For the majority of this book, I was surprised by how philandering Joe was treated without much judgment. He cheats on his wife and his mistress, but the women are either seemingly in the dark or accepting. That turns out to not be entirely the case, but in other books he would have been the villain from the start. This book fits the Faulkner quote: “The past is never dead. It is not even past.”

First book by this author. It was quite an interesting thriller and I am glad to have discovered Laura Lippman. I will be looking for more books by this author. Not necessarily a fan of the 3 main characters and definitely not a fan of reading about Covid time and the 2016 election, but the plot itself was very impressive and made me want to keep reading.

I don't know what I was expecting, but not this book! I love Laura Lippman's books and was surprised by the topic in this one. It came out of left field and gripped me until I put the book down.

This book never caught gave me what I wanted or expected. I feel like I never really “got” any of the three main characters. There was an occurrence at the end that felt forced and without context. And quite frankly I could have cared less about Cad Dadas an adult. I feel like this book had an interesting concept it just was not well developed IMO.
I was given a copy from Netgalley opinions are my own.

Amber Glass has tried to leave her past in Baltimore behind. In high school, Amber was tutoring Joe Simpson and occasionally sleeping with him. But Joe never considered Amber his girlfriend, he still was held up on his ex who dumped him. When Joe takes Amber to prom to spite his ex, the night takes a bad turn and Amber goes back to their hotel room. There, she delivers a baby that neither acknowledged (or maybe even knew) she was pregnant with.

When she awoke, the baby was dead and Amber was forever labeled “Prom Mom”—the woman who allegedly murdered her baby on prom night. After serving time in juvenile detention, Amber has started a new life in New Orleans. But after a few decades she returns to Baltimore to open a gallery. As long as she stays away from Joe Simpson, things should be good.

But Amber doesn’t stay away from Joe Simpson. Joe is married to his beautiful, successful wife Meredith and having an affair with a woman from work, but he can’t help stopping by Amber’s gallery. Joe is still as drawn to Amber as he was in high school, but he doesn’t necessarily want to have a relationship with her.

As Joe and Amber dance towards a line that can’t be uncrossed, things become more tangled. And then Joe asks Amber for a favor…

True to her word, the three central characters (Amber, Joe, and Meredith) seem to be in a three-way tie for not being entirely likable. It must be intentional that for most of the book, we aren’t given a character to root for. Arguably you could say this for the whole book, though towards the end one pulled ahead for me.

Each of them have a different role to play. Joe is absolutely the most despicable in the things he has done to the women in his life, but he also seems to care the most about the others. Meredith seemingly has done nothing wrong, but there is something about her that rubs the reader the wrong way—a sense of entitlement, perhaps. A superiority. A little bit of manipulation. And then Amber should be the most sympathetic, but she’s cold and there’s always a sense she’s not really telling the reader everything.

I’ve mentioned in other posts that I don’t like books set during the pandemic and this one is during the present timeline. That said, it isn’t a main feature, it’s used to develop the characters and their situations. I didn’t love having the pandemic featured but it didn’t bother me as much as other books.

A lot of the story covers what happened leading up to prom night as well as flashing back to the years in between. Joe took a gap year and worked for his uncle, which led him on his path to commercial real estate. Meanwhile Amber came out of prison and moved to New Orleans. The 2016 election features prominently, as does Meredith’s career in medicine and her marriage to Joe.

I went into this expecting the book to focus heavily on Amber, the baby, and what really happened on prom night. It doesn’t. Amber actually takes a backseat in a sense during much of the middle of the book. The story is a slow build, piecing small moments together across time until the full picture comes into play.

After a relatively slow, character-driven plot, the ending was a complete jaw-dropper. I actually had to go back and read it three times to make sure I grasped everything.

As usual with Lippman, this is the sort of book that you think about long after finishing. It is subtle but impactful.

Mixed feelings about this one. I really enjoyed the first part of the book but then I had to relive the days of Covid, lockdown, toilet paper shortages, and the last election. I read to escape the yuckiness of the world and as soon as the timeline went to March of 2020 I knew it was not going to be a fun read anymore. The ending was satisfying but it didn't make up for the "covidy" middle. I also despise adultery and this book had a lot of it. I generally enjoy Laura Lippman's books but this one was a miss for the most part.

I reviewed this book honestly from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This one pulled me in quickly. Amber Glass gave birth alone in a hotel room on the night of her prom. The baby didn't survive. She has no memory of what happened before she was found there on the bathroom floor, but years have passed and she's built a new life for herself. Now she's back in her hometown, opening a gallery that features the work of outsider artists. She didn't mean to cross paths with her prom date and reopen old wounds, but once she sees Joe, she can't keep herself from seeing him again and finding out what he's done with his own life. I was immediately pulled into this one, caught up in the characters and their lives.

What a twisty fun book! The ending was a surprise and it fit the clues that the author sprinkled throughout the book. This makes me want to read Laura Lippman's next book.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was pretty mediocre until the last few pages of the book. The big twist saved it for me.

3.5 rounded up.

Great story set in the 90s! Lippman has you guessing the whole time! Great vacation read, A shocking slow burn.

This is one of the best books I've read this year. Laura Lippman is one of my favorite writers and this book delivered.

Amber and Joe were had a fling back in high school and Amber delivered a baby on prom night, unbeknownst to Joe, and got rid of it. This ruined both of their reputations but thankfully not their futures.

Joe has had a successful life with his wealthy plastic surgeon wife Meredith but now Amber has come back to town and opened an art gallery, Amber was always more into Joe than he was into her, but she's different now, and so is he.

Their reunion sets them on a dangerous path however, and the problems of their youth pale in comparison to what is happening in the present. And there are things from the past that are about to come to the surface.

This book took its time revealing its secrets while giving you a chance to know the characters. Each of them was flawed and at times quite unlikable. The ending was incredible and I was surprised at a lot of what I learned at the end. Highly recommend.

Set against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, Prom Mom follows Amber Glass as she tries to leave her past behind her and start anew. In 1997, Amber gives birth in a hotel bathroom and kills the baby while her date, Joe, is spending time with his ex-girlfriend.
Twenty years later, Amber is back in Baltimore and entangled again with a now married, Joe.

This was filled with highly unlikeable characters, Amber, Joe, and even Joe's wife. All were highly unlikeable but I like that about stories as long as it's justified which I think here worked well for the story. This is a pretty pacy book which I liked.

The book wraps up nicely with a twist that I never saw coming and that was the shining star in my opinion.

I really enjoy the author's writing and have read and loved many of her backlisted books.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for sending a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great, slow born, constantly changing thriller. I thought I knew what to expect and it then it changed within the last few pages!

A whole bunch of flawed characters and a pandemic. The COVID-19 plot point was my least favorite part.

This was not exactly what I expected going into it, and while I enjoyed it enough to finish it, I also didn't just love it. Well written though- I just wish had a little more mystery!

Another one of Laura Lippman’s signature slow burn thrillers. Thank you to NetGalley and the published for allowing me to read this as an ARC. I have really liked some of Lippman’s books, and some of them I felt were just OK. This one fell somewhere in the middle for me. I found it hard to believe Amber would make some of the choices she makes after all this time, and after getting her life on the right path. I will say I anticipated I wasn’t getting the full picture- and I wasn’t. I won’t say anything more. I did enjoy the ending!
3.5 stars

Prom Mom may seem a little slow to begin with, but these characters suck you in like you wouldn't believe. Amber Glass tutored Joe Simpson in high-school French. She fell hard for him and eventually got him to agree to take her to Prom. As the title suggests, Amber was actually pregnant and ended up giving birth alone in her hotel room on Prom night.
Two decades later, Amber and Joe find themselves intertwined again, but this time Joe is seemingly happily married to Meredith, a successful plastic surgeon. Despite this supposed happiness, he is cheating on her with a young real estate agent, Jordan. All 4 of these lives become tangled until inevitably a murder is planned and someone is dead. But if you think you know who or why, you will be mistaken. This book threw me for a loop that I didn't see coming!

I enjoyed both the physical and audio copies of this book. I finished it pretty quick and was completing sucked into the story. I like the glimpses of the past as we see how it helped shape who and where the characters are now.

Although it takes place in Baltimore, this felt a bit different from the other Laura Lippman I've read. It's still a great story, although a bit slower than I'm used to. Prom Mom is about a woman who gives birth at prom. Her baby is found killed in a hotel room only she had access to, and her date - the father - is judged for leaving her alone when she was clearly not filling well. The story follows them 2 decades later as they deal with the fall-out and reconnect. The characters were definitely complex and their relationship dynamics were fascinating. I didn't see the ending coming either!

Good overall. Amber is a very interesting character, her unending equanimity doesn’t get tiresome. When the worst thing in your life happens to you at age 16, everything after is pretty easy to take. The denouement is VERY rapid, and I feel like it could’ve used more than a few pages to wrap everything up.

Lippman is a genius and at the top of her game with this timely novel. She is incredible, and the depravity of her characters is delightful and shocking.