Prom Mom

 Prom Mom by Laura Lippman was not what I had expected when I started reading.

There seems to be a small trend with books about girls who get in trouble and it comes to a climax around the high school senior prom.

This time Amber, who is the unpopular girl in school, tutors Joe the handsome jock, who needs help in French.  He has recently broken up with his girlfriend and Amber convinces him to take her to the prom.

He is described throughout the book as such a nice guy, so he cannot say no to Amber and takes her to the prom, but of course the night goes incredibly wrong and their lives are changed forever.

Now many years later, Joe and the love of his life, his wife, Meredith are living back in the same area he grew up in.  Amber who had created a life for herself in New Orleans comes back to close up her stepfather's house.  She decides to stay.  She opens a gallery and rents an apartment.

As Joe runs into Amber accidentally at first and then slowly gets involved and starts making plans to meet her.  He also has another affair he is stuck in and cannot extricate himself from.  All the while saying that Meredith is the only woman he really loves.

The pandemic breaks out.  All their lives are affected by the restrictions and fear of contracting Covid.  This is an interesting thriller that moves at a slow pace and delivers a slightly trick ending.

It all moved a little too slowly for me.  I found myself wanting to get to the crux of the plot more quickly than the author was getting there.