Monica’s Musings: Bright Young Women

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

“Right here, right now, I want you to forget two things: he was nothing special, and what happened was not random.”
― Jessica Knoll, Bright Young Women

Summary: January 1978. A serial killer has terrorized women across the Pacific Northwest, but his existence couldn’t be
further from the minds of the vibrant young women at the top sorority on
Florida State University’s campus in Tallahassee. Tonight is a night of
promise, excitement, and desire, but Pamela Schumacher, president of
the sorority, makes the unpopular decision to stay home—a decision that
unwittingly saves her life.

Startled awake at 3 a.m. by a strange sound, she makes the fateful decision to investigate. What she finds behind the door is a scene of implausible violence—two of her sorority sisters dead; two others, maimed. Over the next few days, Pamela is thrust into a terrifying mystery inspired by the crime that’s captivated public interest for more than four decades.

On the other side of the country, Tina Cannon has found peace in Seattle after years of hardship. A chance encounter brings twenty-five-year-old Ruth into her life, a young woman with painful secrets of her own, and the two form an instant connection. When Ruth goes missing from Lake Sammamish State Park in broad daylight, surrounded by thousands of beach-goers on a beautiful summer day, Tina devotes herself to finding out what happened to her. When she hears about the tragedy in Tallahassee, she knows it’s the man the papers refer to as the All-American Sex Killer. Determined to make him answer for what he did to Ruth, she travels to Florida on a collision course with Pamela—and one last impending tragedy.

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 prime time specials have led us to believe, and that it was the women whose lives he cut short who were the exceptional ones.

My Opinion: Bright Young Women is based on the real-life murders by Ted Bundy. This book is really difficult to rate. It started out really good. I appreciate the author’s attempt to focus on the victims rather than “the defendant”. I love the title and the cover is absolutely gorgeous! The title is a play on the words of the Florida judge who called Bundy “a bright young man”, because the focus is on the young women who recognize their worth and intelligence.

Despite the potential this book had, the execution fell completely flat for me. This story is all over the place and not in a good way. I think part of my problem was that I listened to the audio version. It made it that much more difficult to keep track of where in time we were.

My biggest gripe is with the character Ruth. Her sections were off-putting and felt unnecessary to the overall story. I was completely offended when Ruth was outraged by another women grieving a miscarriage in a group grief therapy session, and referred to a late-term miscarriage as losing a “turnip”.

This book would have benefited from including a historical note at the end. I knew a little bit about these murders, but by the end I had to find out which parts of the book were factual and which were not.

For an even more detailed review with pictures from the Ted Bundy case, please see this impressive review by Goodreads user, Barbara! Click Here