Bright Young Women is a novel published by Jessica Knoll in 2023 that has a very clear and distinct purpose. The novel is a semi-fictionalized account of parts of the story of infamous serial killer Ted Bundy. One of the two first-person narrators distinctly makes the author’s intent clear when she notably asserts, “I read his rather prosaic-sounding name for the first time in that moment, but some years ago I vowed to stop using it.” The goal and intent of this novel is to reclaim the story of the murders attributed to Bundy from the killer and transfer ownership over to all the victims whose names are not well-known.
The title of the novel derives from the words which the judge presiding over the trial which finally sent him to death row delivered to Bundy in which he described him as a “bright young man.” This was the same speech which contained the description of Bundy’s murders which became the title of a Netflix film based on the case, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Vile, and Evil. Knoll has turned the judge’s characterization on its side to suggest that one can be young and bright without also being wicked and evil. There is a layer in the subtext which also suggests that this paradoxical delineation of character may be due to gender.
Women dominate the story. This includes the two narrative voices as well as the court reporter observed as being the only person in the courtroom in an official capacity who referred to Bundy not by his name but only as “the defendant.” Since the victims were also women this means that only a few characters are male and, for the most part, they do not come across as particularly admirable. It is a story about systemic sexism in which Ted Bundy stands as the tallest and darkest metaphor for misogynistic patriarchal desire for control.
If a reader is not familiar with Bundy beyond his name, it is entirely possible to read this book as pure fiction. While his name does not appear, the real names of certain other parties do show up. More to the point is that in describing the events which are actually part of the public record, the story is factually accurate enough for anyone familiar with them to recognize immediately. The primary narrator tells the story of the Chi Omega sorority house murders at Florida State University which finally put an end to Bundy’s criminal career. This section is in direct opposition to the other narrative thread which takes place in the Pacific Northwest in the early seventies when Bundy first began killing. That part of the book is also historically accurate in that it does not allow the reader to know much about the then-unidentified killer. This part of the narrative reflects the zeitgeist of fear and suspicion and lack of specific information about the mysterious person behind the disappearances or murders of an increasing number of young women.
Pamela, the primary narrator, has two tasks to fulfill. One is to bring the young women who were victims of a serial killer to the forefront of their story. The other is to undo the myth of Ted Bundy as a “bright young man” who just also happened to be evil. Throughout her account of the trial for the sorority house murders—which, in a deviation from factual history, she witnesses—she deconstructs the perpetuation of the portrait of Bundy as an extremely intelligent criminal mastermind. Ultimately, the book is not just about giving bright young women their overdue focus of attention but dismantling the myth lying at the heart of the very concept of the serial killer.
