Jessica Knoll's Bright Young Women (2023) tells the story of two young women whose paths cross as a result of one man's violent behavior. At the start of the novel, which is set in January 1978, people across the United States are intrigued and horrified by a string of killings that have been taking place in the Pacific Northwest. Meanwhile, Pamela Schumacher, one of the two women, is a member of a sorority at Florida State University. She (and others) feel that they are safe because they are so far away from the killings. However, things change when she returns home to find two of her sorority sisters dead and two others badly hurt, presumably the work of the killer from the Pacific Northwest. The other woman is Tina Cannon, who lives in Seattle. When she hears about the murders in Florida, she decides to travel to Tallahassee in the hope that she can stop the killings once and for all—something she discovers will only be possible with Pamela's help. Her trauma surrounding the killings has haunted her; she wants to stop the killings once and for all.
Ultimately, Bright Young Women is a novel about the power of sisterhood and how banding together during difficult times. Those themes resonated with critics and audiences alike, who offered positive feedback towards the novel, which became a bestseller quickly after release. Publisher's Weekly wrote a glowing review of the novel, writing that "By focusing on the women affected by her Ted Bundy stand-in instead of the nuances of his criminal psychology, Knoll movingly reframes an American obsession without stripping it of its intrigue. The results are masterful." Kirkus Reviews echoed those sentiments in their review and called it "A stunning, engaging subversion of the Bundy myth—and the true-crime genre."
