Reviews with content warning for Gore - Bright Young Women

I love that this book never shares The Defendant's name. So often, books are written almost worshipping serial killers. Making them out to be much more intelligent, good looking, cunning, etc. than they really are while their victims are made out to be weak and unable to protect themselves. It's very refreshing to read a book that does the opposite! He's not that smart, not that handsome, and not that charismatic. He was just a bad man who made it his life purpose to hurt women and girls.

That being said, I wish the survivors and families of the victims had been given a voice, rather than fictionalized versions of them. Would be 5 stars if they had been included!

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kkenna7's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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_meganrose's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Men and their fragile egos are an absolute disgrace. The actions. The inactions. The manipulation. The willingness to be manipulated. An absolute disgrace and I hope that everyone who played a role in the holes that enabled such a horrible human to do what he did live/lived the rest of their lives with a never-ending pit of shame consuming them. That, of course, would take having enough emotional intelligence and humility to recognize their mistakes. But I digress.

I respect that the author refused to use his name. Because quite frankly, it has always bothered me how he has been romanticized and portrayed in media. Only recently have I started to hear criticism on this, which means we are at least moving in the forward direction as a society (I hope).

4 stars because the perspective was refreshing, the belittlement of such a despicable human being was well overdue being warranted, and I couldn’t put it down.

That being said, it wasn’t an enjoyable reading experience so I don’t feel right giving 5 stars. This is no fault to the author. The darkness of this book was heavy and will haunt me.

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