Bright Young Women
Jessica Knoll
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.
I was locked in with Pamela’s POV but I’m struggling whenever we switch to Ruth - who is she?? Why does she matter to the story?? I’m sure we’ll get answers but it’s hard for me to feel invested in her with zero context
2This scene with Ruth babysitting her nephew was weird... like she was mean to the kid and made him a gross sandwich and then was surprised when he threw a tantrum and was upset??? I mean, I don't have much kid experience, but his interactions with Tina were weird, and Ruth is an odd one too. The last line says 'Tina left without me'.... but Tina wasn't there to get Ruth or take her anywhere??
1Your rating:
4.5 - really drew me in, enjoyed a lot of the writing, found the format engaging, and liked the narration. Yet again made my way through an audiobook at a lightning fast pace!
0This one, I feel, is definitely for the girls. If you have been swept up in the wave of true crime sensationalism and have begun to wonder why we never look at the victims themselves, this is probably a book for you. Knoll captures the enraging battle women had/have to fight just to be viewed as humans deserving of justice. I think she did a phenomenal job of portraying all of the ways in which the system failed these women. I couldn’t help but cry with the characters who, despite it all, “brought goodies” to trial, and even after years still cared so deeply for one another that they put themselves in harms way yet again just to help their friends find answers. Although this book was technically fiction, I think it was such a wise choice to so closely follow a real-life event and what many of these women likely had to face at that time. I think that this has easily been my favorite book of 2024!
3I haven’t gotten this sucked into a book in a while! I have been a huge consumer of true crime for years now, so this book was right up my alley. It’s a unique blend of true crime and fiction that I have never encountered before. The author wrote about Ted Bundy, but only refers to him as “The Defendant”. In doing so, she is stripping him of his power. Everyone knows who Ted Bundy is. But do we know his victims? This story follows two women. One a witness of the Chi Omega sorority murders, and one a (fictionalized) victim herself. The author weaves actual facts into the story by keeping places, times, and even quotes the same. All she changes is the names of some of the victims. I absolutely loved this. I loved how the author put such an emphasis on the women involved in the case and made it very clear that she hated the media’s portrayal of him as an attractive, bright, young man. The only thing I was a little confused about is why she kept some of the victims names the same and changed others. Why not just change them all? I have seen some criticize the fact that this was too closely based on a real case and that the author should have just created a fictional crime to write about. I actually liked that the book was somewhat factual because it brought to light what actually happened. I can totally see why some people would not like that, though.
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