Halloween Bingo 2024
”Things grow differently when they're damaged, showing us how to occupy strange new ground to bloom red instead of green. We can be found, brighter than before.”
I have to admire Jessica Knoll for writing this whole novel calling the murderer only The Defendant. She does for this offender what Hallie Rubenhold did with her nonfiction book The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper, taking the focus away from the infamous murderer and centering the book where it belongs, on the victims. I confess to reading quite a few books about The Defendant years ago, trying to make sense of those events of my young-woman-hood, back when readers were fascinated by the criminal rather than how to prevent the crime and help the victimized. It brought Jacinta Arden, former leader of New Zealand, to mind, refusing to use the name of the Christchurch shooter and denying him the glory he was seeking.
I have no doubt that Knoll portrays the Florida sorority girls realistically, if fictitiously. What made me volcanically angry was their treatment by law enforcement and reporters, as if they were children. They were systematically kept in the dark, only to be blindsided repeatedly. Those were the days of fighting for equality with men, trying to be taken seriously, while at the same time being expected to be perfect “ladies,” well groomed and ultra polite. Rather schizophrenic really. And it's not entirely behind us.
Knoll also kicks around the idea that the murderer was charming, handsome, or very intelligent and rejects it. According to her interview in Vanity Fair, she rapidly came to the conclusion that those characteristics were highly exaggerated by the press and law enforcement (probably to justify their failure to stop him). His successful murders were due to preying on the relentless socialization of young women to be helpful, caring, and open to men, using casts and crutches to appear weakened and in need of assistance. Honestly, looking at photos of the perpetrator, I have always been mystified how it came to be believed that he was handsome. He looked pretty ferret-like to me.
The pointiest stick in her novel is the contrast between the many, many books about The Defendant and the pathetically small coverage of those whose lives he impacted or took away. I am as guilty as anyone of reading those serial killer books, but I am learning that they support the patriarchal tendency to support even serial killers rather than the women they leave in their wake. As I often do, I recommend that every woman (and everyone who cares about the women in their lives) read Gavin de Becker's excellent book The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence (the first half, as the second half is seriously out of date).
I read this for the Free square on my Bingo Card.
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