Bright Young Women: A Novel

I am a true crime lover and I found this book stunning! Knoll certainly did her research on Ted Bundy. I was very fond of how she referred to the serial killer in this novel as the defendant. Although this was my first read by her, I will be reading more.

As someone who went through a huge true crime phase (podcasts, documentaries, and books) in my mid-to-late twenties, the “All-American Sex Killer” that this book is based on was not new to me. I’ve read The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule and watched the confession tapes on Netflix as well as the film Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile starring Zac Efron. Perhaps the thing I’ve learned the most during this period is that coverage of a killer that centers–at best and glorifies–at worst, can be horrible for their victims and the victims’ families to be subjected to. I have since reckoned with what it means to “love” true crime and have made efforts to really examine what I’m consuming. In particular, is the family involved or have they given permission for their loved one’s worst moments and life to be exposed, are the victims centered, and what does the person or people creating the content have to gain from this? This is all to give a background to how I went into this novel. I give props to the author for not naming this notorious serial killer, so in my review, I won’t either. (Side note: in my advanced copy, I did find one slip-up in the last third of the novel that did use his name. I want to check a published version to see if it has been removed or if it was intentional!)

Some may be familiar with Jessica Knoll’s other novel “The Luckiest Girl Alive”. I was eager to read her new one. I felt this novel was an ambitious endeavor that she did a great job with. Bright Young Women has dual stories that intertwine and jump between many different time periods. The chapters do explicitly state what timeline and POV we are viewing, but I really was taken out of the story by one of the POVs using days (post horrible event) instead of the date. I understood why the author did this, but it distracted me because I would pause to do the math!

My favorite thing about this novel is how much the defendant would have hated it.

Fans of true crime, themes of feminism/the general badassery of women, and the movie Promising Young Woman will enjoy this.

Overall solid book.

October 2025 book - theme

Could not have read this at a better time in my life:

“I knew you would do this,” my mother declared with a sick sort of triumph. “I said to myself—maybe it’s better Ruth doesn’t come. Because I knew you would only make it about yourself. But I extended an olive branch, and now here I am, doing exactly what I knew I would spend the day doing. Comforting you, when I’m the one who needs comforting.”
I was grateful to her for giving me such a hammy display of her cruelty, which up until that point she had doled out discerningly, at a rate meant to keep me coming back for more. She had made it so easy—not just easy, but pleasurable—to walk away from her. I got on my bike, and I rode to the water, where the breeze was...

I also loved how much therapy was an aspect in this book through Tina's character. They even mentioned attachment therapy and equine therapy as modalities used for trauma survivors!!! I quite enjoyed nerding out over these things when I read them. I also loved how victim-centered the novel was. This book was never not 5 stars!