BookLife Review by Carol O'Day: Bright Young Women (author Jessica Knoll)

crime thriller, murder investigation, dual narrator, alternating story lines, inspired by the stories of the ancillary victims of three Bundy murders, sorority life, complex grief group, journalism.

Buckle up. Jessica’s Knoll’s novel, Bright Young Women, is a fast-paced thriller inspired by the Ted Bundy murders, but told in a fresh dual-voice, dual-story narrative.  One of the alternating narrator voices is that of Pamela Schumaker, the fictional President of the sorority at Florida State University where Bundy (only referred to in the book as The Defendant) staged one of his most extensive and vicious attacks. The second narrator, Ruth Wachowsky, is a fictionalized representation of one of The Defendant’s victims who went missing in Seattle but never was found. The book is an imagined version of their experiences based on court records and news reports. Nonetheless, it feels stunningly, and frighteningly, real. 

The novel probes a side of crime and murder that too often gets lost in television news or television true-crime docuseries—the victims’ experiences. Although modern media has exploded with true crime stories and the genre often dives deeply into the perpetrator’s motivations, the discovery of evidence, the investigation and the trial, it rarely explores in depth the lasting and life-altering experiences and impact of the crime on the victim’s families, partners and friends. Perhaps that emotional journey requires the depth and length of a book to accurately capture the extent and impact of the trauma of the people around the victim. This one does. Knoll deftly shows how the experience of the death of two sorority sisters, and the violent and disfiguring attack on two others, bent Pamela’s life trajectory forever altering her course and imbuing her with a deep sense of purpose. Similarly, Ruth’s wife, Tina, devoted her life to the investigation of Ruth’s disappearance and worked tirelessly to tie it to The Defendant’s killing spree. But Pamela and Tina are not the only characters affected by the tragedy, Bright Young Women weaves in the stories of the other victims, their parents and their extended families to shine a light on the breadth and expanse of the impact of each crime. 

I began reading this book blind, without recalling the description of the book my friend had given me. It wasn’t many pages into the book before I was reading with eyes wide open, more than slightly terrified by the horror that unfolded in the lives of these young women. I was simultaneously awed by the characters’ devotion to their deceased friends and the fervor with which they pursued justice. Knoll’s book is a tribute to those unsung victims and heroes who persevere in the quest for justice in the aftermath of such tragedies. A great read for true-crime and thriller aficionados.