Melissa (Trying to Catch Up)'s Reviews > Bright Young Women

"I want you to remember, every time I say The Defendant, is not him but the seventy-one-year-old court reporter in cat-eye glasses who refused to participate in the outright lie of him."

"Law enforcement would rather we remember a dull man as brilliant than take a good hard look at the role they played in this absolute horror show, and I am sick to death of watching them in their pressed shirts and cowboy boots, in their comfortable leather interview chairs, in hugely successful and critically acclaimed crime documentaries, talking about the intelligence and charm and wiliness of an ordinary misogynist. This story is not that. This story is not that."

This is a fantastic book, a completely unique take on the subject.

I agree with the above. His name has been mentioned too many times, his notoriety has grown to mythical proportions. The accepted narrative is not the one that the author wants to tell. When it comes right down to it, it is the women who deserve that spotlight. The women who deserve to be lauded, remembered, and praised for their survival instinct. That is what Jessica Knoll has done with this novel. She has brought to light all that the women did to make sure that this man did not survive any longer than necessary, and that he was just a man. Just an ordinary, albeit evil man of mediocre intelligence.

I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, where The Defendant started his reign of terror in the 1970s. Although I was a child when all of this happened, I grew up with it as part of the folklore of life in the 70s and 80s, with serial killers around every corner.

This book is inspired by true events follows two narrators and two timelines. The first is Pamela, the president of the Florida State University sorority house where the two murders and two additional attacks took place that led to his death sentence. The book starts with those attacks and moves forward. The second is with Ruth, a woman in Washington state who is friends with Tina, who ends up meeting Pamela and ties the two narratives together.

This book made me experience the gamut of emotions: anger, sorrow, frustration, irritation, futility, and such deep respect for any woman who encountered The Defendant. The misogyny of the 1970s were truly what allowed this man to get away with what he was doing for so long. Knoll's narrative makes it clear that it wasn't his "intelligence" that helped him, but rather the ineptitude of law enforcement and a series of very "lucky" circumstances.

For those who are interested in true crime and looking at true crime from a different perspective, then definitely pick this one up. I listened to it as an audiobook and the narrators were fantastic and gave an "out loud" voice to the women that Knoll so respectfully depicts in her story.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own.