A review by abookishmagpie
Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

 I had a feeling this was going to be an interesting ride given the author and the subject matter, but it really surprised me how much it meshed the fictional elements along with the background setting of this real life story that shook the county in the 1970s. Telling a fictionalized story of a serial killer could go wrong so fast, but I feel as if Knoll did a good job of keeping in the details that were important for the reader to know as well as mixing in her made-up characters in place of real victims and survivors as well as her fictional story line that kept the reader engaged and curious. It could have been easy to not get caught up in the story because for the most part we know how a big chunk of it ends, but the use of the connection of our main character Pam to Tina and Tina's connection to a victim of the serial killer was done well I thought. The plot device of not naming the killer, but rather referring to him as 'The Defendant' was a strong choice made by the author that I really admire that she kept up with it throughout the whole novel and I think the way she has Pam talk about him as well is such a smart choice. It's obvious that Knoll did her research to write this novel and also took care to handle the stories of the victims and survivors with care as they and their loved ones have already been through enough. This is definitely a surprise favorite of the year for me.