Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

 

January 15, 1978, is a night of promise, excitement, and desire. A serial killer’s murderous spree in the Pacific Northwest couldn’t be further from the minds of the vibrant young women at the top sorority on Florida State University’s campus in Tallahassee.

That night, Pamela Schumacher, president of the sorority, makes the unpopular decision to stay home. Startled awake at 3 a.m. by a strange sound, she makes the fateful decision to investigate. What she finds outside her bedroom door is a scene of implausible violence—two of her sisters dead; two others, maimed.

On the other side of the country, in Seattle, Tina Cannon has found peace after years of hardship. A chance encounter brings twenty-five-year-old Ruth Wachowsky into her life and they forge an instant connection. But then Ruth goes missing from Lake Sammamish State Park in broad daylight, the same day as another young woman, surrounded by thousands of beachgoers. Both vanish without a trace. Tina is convinced Ruth was a target of the man the papers refer to as the All-American Sex Killer.

When she learns of the massacre in Tallahassee, Tina is convinced it’s him again. She rushes to Florida, on a collision course with Pamela—and one last impending tragedy.      -jessicaknoll.com     

 

Do you ever have a book that sticks with you long after you’ve turned the last page?  One of those books for me is Bright Young Women.  Think of the most infamous serial killer you know of thanks to endless films and true crime documentaries.  You probably know more about that individual than the victims and that’s the crux of Bright Young Women.  The killer is only referred to as The Defendant in the novel taking away any perceived “fame” from him and instead focuses on the POVs of victims Pamela and Ruth.  While this is a work of fiction, the characters are based on an amalgam of real victims/cases, it gives you a sense of what was taken from victims of these crimes depicted in the popular true crime documentaries and such.  You get to know Pamela, Ruth and their friends as fully developed people with their whole lives ahead of them and how this was all taken from them in one foul swoop.  This is more than your average thriller, it’s thought-provoking material that will linger in your mind for a long time. 

I received Bright Young Women as an e-book loan from my local library.  You can get yours from your favorite local library, book store or online shop.  For more information, visit the authors website linked above.