is incredibly well written, well thought out and expertly pulled together for a masterful experience.

I enjoyed this - but I guess I was expecting something more loosely based on Ted Bundy and I felt this basically followed that to a T. Maybe that was the goal here, again I went in with a preconceived notion of what to expect.

I liked the story and the sub stories within the main story. I found the slow burn to work well and loved the build up and the back stories and the “based on true events” aspect.

Overall you cannot go wrong with a Knoll Novel!

This book was a little too graphic for my taste. I was highly interested in the dynamics of the case but I wasn’t here for the gore.

⭐️: 4/5

When a violent murderer attacks Pamela’s sorority house at Florida State University, resulting in the deaths and mutilations of several of her sisters, the repercussions lead her to cross paths with Tina, another woman from the other side of the country who was also close to a victim of the same murder. Together, they’re forced to join forces to pursue justice for their loved ones.

I’ll be the first to admit that I am not well versed in true crime details and the serial killers that so many are fascinated with. Although I love thriller books, I think what I love about thriller books is exactly what I don’t love about the serial killer/true crime obsession, which is that in books, most of the details concern humanizing the victims or others impacted by the villain, instead of putting the villain on a pedestal for idolization and observation. In real life, the focus is all on the motives of the serial killer and learning more about “how he got away with it for so long” which always includes some sort of awe-inspiring factoids, which really is just giving them the exact notoriety that they want and that their delusions cause them to think they deserve. My views seem to have aligned with the author’s in this regard, so the way she structured this story really resonated with me. I did have to actually Google to figure out what real life serial killer this book was based on, since he is never named by name, just “The Defendant,” which I think was a clever device for the author to use in order to drive home her point even further.

Much like some of Knoll’s other books, this one took a little while to really hook me and make me care about the characters, but there was a lot of plot action in the beginning of the book, so it didn’t seem as slow as it could have. It was a little hard to get used to the time jumps at the beginning when you’re still trying to wrap your head about what the story is going to be about, but they end up contributing to the storytelling greatly. I know that most historical fiction books are…well…fictional accounts of history, but this one seemed even closer to a retelling of history than most, and really seemed to toe the line between what is fiction and what is fact with changed names. Throughout the whole book, the misogyny and sexism is so rampant and infuriating that it was at times emotionally difficult to read, especially since we as a society have not come as far as we like to think we have from the 1970s world portrayed in the book. If you like true crime but always feel a little bit icky about how much of a focus and spotlight it puts on the killers, this book is for you!

Thank you to @netgalley, and the publishers @marysueruccibooks and @simonandschuster for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!!

A big thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I know I am going to enjoy a book if the first thing I want to do is a deep dive into the story behind the story. In this case, the notorious serial killer Ted Bundy. I have vague memories of when that was all happening back in the late 1970s but since I was 12 and didn't live in Florida I didn't really follow the case all that much.

This book is a fictional telling of murders that took place primarily in a sorority house in Florida as well as killings in the Pacific northwest earlier in the 1970s. Pamela Schumacher is the survivor in the sorority who saw the face of the killer. Her actions help lead to the eventual arrest of the charismatic murderer.

Meanwhile Tina Cannon has lost a dear friend and she's convinced that Ruth was also a victim. Together Pamela and Tina set out to help the authorities.

I enjoyed the pacing and the writing. It was suspenseful, even though I knew what was going to happen. Really good character back stories and development through the book as it went back and forth in time.

Great book! This is a fictional account of the Tes Bundt murders at Florida State University as it follows a survivor and her quest to make sense of a tragedy. Very engrossing and a unique viewpoint. Thank you for the advance read!

Bright Young Women is a fictionalization of the final murders that resulted in Ted Bundy being apprehended and tried in court, the sorority house murders, told mainly from the perspective of the sorority president, Pamela, the only woman who saw Ted and was able to identify him to law enforcement. We also have the viewpoint of one of his unconfirmed WA victims. In the book, he is referred to only as The Defendant.

The book opens with the evening of the murders in Florida, from the 3rd person viewpoint of Pamela. Throughout the book, Pamela hints at what is to come and her crusade to get law enforcement to take her seriously, while also trying to hold her sorority together after a truly horrific crime in their house, against their peers. Along the way, Pamela becomes friends with Martina/Tina, a woman who believes The Defendant was also responsible for the murder of her girlfriend in WA, and she has been tracking his moves, trying to get him brough to justice as well.

This book is truly feminist and will not entertain the notion that The Defendant was superior in any way, and cleverly pokes fun at him, and those who idolized him and his purported "brilliance". The writing was also really well done, and this book pulled me fairly quickly. I am not a big fan of true crime and the obsession with serial killers, but I very much enjoyed this take on his crimes, and the presentation of how women specifically are often targeted and overlooked by law enforcement. I don't think the book presented any particularly new or cutting-edge ideas, and I do think I would have liked an author's note discussing the true-life facts as compared to the novel, simply because I am unfamiliar with most of it, and I ended up doing my own online research.

All that said, this book was an enjoyable read, and I would certainly recommend it to other readers who are fed up with the weird idolization of murderers and perpetrators of violence against women.

Thank you to Simon Element and NetGalley for the electronic ARC of this novel for review.

4.5/5

If you like complex and incredibly well written Literary style thrillers this one was really good. This one has depth and is not the kind of book where you’ll want to rush through in one sitting, it’s the kind of book that makes you want to slow down and really take your time with it in order to fully appreciate the story the way the author intended to tell it. It’s not splashy and twisty, it’s deeper than that and is much more about the women affected by a serial killer than the exploitation of his victims and his heinous crimes. The dual timelines were equally intriguing to me and both Pamela and Ruth had such distinct and well developed voices that I was very engaged with them both. There were so many powerful themes here, sisterhood, womanhood in general, societal expectations and stereotypes and painful loss and grief. Everything about this one just felt so thoughtful and that left such an impact on me as a reader, the only other book I read recently that left me with the same feelings and overall impression was On the Savage Side. Highly recommended, there was so much to take from this book.

As a true crime fan, the synopsis for Bright Young Women captivated me from the first sentence. Told in alternating times (past and present) as well as alternating narrators, the stories of two women who's lives are irrevocably changed by one man weave together over a decades long fight for justice and answers. I loved how different the characters were, how they navigated who they were in a time far less accepting of them. Once I started the book, my first by Jessica Knoll, I had a hard time putting it down and read every chance I got. Fans of strong, brave women, of true crime as well as Knoll's other works, should add Bright Young Women to their TBR.
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Thank you NetGalley and Simon Element for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this book! It grabbed me from the first sentence and didn’t let go until I reached the end. I didn’t know much about the Ted Bundy case, but now I’m intrigued/horrified by it. I purchased the book that Ann Rule wrote about him to assuage my curiosity. I have read all of Ms. Knoll’s books, and I think this is her best one yet. I’m excited to see what she does next!

‘Bright Young Women is the story about two women from opposite sides of the country who become sisters in their fervent pursuit of the truth. It proposes a new narrative inspired by evidence that’s been glossed over for decades in favor of more salable headlines—that the so-called brilliant and charismatic serial killer from Seattle was far more average than the countless books, movies, and primetime specials have led us to believe, and that it was the women whose lives he cut short who were the exceptional ones.’

Of all the countless stories out there that need to be told and should be told, this was certainly one of them.

This novel depicts a long overdue victims’ point-of- view, instead of glorifying a monster like the press and so many others are wont to do when it comes to the sick and sadistic.

Disturbing yet poignant, enraging but seemingly necessary, ‘he’ is referred to as nothing more than ‘the defendant’ because this story does not belong to him like they so often do.

This story is about the women who lost their lives, the women who suffered long after and their resilience and fight for justice. Their fight to be heard and taken seriously during a time rife with misogyny and a plethora of other ignorance's.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon Element, S&S/ Marysue Rucci Books for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Pub date: 9.19.23.

This book was intense in all the best ways. It kept me wanting more and in the end it delivered! I really enjoyed this and couldn’t put it down!

This is a fictionalized account of the famous attack in a sorority house at FSU in the 1970s. It was a thought provoking, dense read that I would label as character driven crime fiction. I absolutely loved and appreciated that the murderer is referred to only as “The Defendant”. I have been reading true crime books for over 25 years now and there’s a fine line between informational and glorification that is crossed too often. To completely subvert the folklore surrounding this particular monster was amazing to read. I love that Jessica Knoll took the often repeated quote about the defendant being a bright young man and applied to the victims instead. It’s a fascinating look at what these young women went through. This would be an excellent book club read because there is so much that could be discussed.

One thing I don’t understand though is that some victim’s real names are used. Also, the judge’s name is changed, but the quote is real. How did the author decide what needed to be fiction and what didn’t? It left me going down internet rabbit holes trying to find out what was real and what wasn’t that took me out of the book at times. I would love an author’s note on her thought process here. This book also tried to do a lot so there’s much to keep up with - three timelines with two points of view. Multiple timelines and points of view are favorites of mine, but I will say Pamela’s current timeline was the most difficult to care about or keep up with.

I was SO excited to receive the notification that I was approved for this ARC. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital copy and a chance to read this early. All opinions are my own.

Personally, I kept comparing it to Luckiest Girl Alive and that's my own issue. I think by doing so, I ended up just wanting to reread Luckiest instead of giving this one a fair shot at shining on its own. It's still a page turner and really good, just again....Luckiest Girl is just so much better.

• BOOK REVIEW •

I went in blind for this one. I loved the cover, and although I never read Luckiest Girl Alive, I know many people love this author.

I'm glad I didn't know anything about it prior to starting, because I think that was my saving grace. This was a reallyyyy slow burn thriller. People love them, but I struggled with this one. I also had a hard time liking Pamela, the MC.

Throughout the book they refer to the antagonist only as "the defendant" until you realize their true identity. THAT was cool.

If you're a true crime junkie, you'll want to read this. I have no doubt the author did a lot of homework and fact-checking while writing this.

Thank you to #netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Bright Young Women is available September 19, 2023.

I am a big Jessica Knoll fan- I thought Luckiest Girl alive was simply brilliant. Bright Young Women didn't have as much of an impact for me. I enjoyed the main storyline with Pamela and her quest for justice but the secondary storyline of Ruth and Tina added a layer of complexity that I'm not sure added to the plot. Overall, I enjoyed the read, but would put her other books ahead of this one on my recommendation list.

god i love when lesbians show up in a book unexpectedly

thanks to simon element/ marysue rucci books & netgalley for the arc!

a perfect summer thriller / factionalized true crime novel! i won’t lie, i was nervous when i realized it was based on t*d b*ndy’s murder spree but this book blew me away with how delicately it handles it. and a risky but phenomenal choice was to never actually say his name. he’s just referred to as “the defendant” and it was such a smart move.

the book is told in two different POVs and two different timelines and it’s fairly seamless. and i really adored both protagonists. two really well written and well rounded female characters. it gave a lot of depth and humanity to those affected by the horrible and vile murders.

a must read for fans of i’ll be gone in the dark! would be a perfect companion read.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 / 3.5 stars

A fictionalized story based on one of the most notorious serial killers in our nation's history, but rather than focusing on the perp, the author chooses to tell the story through the voices of a key witness and friend of a victim. The author refuses to give any more time in the spotlight to the killer and only refers to them as The Defendant.

The story kept my attention and I appreciated the focus on the victims rather than the killer, but the overall flow felt stiff and disjointed at times when bouncing from POV to POV, and then timeline to timeline.

Thanks to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster, and the author for this digital Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.