Prom night didn't turn out the way Amber would have wanted it to turn out.

Instead of partying, Amber was in pain and went to the room her date, Joe, had booked.

The pains were labor pains. Amber delivered the baby and then ended up killing it....something she didn't remember.

She went to a juvenile detention center, and twenty years later ends back in her hometown of Baltimore that she swore she never wanted to see again.

Amber knew Joe lived there with his wife and didn't plan to see him, but wanted to.

As Amber was getting her art gallery ready for its opening, Joe came into the shop, and it all started over again for her. What about for Joe?

Alternating chapters tell Joe's, Meredith's, and Amber's stories both past and present.

PROM MOM is a slow build up with mostly unlikable characters, especially Joe, and a plot that makes you wonder where this story line is going.

You will find out....BUT…the background information, the real estate information, and other detailed information dragged for me, and I wasn't interested in it.

All of that took away from the story line for me.

The last ten percent of the book was the most interesting and had a big surprise, but not enough to rate the book higher. 3/5

This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley for a a review copy.

Unfortunately, this did not work for me on almost any level. I could be wrong, but I think this book will be unpopular. It’s way too slow. If you’ve read the synopsis then you’ve read 80% of the book (that’s not an exaggeration). It also tackled some subjects (deceased newborn and COVID) that I think many readers will not want to read about. Overall, almost nothing happens, the characters are unrealistic and unlikeable, and we heard way too much about the economy of COVID-19 for this to be a fiction.

Prom Mom by Laura Lippman is a slow burn in the best possible way. Lippman builds her story by consistently ratcheting up the tension until you absolutely can not put the book down. Nothing is what it seems in this dark story and when I got to the end, I was very surprised. Prom Mom is very character driven and the setting is basically another character, as it is in all her books. I really enjoyed this.

I was looking forward to reading this one because the synopsis sounded intriguing to me. However, I ended up not caring for it. It was very drawn out and honestly it was hard for me to finish. I didn’t connect with the characters and they even annoyed me quite a bit.

I read the blurb and knew I wanted to read this book. There was a darkness hinted at and a long ago tragedy, all draws for me. And there was a tragedy that set two high schoolers on different paths from their original dreams. It seemed like those different paths started something even better for both and that is where this book lost me. All of the main characters were smug and unlikeable, although I liked that they couldn’t see it themselves. It meant that I really wasn’t invested in anyone coming out smelling of roses.
There was a lot of repetition and the author telling us things through the character. It would have been better to read about Meredith and Joe’s history through past events rather than be told. The ending was a surprise but it felt forced and I didn’t feel that the characters would have it in them. Some darker moments of their character could have been explored earlier without giving anything away.
I loved the New Orleans stuff. I learnt a lot of new things about Marci Gras which was really interesting. Because of that I am giving it one extra star, so four stars from me,
Thanks Netgalley for the ARC.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an ARC of this book in exchange for honest feedback.
I did not like this book. Maybe it's beside the point, but I didn't find the characters believable. The man, Joe, was so badly drawn out that there was no way two smart women would fall in love with him. Amber, the Prom Mom, was a little better. Joe's wife, well, Ms. Lippman had to tell us over and over and over why she loved Joe and stayed with him. It was very repetitive.
The story takes place in two eras: 1997 and 2019-20 in Baltimore, Md. The pandemic was starting but according to this book, everyone went out and about willy-nilly. Joe kept complaining about being stuck at home but he was constantly in his car. I do not remember that Maryland was so very lax with Covid mask rules.
Reading the story, the reader knows that there is going to be a surprise ending and it wasn't too hard to guess part of it. By the time, we get to the ending, all one can do is shake one's head and wonder how Ms. Lippman thought she'd get away with it when there was no indication, no hint, that certain characters had other things in mind than the repetitive thoughts we are made privy to throughout the book.
Even for a beach read, this is not recommended by me.

This was my first Laura Lippman and I am so glad I have a significant back catalog to read from! The characters were engaging and the plot could've been eye-rolly or tawdry, but it wasn't. This is the first book that I've read where the pandemic is the contextual background, but not the actual plot. (I'm sure there are many more ahead of me.) It worked for me! It felt relevant to the general plot and not overdone. The nods to changes in language and viewpoint brought about by the past few years of social justice movements felt a *little* heavy-handed sometimes, especially when they were extrapolated upon by Meredith and not just part of normal conversation. But overall, it didn't feel like too cumbersome. That's honestly how I remember the time, myself - a shifting landscape of language around me. I wasn't the hugest fan of the ending - I appreciate it more after sitting with it a bit, and I'm not sure what else could've been done, but I still somehow wish things had gone a different way! Meredith, who I loved throughout, ending up feeling like a true wildcard, in a way that felt abrupt and didn't really work for me. But none of this detracted from the experience of reading the book, which I really enjoyed. I like Lippman's writing and am eager to add her to my roster of quick, draw-me-in reads.

Relevant and thrilling with brilliant twists and turns expected from the writings of Laura Lippman.
Amber the studious 17-year-old honor student not knowing to be pregnant, gives birth in a hotel room at prom and wakes up to find the baby dead with no memory of the birth.
Joe is the charismatic and popular boy who is the presumed father.

The novel flips between 1997 / 2019 /2021 focusing on the lives of Amber and Joe and their lives as teenagers and now as fully fleshed adults.

While Amber was vilified and charged with the murder where Joe was seemingly met with sympathy. After inheriting the house she grew up in Amber moves back to her hometown from New Orleans and reconnects with Joe learning that he is successful and married to a beautiful and successful doctor.
Told in alternating chapters between Amber, Joe, and Joe's wife, Meredith, each of them narrates secrets and semi-truths that lead to a shocking yet satisfying ending. The plot is steady and moves quickly with characters not essentially likable. Laura Lippman does an excellent job at vocalizing the discrepancies between how men and women are treated after traumatic events.

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for giving me the opportunity to read this.

I've been a Lippman fan for years, but I continue to be impressed with how she shifts sub-genres (or sometimes sub-sub-genres) and excels at all of them. This is a thriller, but nothing like, say Sunburn. In fact, it's a rare thriller that spans over a year (not counting flashbacks), and is also a fantastic COVID-era thriller (without ever becoming about COVID, per se).

As the ripped-from-the-headlines title implies, Amber, the titular character, gave birth to a baby at her prom who died of neglect. Decades later, she's moved back to Baltimore to open an art gallery, having spent time in prison and then finding a life for herself in New Orleans. Her ex-boyfriend Joe is now married to a doctor named Meredith, and while Amber might initially have intended to avoid her ex, naturally the three of their lives slowly become interwoven.

Lippman's story is often a slow burn, but it needs that time for the characters to develop. While all of the characters have dark secrets, the ultimate payoff is less a matter of long-term planning than of opportunities that are presented (not going to be more specific since the whole point of a book like this is the discovery). As always, Lippman has a great supporting cast, most of them revealed through flashbacks, and gives all of her characters the depth and nuance to make them at least somewhat sympathetic.

It would be trite to just call this a book about the "sins of the past" coming back to haunt us, or about dealing with teen trauma (of which there's plenty). That's simply a starting point, and the book takes us on a fantastic journey from there. I finished this in a night, and it is definitely a book that's hard to put down.

This story alternates between 1997 and current day (Covid days). In the beginning we learn about The Girl, Amber. Amber is in high school and goes to the senior prom with Joe. After the prom, Amber gives birth to a premature baby in the hotel room she is staying in that night. The boy, Joe, may or may not know about the baby nor may he care how Amber is doing after the prom. Joe seems to be preoccupied with another girl.

The newspapers are peppered with the story of Amber and Joe’s dreadful night. Amber moves away from her hometown but Joe stays and marries a successful doctor, Meredith. He seems to have it all but as the story progresses we see that he is not really the quality person we think he is. Everyone is suspect and the plot thickens once Amber moves back to her hometown. At the point that she and Joe “run into” each other, the game begins.

Many characters slip into the story and its hard to know who to root for. There is not one particular climactic event but I found myself on the edge of my seat waiting for the next chapter. Prom Mom is an impressive story with enigmatic characters and had me constantly wondering what was going to happen next. Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC of this book.

Prom Mom is set in Baltimore in the beginning and mid-way through - no surprise since Lippman is a long time Baltimorean.

Amber and Joe go to their prom and Amber gives birth and the child ends up dead. Amber is accused of murder. Joe leaves her so Amber leaves the state to go and live a life where she is not known as the "prom mom."
She misses Baltimore and comes back many years later to find that Joe is married and still very much attractive to her.

Joe and his wife Meredith take center stage at that point and a game of who's zoomin who begins.
Amber's voice becomes louder as the book progresses.

Who did what to whom and how far is each character willing to go to get what they want? Read the book. You will want to know.

Laura Lippman has a unique way of making readers root for characters who've done horrible things, and she kills off babies like no other author out there. Prom Mom is another winner, populated with complex characters with messy backstories and a pandemic to boot. It's a slow boil, and sucks in the reader so deeply that you don't realize you're reading a twisty thriller until the end. And the ending will gut you.

In 1997 16 year old Amber gave birth on her prom night with Joe and killed their child in a hotel bathroom after which their life was never the same again. Fast forward to 2019 Joe is happily married to Meredith but Amber is back in town and some secrets are ready to be revealed.

Told by different POV’S between the past and present, Prom Mom is a psychological thriller with unlikable characters. A slow burn but the strong ending with an unexpected twist more than made up for it

I would like to thank William Morrow & NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and fair review

Amber Glass was an honor student who became known as the “Prom Mom” after a baby was found in a hotel room. She then spent most of the rest of her adulthood pulling away from her hometown of Baltimore and from her legacy as the girl who killed her baby.

Circumstance and fate had other ideas. Pulled back to Baltimore to deal with an inheritance, Amber has returned and compelled to stay. There’s something about coming home, no matter what the experience was the first time.

Told along the timeline of the Covid pandemic and 2020 election, this thriller from Laura Lippman is one that should not be missed. This is a story about regret, about honor and about revenge. There’s a perfect marriage, a husband who is confused, a woman who is trying to redeem her past mistakes and a young upstart who is used to getting what she wants.

Joe is more than just “Cad Dad'. Since coming back to Baltimore, he’s worked hard to rebuild that golden boy status and having a beautiful wife helps. When Amber, his former prom date, comes back, Joe can’t help but remember their closeness and connection.

Admittedly, I was a little disappointed in the pandemic timeline, it actually served the sneaking around and secrets part of this tale quite well. As a reader of Laura Lippman’s previous books, I was excited to have the opportunity to read this one as well. I was not disappointed. The last 5% of this book changed EVERYTHING and made the boring and strange days of the pandemic worth it.

As suspected, Laura Lippman knocked this one out of the part. Nothing that happens is what you expect and that’s the best part of this book. Sometimes redemption and revenge can work together to bring the clarity that was needed long before.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book. I've been a Laura Lippman fan for a long time, and having lived in Baltimore for many years, I like seeing place names that are familiar in my fiction reading. This was generally a good and compelling story, though I thought the ending felt a bit rushed. The ending was also a huge twist, and very unexpected.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

Thank goodness! Laura Lippman back to her usual awesomeness! She lost me with the previous two books, but really enjoyed this one. Twists and turns I didn’t expect, though it was definitely quite dark!

Thanks to NetGalley & Wm. Morrow for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When you read Laura Lippman, you know you're in the hands of a pro. Like her last book, Dream Girl, Prom Mom is carefully constructed, a giant house of cards just waiting for the author to give it a good puff of air. This story draws on the stories of my own teen-hood: girl, unknown to be pregnant by her peers, gives birth in a hotel room and kills the baby. In this case the girl is Amber Glass, and her prom date isn't her boyfriend, although they have been sleeping together. His name is Joe, and while the newspapers call Amber "Prom Mom," Joe is known as "Cad Dad," and damned if it doesn't fit. After her brief stint inside, Amber has moved away from "Smalltimore" to New Orleans and rebuilt her little life from scratch. Joe has been taken under his uncle's wing and given a real estate job that has left him flush. Now Amber is back in town after the death of her stepfather, and, inevitably, the two cross paths.

Lippman presents a masterclass in building slow-burn tension as Joe juggles his high-achieving plastic surgeon wife (who "helps him to be good" and whose talented hands are insured for millions), his mistress (who is edging towards stalkeresque until Joe and Amber, Joe's rediscovered confidante, concoct a plan), and the looming loan on his speculative purchase of a small shopping mall, complete just before global lockdowns in March 2020.

There's always a twist in thrillers these days, but with Lippman you know it'll be one you don't see coming, and you'll have to turn it over in your mind a bit to see what she did there. She's just that good.

Laura Lippman is a terrific writer, and I have enjoyed MOST of her books (although Dream Girl in 2021 was a surprise disappointment, but that may have been my own pandemic fatigue preventing my enjoyment of pretty much anything in 2021!). I loved 2019’s Lady In The Lake, and I was pleased to receive a copy of Prom Mom from William Morrow and NetGalley in exchange for this honest review.

The title refers to the protagonist, Amber Glass, who gave birth in a hotel bathroom the night of her high school prom. The baby was found dead (the cause isn’t quite clear at first), and there was a tabloid frenzy when Amber (the “Prom Mom”) and her date, Joe (“Cad Dad”) were nationwide sensations for a LOOOONG time (can’t you just hear Nancy Grace saying “Prom Mom”?).

Amber moved away from Baltimore, going to college in Florida then living in New Orleans for several years before she decides to go back to Baltimore in order to … what? Overcome her demons? Find and reconnect with or get revenge on Joe? It isn’t clear…yet. In any case, Joe is now a successful commercial real estate developer, married to the apparently perfect Meredith, a plastic surgeon. He and Amber reconnect, to put it politely.

There is some jumping around both in time (present day and flashing back to the time of the prom) and POV, with Amber, Joe, and Meredith all telling their stories. The real excellence comes out of the inclusion of the pandemic in the story, with Lippman using it to bring out issues around privilege and class, and to move the plotline along.

Amber and Joe get reacquainted – they actually go back where they left off, with Amber being one of several women Joe is sexually involved with. For me, there was a big ick factor, not because of the characters’ ethical and moral lapses, more because I just didn’t like ANY of them. Yes, there are reasons for their actions, especially the two women, but … ugh.

The story may be slow for some readers (my husband, usually a fan of LL’s, DNF this one), but for me it built to a somewhat surprising and in some ways satisfying conclusion. I won’t say it is one of her best – in fact, the morning after I finished it, I woke up and thought “I need to get back to Prom Mom and finish it,” then remembered the ending. TBH, the acknowledgement at the end and LL’s revelation about her personal situation was possibly more impactful than the story. But I still love her writing style, and will eagerly read her next book. Four stars.

Thanks for the review copy. I enjoy Lippman’s books. I look forward to reading more of her books. I thought the subject of the pandemic was handled well in this book.

This was such a LONG book for me. I was extremely intrigued by the plot but man oh man it took forever for me to become invested in the storyline. Once I was invested it moved a bit faster but I was hanging on by a thread to actually finish the book.