Prom Queen by Laura Wolfe
Genre: Psychological thriller, Suspense
Read: 5th October 2023
Published: 9th October 2023
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
Twenty years ago, someone murdered my best friend the night she was crowned prom queen. Now I’m finally going to prove it…
After Bailey died, I fled our small lakeside hometown and never returned. But now I’m forced back here and I can’t avoid the constant whispers about our prom night, the suspicious looks of the people I grew up with.
Then I bump into a woman in a coffee shop and my eyes are drawn to the silver locket around her neck, glinting in the sunlight. My blood runs cold. I know it’s Bailey’s—she never took it off. And it’s been missing since the night she died.
The shock of seeing it again jolts me back to that terrible night: Bailey under the glittering lights, blowing kisses to a crowd glaring furiously back at her. Bailey wasn’t supposed to be prom queen—and someone made her pay for it.
Officially her death was ruled a tragic accident, but I knew better. I’ve never seen this woman before, so why does she have my best friend’s necklace? There has to be a reason, and this time I’ll stop at nothing to find out what really happened to Bailey the night she died.
Everyone in this town has secrets. But as I edge closer to the truth, I’m afraid of what lengths they’ll go to protect them…
A gripping psychological thriller with a twist that will make your jaw drop, perfect for fans of The Woman in the Window, The Wife Between Us and Lisa Jewell.
MY THOUGHTS:
We were all there 20 years ago...only one of us killed her...
Oh gosh...thank goodness I am not in high school any more! This was truly painful. The lies, the backstabbing, the cruelty...everything just took me back to those horrible years I wouldn't want back. Whoever said that high school are the best years of your life was not an outsider who could only watch the popular kids. And what I remember of my own high school years had nothing on the cruelty played out here.
Twenty years ago, Bailey was crowned Prom Queen and just hours later she was dead. Given her depressed state leading up to the event, her death was ruled a suicide. But was it really? There has always been that whisper of gossip lurking in Cove Haven around the young girl's death that people knew more than they let on. And rumours were only inflamed when some of the friends left town soon after graduation. Guilty conscience? Or did they know something?
Twenty years later, Brooke returns to Cove Haven to renovate and put her childhood home on the market after the death of her mother. It's the first time she has set foot in the town since she left after graduation. Just days into her stay she meets podcaster Hannah Mead after catching sight of the missing pendant she'd given Bailey for her seventeenth birthday...one half of a pendant that was never seen again after Prom night. It's the pendant which is the basis for Hannah's new podcast about the death of a Prom Queen. But how did it end up in Hannah's possession?
Brooke doesn't reveal who she is or that she gifted the pendant to Bailey or that she still has her half sitting in the jewellery box back in her childhood home. Instead she offers to buy it from her and then makes her escape before Hannah can ask her any further questions.
It isn't long before Hannah's questions begin to get a little too close to comfort for some in town. But does that mean that the podcaster is getting closer to uncovering the truth? And if so, what does that mean for the town? For Brooke? And all those involved twenty years ago?
Honestly, I did not like hardly anyone in this book. But Bailey was one of the worst. The way she treated someone who was her best friend the way she did without a backward glance, all in the name of popularity, it was horrible. I could see myself in Brooke. Time and time again, being there for Bailey, picking up the pieces when her "new friends" let her down...only to stab her in the back just moments later. She was the type of person I loathed, and still do. Two-faced backstabbers. I had no sympathy for whatever came Bailey's way because she made her bed.
The book was a fairly quick and fast paced read but it was disturbing on so many levels. I did enjoy the past and present timelines, which is often my favourite format. It revealed just enough of the story and drip fed us enough information to steer us in the right direction while still keeping us blindfolded along the way. The drama got a little boring after a while, with a whole lot of teenage angst and then the rehashing of it. The villain was a shock but at the same time no real surprise. Not when you discover why. Then it makes sense. I loved the epilogue. That threw a real twist into the mix and a real sting in the tail. I loved it. Nice move.
Overall, a quick and entertaining read for the most part that keeps you turning the pages until the final delicious twist.
I would like to thank #LauraWolfe, #Netgalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #PromQueen in exchange for an honest review.
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