Book Review: "Bright Young Women" by Jessica Knoll

“Absurdly, I placed an order for a Venti Chai Latte while Judge Lambert famously told The Defendant that someday soon a current of electricity would pass through his body until he was pronounced dead by the warden, and that he should, even more absurdly, take care of himself.”

- Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

I initially encountered this author when I read her thriller Luckiest Girl Alive and for that, I was pretty slated by some of my friends who called in 'chick lit' (needless to say a) that isn't really an insult and b) they hadn't read it). However, it was a pick a long time ago by Reese Witherspoon's book club and so, I gave it a read and really enjoyed it. Bright Young Women is another thing that my friends would probably slate me for reading because they deem it as 'unintelligent' without even reading it (I'm shocked how people can possibly know that it's unintelligent without reading it!). Needless to say: it was brilliant.

It's 1978 and a serial killer is about to descend upon a sorority house, killing a few people and leaving some pretty big emotional scars. Pamela's life is changed forever as she was one of the key people to witness what the man actually looked like. In another timeline we have Tina who has a missing friend she is truly convinced was killed by the same serial killer. As they navigate their way through this truly dangerous time, they join each other to fing justice for their dead friends in what is about to turn into a media frenzy.

The first thing that I like about this book is the characters of Pamela and Tina. Both characters are instinctively different even though they both want the same thing: justice. I also liked the character of Denise because she seemed like so much fun. She was a good counterweight to Pamela's character and honestly, it made the whole story in that timeline come together. However, I think that without Tina's timeline of being the 'professional woman' we would not have had as much range in character as we did. Jessica Knoll has basically created women with strikingly different personalities that come together in order to commit to a cause. It was really quite captivating to learn about them all.

Another thing I enjoyed about this book is the themes. I love a book about women joining forces and doing something completely against what society thinks they should do. Jessica Knoll really hits the nail on the head when it comes to the media frenzy which surrounded the case in which the victims were essentially forgotten. She turns this on its head by simply referring to the killer as 'The Defendant' and strips away his name entirely. I'm pretty sure that this is the best example of this I have seen in a while.

Jessica Knoll really brings out the sexism when it comes to reporting on crimes against women in the media, implying that they only have a few lines that they mix around and choose from, instead wanting to sensationalise the crime as much as possible so that they pull in readership. More than often violence against women is sensationalised and this also means that the media will jump on any chance to focus on the state of the crime and the killer rather than the actual lives of the victims or the fact that the victims once were living human beings. We can even see that through the fact that we usually know a lot about serial killers, yet we can't name many of their victims, if any.

All in all, I thought that this book was an excellent example of women's crime fiction in the fact that it actually concentrated on the lives of the women who were not only the victims, but also the women who were around them and seeking justice on their behalf. A brilliantly dark novel about how it takes women to band together, this book echoes some of the most essential things it takes to be a woman in the modern world if you don't want to live in fear. Pamela and Tina are both awesome characters who are enthralling to read about but also, the entire storyline converges to form what is really a story about women - no longer about the murderer.