Rating: 4 out of 5 ⭐️
Bright Young Women
Author: Jessica Knoll
Published: 2023 (Marysue Rucci Books)
Pages: 373 (Hardcover)
Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Crime, Mystery, Historical
CW: Descriptions of Violence Against Women, LGBTQ+ Trauma, Strong Language, Murder, Crime, Assault, Kidnapping

I’M BACK! I haven’t posted for quite some time now due to some life difficulties and changes, and I didn’t really want to post during all of that. I still post to Goodreads, and I kept up my Instagram for awhile (@elizabethreads_books) after, but now I’m back to posting on both. I plan to get rid of Twitter/X though, I didn’t really use it much to begin with. How are you all doing?? I hope you’re all still reading and staying safe out there. If anyone has any suggestions for the blog or the content let me know, and I still appreciate any book suggestions!

“Time does not heal all wounds. Grief is just like a sink full of dirty dishes or a pile of soiled laundry. Grief is a chore you have to do and it’s a messy one at that”

– Jessica Knoll, “Bright Young Women”

My first read of 2024 was “Bright Young Women” by Jessica Knoll, who is also the author of “Luckiest Girl Alive”, which I haven’t read but I saw a lot of trailers on Netflix for the movie adaptation featuring Mila Kunis. First of all, I really enjoyed this book! And I’m very skeptical about the true crime genre in podcasts, documentaries, docuseries, books, whatever etc. and how sensationalized killers have become. But Knoll focuses on the women surrounding the serial killer who have been thrown into the ring and who were ‘brighter’ than the killer himself. She even goes as far as to never name the serial killer, she only refers to him as “The Defendant” from start to finish. I’ve seen enough references to this real-life American, highly-televised serial killer that I was able to identify him from the synopsis and other reviews, and Knoll references him only in interviews (Vanity Fair Article). The focus of the novel is not on him, but on the grief, intelligence, and growth the women demonstrate in trying to discover the truth about who this man is and how he’ll be finally convicted of his crimes.

“They will call you hysterical no matter how much dignity you have. So you might as well do whatever the hell you want”

– Jessica Knoll, “Bright Young Women”

I won’t even mention him in my review out of respect for the author’s intent. But if you’re interested in hearing more about how she came to write about this subject, I highly recommend looking into some interviews she gave:

• Harper’s. Bazaar, “Jessica Knoll’s New Novel Challenges a Serial Killer’s Legacy”
• Bustle, “In Jessica Knoll’s ‘Bright Young Women, She Takes On….”

Anyways, in my opinion only, I loved this book because it’s the opposite of everything I dislike about the true crime genre. It is an interesting take on a highly-written about and googled man, who some consider not to be the genius that he was portrayed to be while he was alive in the media to after his death in the movies made about him (including obviously the author). This story flowed tremendously from start to finish. I don’t think he was special or admirable before going into this book, but I was impressed with how the author wrote the main women characters. They were completely vulnerable while being completely competent and capable in a world where they weren’t being taken seriously by law enforcement or the news media. I know this is historical fiction, and maybe there were some liberties taken as they were only based on the real women surrounding the Florida and Seattle-area murders. But I realized I would rather much read about the experiences of women in an unexpectedly horrifying situation having to figure out how to find closure, than read about the underwhelming ‘genius’ who turned out to be a sensation in the American news and tabloids for committing horrific murders because of a boy’s club mentality.

“The Defendant flaunted his true nature with audacious displays of ineptitude time and time again, and I wanted to tell these girls…. that they should be irate that effort and money had gone into dusting off the story and telling it again for a new generation, only for the filmmaker to wear the same blinders as the men who wrote the headlines forty years ago”

– Jessica Knoll, “Bright Young Women”

There were many descriptions of violence against women, which admittedly was hard for me to read sometimes. But those of course are to be expected with the subject matter of this book. I admire how the author wrote these descriptions with effectiveness and sensitivity at the same time. The author used careful devices to weave together the feelings and attitudes of the time and this criminal case, all without sensationalizing the criminal’s motives and the women’s’ dignities. I believe anyone who is interested in true crime, or is also skeptical but intrigued of true crime books and historical murder cases should read this book.

4 out of 5! ⭐️

_ Elizabeth

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