Laura Lippman is one of my go-to authors for a solid crime novel. They tend to be on the lighter side and are always set in or around Baltimore, and she manages to keep things fresh. Her latest is maybe not as strong as her last few books, but still solid escapist reading for late nights or crowded beaches.

Amber Glass was a teenager when she became news fodder for having a baby during her prom. Now an adult, she returns to Baltimore, where she opens an art gallery. She runs into the one person who knows what she went through, her prom date, and they strike up a cautious friendship. Joe's having some issues; he loves his wife and the woman he'd been having an affair with is disinclined to let him go. And he has financial problems, exacerbated by the pandemic. If Amber's reasons for befriending Joe are murky, Joe's motivations may be even murkier.

I kept thinking I knew where this book was going and each time I was wrong. There aren't any truly likable characters and the plot is one that left me guessing to the end. Lippman is getting a little edgier as she goes, which is fun. ( )

I'm 3/4ths of the way through and nothing has happened. Lots of flashbacks and the non-surprise affair. Weird for Lippman who is usually more on target than this. The writing and characterizations as strong as usual, but I wish something would happen already. ( )

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. ( )

Prom Mom by Laura Lippman is a highly recommended domestic psychological suspense novel.

Amber Glass was known as "Prom Mom," the girl who gave birth and allegedly killed her baby while her date Joe Simpson or "Cad Dad," chased after an ex-girlfriend. Even though Amber escaped from her past in Baltimore, which made the tabloids, she chose to return and stay after her stepfather passed away. She's opening an art gallery and plans to stay out of Joe's way, maybe.

Joe is still in town, a successful commercial real estate developer, and married to a plastic surgeon, Meredith, his soul mate but that doesn't stop him from having affairs. His current lover is a young realtor, Jordan Altman, but he pursues a relationship with Amber. When the pandemic and lockdown occur, it threatens Joe's way of life as well as his financial bottom line.

The writing and character development is phenomenal, as expected. Readers won't necessarily like any of the characters, but you will immediately know who they are and how they fit into the plot and the time period. The plot will pull you right into the story and hold your attention throughout. Prom Mom is a slow-moving novel but is worth the time to reach the end. There is a twist at the end that I didn't anticipate and appreciated quite a bit.

Parts of this narrative were very engrossing and parts made me roll my eyes. Any pandemic or lockdown plot element is an immediate negative for me. It sets the novel in a specific time period and immediately dates it. This one wasn't too pompous retelling those events, but enough to turn me off.

And if you have to write about the pandemic, give us some realistic action featuring the people who were working everyday with no time off at home to provide you care or toilet paper and frozen food. Call all of us essential but admit, at the time, we were expendable.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of HarperCollins via Edelweiss.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2023/07/prom-mom.html ( )

Although I love mysteries, I’m usually not a huge fan of thrillers/suspense novels. I think this is because in a mystery, the crime usually comes at the beginning and I haven’t developed a relationship with any of the characters, especially the victim. In a thriller, the evil act generally comes at the end, by which time I have generally come to know both the victim(s) and the perpetrator(s). I hate reading an entire book thinking that something bad may be done by or to any of the characters I’ve come to know and even like.

The three main characters, “Prom Mom” Amber, “Cad Dad” Joe, and his wife Meredith, were so well written that I liked and/or identified with all three of them at various points in the novel.The Covid-era setting provided just enough sympathetic detail to pull me further into the plot. So, although I was worried about the ending, about who was going to hurt whom and how—it was fine. A satisfying ending that didn’t make me cringe. And for me that is the mark of good suspense.

Highly recommended, even for hesitant readers of suspense like me!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this novel to read and review. ( )