A society that treats innocents as wrongdoers unleash more criminal behavior.
Don’t let the title of Laura Lippman’s latest book, Prom Mom, put you off. Some readers will expect fluff and others will be left pleasantly surprised by the theme of social inequality that was on full display during the early days of the Covid pandemic. The tight, suspenseful plot covers all the angst, panic and self-interest of 2020.
Amber Glass returns to her hometown of Baltimore in late 2019 to settle her stepfather’s estate, deciding to use a surprise inheritance to start a small folk-art gallery. She worries about others in town recognizing her – the notorious “Prom Mom” from 1997, a promising high school junior who hid a pregnancy, leaving a dead infant in a hotel room. Amber finishes her studies in juvenile detention before starting a new life in New Orleans. Her prom date was a senior whom Amber tutored in French. He insisted she locked him out of the hotel room and didn't answer his knocking. Briefly labeled as “Cad Dad,” Joe moves on to a normal life, attending college, marrying a plastic surgeon and joining his uncle’s real estate business.
Lippman keeps readers guessing about her characters' motivations. Amber makes little effort to hide her past, giving the gallery her own name – “wondering how the old life might have gone if it had not jumped the track and she had a right to know what she had lost, even if it means putting herself at risk for losing it all again.” She regrets her loss of privacy, the abrupt exit from high school, all due to a night of which she has no memory. “All Amber wanted for herself was what had been granted to Joe. Was that so much to ask? Probably. Apparently.”
Joe and his wife seem devoted to each other, but appearances are deceiving. Meredith takes great pride in knowing about Joe's early transgressions and he credits her for shaping him into a model husband, a man who is sloppy about his extramarital dalliances. Society and rich parents tolerate the wealthy making excuses about failures, deluding themselves while using others to get what they want.
For these characters, knowing others' secrets is power.
Amber studies Joe’s seemingly perfect life on social media, and the gallery's name serves as bait for getting Joe to stop by. More meetings follow that hurry along Joe’s unraveling marriage. Joe and Meredith are accustomed to money ensuring a comfortable life while expecting the vulnerable to do their dirty work. But Amber has her own money and plans, uncovering the couple's secrets and upending the narrative.
Terrible decisions and callous disregard for others contribute to a noir plot with plenty of dark humor. Dates are key to understanding character motivation and what happened on that prom night years before. The book leaves unresolved strands, including questions about Amber’s relationship with her stepfather and an odd clash with Joe’s best friend in a liquor store.
Early in the book, Amber observes, “There’s simply not a lot of suspense in most people’s lives.” That's simply not true for an observant, intelligent protagonist who learns just how much she was wronged.
Lies of omission can be as evil and consequential as outright falsehoods.
