Review: Bright Young Women
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Genre: Literary Fiction | Publication Date: 9/19/2023 | Pages: 384 | Month read: November 2024
What made me pick this up?
The cover immediately drew me in, in addition to my growing interest in literary thrillers! I thought this book in particular was intriguing because it’s a historical fiction novel from the survivor perspective of one of America’s most notorious serial killers — there are so many documentaries, podcasts, and various forms of media that focus on The Defendant himself but this take felt fresh and different.
“I’ll tell you something from experience...they will call you hysterical no matter how much dignity you have. So you might as well do whatever the hell you want.”
GoodReads synopsis: An extraordinary novel inspired by the real-life sorority targeted by America's first celebrity serial killer in his final murderous spree.
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 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 Wachowsky 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 beachgoers 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 primetime specials have led us to believe, and that it was the women whose lives he cut short who were the exceptional ones.
My Thoughts
Conceptually, I loved this book. It’s a unique perspective take on a very well-known serial killer case, and I especially loved the decision to only refer to the perpetrator as The Defendant versus his name. This helped to further offset the focus from him and onto the women he targeted and harmed. I also enjoyed Jessica Knoll’s writing (though I admittedly had to look up a few words throughout, haha) and think she fits well into the literary fiction genre by showing versus telling about society’s views of and treatment of women throughout the story.
The beginning of the book following Pamela’s perspective was intense and such a strong start, and the end chapters describing Ruth’s story felt similarly gripping. However, the middle of the book and overall pace was a slooow burn, which normally I’m not critical of, but here, left me feeling bored and ready to get through to the end. I found some details, and even conversations among characters, repetitive. In hindsight, this book almost feels more like nonfiction true crime than a fictional story, and I wonder if my experience would have felt different had I expected that going in.
I would ultimately give this a 3-3.5 for reading experience but I’m rounding up to 4 based on the creative perspective of the story! I would recommend this to readers who are interested in true crime, appreciators of slow burn mysteries, and anyone looking for a serial killer story from the victim perspective. I bet this would make for an engaging audiobook!
Rating: ★★★★
Buy the book: Amazon | Bookshop.org
