Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This story is told by two young women, Pamela and Ruth. Pamela is a sorority president in Florida when she witnesses a man enter the sorority house late at night. Shortly thereafter she discovers that several of the women have been attacked and one raped and murdered. Ruth is a young woman in Washington State. It is revealed that Ruth was murdered by the same man who entered the sorority and killed there. The book is a novel with fictional characters, but it models closely on the case of Ted Bundy, the real-life serial killer. I didn’t know that when I started reading and I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had, although the back cover advertises that fact. Though it’s well-written and the author manages to inject some suspense, it is too close to the real mundane world of law enforcement and criminal courts to be exciting. I know that world all too well.
The author also spends too much time depicting all the men as sexist and condescending, including even the judge in the case when the defendant goes to trial. I’m not disputing the accuracy of the depiction, but this is a novel, not a screed, and it needs more plot and less polemics. I listened to the audiobook, which is read by two different women. They both did a good job although one them can’t pronounce erudite or nomenclature.