I just finished Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll, and it was outstanding! It’s a book about Ted Bundy’s victims and a misogynistic society that gave him too much credit. It is explicitly NOT about Bundy as his name is pointedly omitted from the text.
The book centers around Pamela, a sorority sister from the FSU sorority where Bundy attacked four women, and Ruth, one of the women who disappeared at the lake in Seattle.
This isn’t a story of a cunning, handsome, charming serial killer. This is a story of a misogynistic incel who was allowed to get away with numerous crimes due to police incompetence. Then he was lionized by the media as though he were something special.
Pamela and Ruth’s girlfriend, Tina, have to navigate this circus as they seek justice for their loved ones. The book is enraging, empowering, and important!
by hannahismylove
3 Comments
That sounds incredible! I’ve always disliked the way serial killers are fetishized and their victims are objectified in so much of literature. Not long ago I watched The Investigation on HBO about Kim Wall’s murder (fictionalized story) and I loved the way they never said the murderer’s name or showed him, it was focused entirely on the investigative team, their exhaustive work, and the lead investigator’s relationship with her parents. It broke my heart but also really left me with questions about the way so much true crime focuses on the perpetrators – who are so often just grubby misogynists— at the expense of the people they harm, and the pain of those left behind.
The Five by Hallie Rubenhold was really flawed, but I loved the way she attempted to recover the identities of the Ripper’s victims and make them back into people with full lives.
I didn’t realise that the book was based on the sorority killings until I was like 50 pages in. Aside from being poorly written, it felt weird to be reading a fictionalised version of real life events from the perspective of fictional characters when the *actual* survivor had published her book a mere month later. You can write a book about a similar topic without profiting off of other people’s trauma.
That was my favorite book of 2023.