Jessica Knoll

It was a Goodreads Choice nominee for Best Thriller.

It received glowing endorsements from heavy hitters in the genre like Jessica Knoll and Mary Kubica.

Reviewers at Entertainment Weekly called it haunting and magnetic, and Kirkus Reviews specifically highlighted the complex heroic women at the center of the story and the genuinely unexpected nature of the ending.

But amidst the acclaim, critics were very careful to issue accurate content warnings, and I think it's vital we echo them here.

Today is a Friday Fiction episode.

Ashley and I, my friend Ashley, my friend Ashley joins me to sit down with Jessica Knoll, the thinking girls thriller writer behind Luckiest Girl Alive, Bright Young Women, and her razor sharp new erotic thriller, Helpless.

Let's get into it.

Hi, Jessica.

Could we go to this here next and then here next and then where would we go from there? So within sleep, yes, I do think that problems can be solved.

More sleep, more exercise.

You heard it from Jessica Knoll.

More hot showers, more massages.

You can further support the show by subscribing on Patreon or Apple Podcasts for bonus content and ad free episodes.

Next week, my friend Ashley Kreitzer joins me and we both sit down with Jessica Knoll on her new book, Helpless, a sexy, divisive thriller.

Until then, take care.

I love everything she does.

I love... uh, Jessica Knoll.

I loved bright young women.

I, I, that I've reread that book like multiple times.

yeah i can't recommend enough it's everywhere for a reason the people are right

My first book for our true crime stack is Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll.

Have you read, heard of, seen?

I've seen.

There are some really good examples.

I really like Jessica Knoll, her book, Bright Young Women, which is about Bundy murders.

Brilliant book and full of anger at what happened really and how women were discredited.

So, you know, I think it can be done.

I'll let you say some things about it because I'm still kind of percolating on it and I read it before you and so you'll say some things and it'll, it'll ignite a few more things in my brain.

So I just saw a podcast interview where Jessica Knoll was speaking about the process of writing this particular book.

And she said, as a reader, I love the feeling of feeling like the rug was ripped out from under you.

And all of a sudden you have a totally new and shocking understanding of why something is happening the way that it's happening.

She wanted to hear him say, I can't believe you did this.

Do you want to talk about the ending? I do.

I think we need to say for those who are listening and haven't read the book yet that, like I said, Jessica Knoll's doing these interviews talking about how she wanted to write a book that feels like the rug is ripped out from under you.

For those who have finished, we will discuss it.