Review of "Bright Young Women: A Novel" by Jessica Knoll

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Horrific serial killer Ted Bundy - who murdered at least 30 women in seven states between 1974 and 1978 - has been portrayed as intelligent, sharp, cunning, clever, wily, charming and so on. In the opinion of author Jessica Knoll, this erroneous portrayal is (at least partly) a 'cover up' by incompetent law enforcement officials who - after Bundy was arrested for multiple murders - allowed the killer to escape again and again. On the loose, Bundy continued his killing spree. Rather than take the blame, the authorities depicted Bundy as some kind of manipulative genius, which Knoll believes is patently untrue.


Ted Bundy

This novel, inspired by Bundy, depicts the unnamed character Knoll calls 'the defendant' as arrogant and academically challenged. In the book, the defendant attended a third-rate law school, because "despite hundreds of hours of preparation, his Law School Aptitude Test results were mediocre and his performance on the grammar part of the exam below high school level." Moreover, the defendant failed out of even this sub-par law school.

Rather than aggrandize the serial killer - as newspapers, books, documentaries, movies, television shows, podcasts, etc. - tend to do, Knoll focuses on the lives of several women impacted by the murderer.

As the story opens, it's a Saturday night in January 1978, and Pamela Schumacher, president of the smartest sorority at Florida State University in Tallahassee, is organizing the group's annual blood drive. Meanwhile, Pamela's sorority sisters, including her best friend Denise Andora, are leaving the sorority house to party with their fraternity brethren.


Sorority House at Florida State University

Later that night, at 3:00 AM, Pamela is awoken by hunger pangs and goes downstairs to make herself a peanut butter sandwich. Hearing a noise, Pamela sees a man with what looks like a child's baseball bat dart down the stairs and out the front door. Luckily, the shadow of the stairwell made it so Pamela could see the intruder, but he could not see her.

That night the defendant kills two of Pamela's sorority sisters, Denise Andora and Robbie Shepherd; maims two others, Jill Hoffman and Eileen Neilson; and beats up a young woman down the street.




Ted Bundy's murder victims at Florida State University

During the media brouhaha that follows the terrible incident, Pamela Schumacher meets a woman named Tina Cannon, from Seattle, Washington. Tina is certain the defendant killed her friend, Ruth Wachowsky, four years ago. In July 1974, Ruth and another woman went missing from Seattle's Lake Sammamish State Park, and Ruth's body was never found.


Lake Sammamish State Park in Seattle, Washington




Ted Bundy's murder victims at Lake Sammammish in Seattle

Pamela and Tina pair up with a journalist called Carl Wallace to look into the defendant's criminal history. They learn that the defendant entered law school in Utah in 1974, and that's when women in the Salt Lake City area began to disappear. When one victim managed to escape and identify the defendant, he was arrested and extradited to Colorado, to stand trial for killing a woman there. That was when "law enforcement shit the bed." In Colorado the defendant engineered two escapes, one from a law library and one from a jail cell. He then went on to kill more women.


Building from which Ted Bundy escaped the first time


Prison Cell from which Ted Bundy escaped the second time

When Pamela, Tina, and newsman Carl go to Colorado to get information about the defendant's escapes, the police and prison officials are uncooperative, and - to explain away their ineptitude - opine that the defendant was "a force beyond anyone's control." This infuriates Pamela and Tina, who want it made clear that incompetent law enforcement contributed to the later murders at Florida State University.

Once the defendant is arrested for his crimes in Florida, Pamela must prepare herself to testify against him. This is a difficult and grueling experience, especially because the cocky defendant acts as his own attorney.


Ted Bundy acts as his own attorney in court

As trial preparations go on, flashbacks to the past flesh out the lives of Pamela, Tina, and Ruth, all of whom were victims, directly or indirectly, of the serial killer.

Since much of the story is set in the latter part of the 20th century, when the women's movement and LGBTQ+ rights were less established than now, Pamela, Tina, and Ruth are variously impacted by homophobia, sexism, misogyny, male chauvinism, etc. In addition, the women experience personal difficulties such as family dysfunction, bad parents, selfish boyfriends, sad losses, and so on. Thus, in addition to deflating the mystique surrounding the serial killer, author Jessica Knoll tackles issues pertinent to the women's private lives.

Knoll's approach is an effective way to deglamorize the serial killer and focus instead on women impacted by his terrible crimes. Still, it's important to understand the psychology of serial killers, most of whom seem to have troubled histories, in an effort to prevent such atrocities in the future.

Thanks to Netgalley, Jessica Knoll, and S&S/ Marysue Rucci Books for a copy of the book.

Rating: 4 stars