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A review by basicwinebitch
Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll
Did not finish book.
I read about half or 60% of this book for a book club, it was the first time I read a thriller but it was too stressful and anxiety inducing for me.
I see the good points of this book - it centers the female experience of victims, family and friends of a serial killer targeting women and I really like the choice to never use the man’s name.
However, this book is a fictionalised story of the real murders and I personally don’t feel right about that. I think you could choose to tell the stories of these real women in a factual way, or write a fully fictional book about the topic but to so closely base a fictional book on the real events and real people does not feel right to me. It leads to people discussing real people and their decisions in a way we would discuss a made up character but these are extremely traumatic events.
I see the good points of this book - it centers the female experience of victims, family and friends of a serial killer targeting women and I really like the choice to never use the man’s name.
However, this book is a fictionalised story of the real murders and I personally don’t feel right about that. I think you could choose to tell the stories of these real women in a factual way, or write a fully fictional book about the topic but to so closely base a fictional book on the real events and real people does not feel right to me. It leads to people discussing real people and their decisions in a way we would discuss a made up character but these are extremely traumatic events.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, Medical content, Murder, Gaslighting, and Abandonment