A review by nat20composure
Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I adored this book, but had picked it up prior to finding out that it was a story following the accounts of fictionalized Ted Bundy victims. I felt that it taking real world killings and retelling them through fictional characters to tell people we need to prioritize victims was tone deaf. The narrative could have better served it's own purpose if it had committed to its own fictionalization. 

That aside, the book does a very good job of using the readers real world experienced and understanding of how victims are stripped of their personhood and picked apart to maintain a sense of fear and powerlessness. I found it impossible to not empathize with the main characters. Their actions, and the consequences of those actions, felt like my own.  You know from the start how the book will end, and still, you're hopeful. Still, you bargain with it, begging it be different. Even when I wasn't reading it I was holding my breath with the girls, waiting for the verdict, waiting for closure. I will be thinking about them for a long, long while.
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