Book Reviewed by:Jessica Knoll's Bright Young Women, a fictionalized take on the crimes of Ted Bundy, portrays its Bundy-inspired killer as an unimpressive man sensationalized as a charming genius. This echoes real-life critiques of the way Bundy has been cast by the media and law enforcement over the years.
Bundy was one of the twentieth century's most notorious serial killers, carrying out a spree of crimes in the mid-to-late 1970s. He ultimately confessed to the murders of 28 women and girls and was executed in 1989 after being sentenced to death in two separate cases.
It could be argued that the media climate was poised to sensationalize Bundy's story from the start. His murder trial was the first in the United States to be nationally televised and came at a time when the FBI was emphasizing its new behavioral sciences unit, focused on criminal psychology. News outlets touted the fact that he had attended law school and chose to be on his own legal team as a sign of his intelligence. In fact,...
