This was a great book. I loved every paragraph, every sentence and every word of this masterpiece! I read it in 12 hours, which is a lot for me to do! It had everything and more laid out in the novel! I sure hope There is more to come from this author! I am totally hooked!

Bright Young Women is a great take on victims rather than perpetrators of violent crime. I think that people might be disappointed if they go into it thinking its some kind of gruesome rehashing of this case. It is not. It is how those who were directly impacted by the crime find a way to move on, if they even can. It was slow but heart breaking and it was really great to realize he wouldn't even be named.

Damn. I didn’t realize what I was getting into until it was too late. So well done. This was hard to read because I lived life as a girl back then and this is too accurate. Everything about this book is how the story needed to be told. I won’t say more for the few who might not know what the book is about. But yeah, just damn. I have all the feelings at the end of this.

I read an ARC (late) of this book via NetGalley.

I'm still not totally sure what to make of this one. Some parts really had me hooked, but overall I think it was too wordy and more than what it needed to be to get the job done. I greatly appreciated the overall premise of the story in which the women were able to win over this "bright young man", and I appreciate that the author never named the serial killer, despite us all knowing who this story was shaped after. However, I think the story was too slow and I didn't feel any real connection to the main characters. Thank you to NetGalley, Simon Element/Marysue Ricci Books, and Jessica Knoll for the opportunity to read Bright Young Women in exchange for an honest review.

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll puts the spotlight on the victims and women left behind after a serial killer commits murder at a sorority house at Florida State University in 1978. The novel splits the story into three parts--one involving a young woman Ruth in the Pacific Northwest who joins a grief group in 1974, the sorority president, Pamela Schumacher, who comes across the killer in her sorority house, and present day where Pamela tries to pick up the pieces many years past the unthinkable and tragic crimes.

I've been a fan of Jessica Knoll's since Luckiest Girl Alive held me in thrall during a Christmas break where I hardly did anything but consumed the book. Her second book, The Favorite Sister, had a good premise, but it really fell flat for me. But this book brought me back to that rapt absorption I experienced during her first book. The story itself is incredibly sad and, at times, felt uncomfortable to read due to the barbarity of the crimes, but it truly engaged me with the writing.

I love how the writer refused to call the serial killer by his name, which I thought was very effective. He's garnered enough attention, and, if you don't know who it is, you can easily figure it out if you're so inclined by googling it. I had a rough outline of the crimes and perpetrator, but I really appreciated the focus being shifted to the women, partly because of the disgust the author felt about the killer being referred to by the judge as a "bright young man." It isn't necessarily a feminist notion--it's a shifting from the glamorized killer to the women who had so much life left to live and unfairly had it taken away from them.

When you first hear Ruth's story, you're not sure which direction it will take. I had an idea after a few key scenes occur in Pamela's story in the past, but you may not know right off the bat. She's an empathetic character after you learn of the events that adversely affected her life. I didn't totally buy the relationships she has, but they move the story along to the inevitable conclusion.

Pamela is a force and probably my favorite character. She's a fighter and really becomes a staunch advocate for the victims. The crimes that took her best friend away make her stronger and change her in some positive ways despite the tragedies she observed. And she's different from other main characters that the author writes about in her other books. She's a very together person and determined to reach her goals and live her life on her own terms.

I also appreciated that the author does not condemn all men. I find that that's the trend nowadays, but every character has their own flaws and peccadillos, whether male or female. Not every man turns out to be murderous or cowardly or lacking support for women. There are good men in this book. And you'll notice that some of the characters simply act as the time period they're in dictates, so, by the time you see Pamela in present day, things may appear different from the past.

I read some complaints that the 1970s time periods don't ring true, and I didn't get that at all. There was no overt references to the time yet it felt accurate enough. Frankly, that isn't the point of the story, and, believe me, I would have noticed if it didn't feel authentic as far as time period goes.

I do have to say that I'm truly impressed with the book and the research that went into it. I feel like Jessica Knoll totally stepped up her game to another level with this book. While she still focuses on characters who've been castigated and victimized, this book feels so much more sophisticated and thoughtful than her others. Every once in a while, I needed to reread a confusing passage, and you may read a crude way of describing something, but I was impressed and am interested in what she will come up with next.

The book really demystified serial killers who are celebrated in American culture - in some way or the other. The book illustrates that these killers are not geniuses but get away because of the incompetence of law enforcement. The two women showcased in this book are magnificent, the narrative gives us reason to root for them. The book is really good and gives us new vocabulary to talk about violence against women.

Bright Young Women was a new age take on mystery and thrill writing. Unlike many other mystery thrillers it was difficult to predict who the killer was. The transitions between present day and the past were easy to follow and added depth to the story line. Highly recommend this book.

This book really just took me for a ride. I loved the build up, the character development, and the writing. I would definitely read more from this author!

This is an interesting character driven novel. It felt like a true crime podcast and provides insight relating to the lasting impact of the infamous real case. The novel is told from the POV of one of the women victimized and a woman seeking justice on behalf of one of the victims. I liked that the novel gives the survivors and victims only a voice. We get to know their stories without them being overshadowed by killers infamy. The killer is not named and has no POV in this novel. It's a unique and intriguing perspective which I enjoyed. The killer doesn't deserve to be named. We get to know their stories who they were these Bright Young Women. It is told in alternating timelines which could be a bit confusing. The novel was very slow paced and dragged for me. I was also not all that interested in the characters which made me less engaged with the story. I enjoyed the concept but didn't love the execution.

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll is a novel inspired by America's first celebrity serial killer. There were a lot of different timelines and different threads in this story, and they all tied up pretty well at the end. This was a well-written book, but it unfortunately was not memorable. Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

I enjoyed the author's previous work ("Luckiest Girl Alive" now on streaming), so I requested this one... it's generally very good, centering on a serial-killer spree in Florida (and the Northwest) & the unnamed "defendant". The 70's were the real heyday of serial killers and this really captures the sense of those times very well. Of course, this is modeled on the true crime spree of Ted Bundy, but it's a work of fiction - I might have preferred it either fictionalized a bit more or written as a "true crime" story (though A. Rule did that pretty darn well already). Still very, very readable. My sincere thanks to Net Galley & the publisher for the complimentary DRC - opinions & rating my own

BRIGHT YOUNG WOMEN
𝙹𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚌𝚊 𝙺𝚗𝚘𝚕𝚕
Out now

👩‍💼 𝚃𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜:
I read this first before it came out and couldn’t really articulate my thoughts. So I read it this time as a buddy read and it really helped me to slow down and take everything in. I’m old enough that I remember a good bit of the crime this is based on and the subsequent events. I was 10 (IKIK) when I read Ann Rule’s book, and I was in my freshman year of college when it ended. So I went into this knowing more than the average person.

I really like that Jessica Knoll gave it a duality. It was obviously made to give the victims and survivors a voice (which, still, it’s being called the “***** book” so I don’t know that everyone caught on to that…). BUT it also was to show that he wasn’t what he was portrayed to be… that he wasn’t all that smart or charismatic. After the Netflix series people were all… I would’ve gone with him. He was so good looking. 😐 The story needed to be told from this side.

My only wish is that we had gotten an author’s note. I watched Jessica’s IG and saw her stories where she had done her research and so I had a little insight but I wish it had been put into the book. Also, the reasoning behind changing some victims names but not others. I know some people I’ve spoken with questioned why do this and should it just not be called true crime and not fictional true crime. Having researched it myself, I know that there are characters and storylines that don’t exist in real life so that is why but an author’s note would help clarify that for those who are coming to this as new to the crime. I still think the story is amazing and consider it one of the best I’ve ever read.

💜𝚁𝙸𝚈𝙻:
true crime
feminist pov
1970s
taking the narrative back

Thank you @marysueruccibooks @_simonelement @jessicaknollauthor for my review copy, I also listened to the audio version on @everand_us
These thoughts are my own.

I am a little saddened to say that this was difficult for me to get though and it was't the content material. I absolutely loved The Luckiest Girl Alive and was really looking forward to this. I've always been interested in the events surrounding the person this was based off of. There were some interesting elements and parts of this story that I really enjoyed and others were just a bore. I kept putting it down and picking it back up and it took me months to finish. For those reasons I had to go with a 2 star rating. That is not to say you should't give this book a shot. What is not for me may very well be for others! Take a chance.

I loved this take on a serial killer. I enjoyed that it was told in dual timelines and perspectives. I love the way Knoll writes especially how she writes her victims. This story was compelling and I highly recommend this read.

⭐⭐/5

• true crime fiction
• repetitive

For me, there were too many POVs/timelines which made it hard to follow. It did start out strong with an interesting premise, but I just couldn't really get into it.

🗣️ Thank you to @netgalley and Simon Element for the opportunity to read and review this book via gifted eARC! All opinions are honest and my own.

I think this book was very well written and I enjoyed it to some degree, but I also think it was terribly slow and the narrator was a bit hard to feel invested in. I don't mind a slow burn if I like being in the narrator's head and I don't always mind an unlikable narrator if the story is compelling, but a slow moving plot with a grating narrator was a little too much for me to emphatically recommend this book.

The timelines were confusing and I think a lot of Ruth's storyline could have either been removed or explained in a different way to suit the story. I loved the ending though!

Here is an amazing, beautifully written book that completely hurt my feelings. It’s essentially a criticism of our True Crime obsessed behavior, a condemnation of how often we know the names of serial killers but not their victims. It’s also a very feminist work, spanning decades of strong women breaking norms and slaying in their fields. Pamela is a terrific protagonist I feel such a kinship with. Ruth’s final chapters broke me, but Pamela’s friendship with Tina saved it all. If this book doesn’t make you angry, I don’t know what will.

I love true crime. I love domestic thrillers. I am fascinated by Ted Bundy and the way his *messed up mind worked. Bright Young Woman takes all of these and spins the chaos into the most twisted, fictional take on the Bundy murders I have read. This book is dark. This book is hard to read. This book has a lot of true crime details in it. But, Jessica Knoll takes all of these things and turns it into a masterpiece novel.

This isn’t the book I was expecting. I was expecting another thriller. This is beautiful and heavy and sad and dark and poignant. Took me longer to get through than I thought but it’ll stick with me even longer.