Dear Debbie

"A perfectly plotted, diabolically fun revenge story. Debbie is such an endearing psychopath ― I couldn't stop reading!" ― Shari Lapena, New York Times bestselling author of The Couple Next Door

A brand new twisted thriller that will have you cheering "good for her!" from the #1 New York Times bestselling and global sensation Freida McFadden, author of The Housemaid!

Sometimes, enough is enough…

Debbie Mullen is losing it. For years, she has compiled all of her best advice into her column, Dear Debbie, where the wives of New England come for sympathy and neighborly advice. Through her work, Debbie has heard from countless women who are ignored, belittled, or even abused by their husbands. And Debbie does her best to guide them in the right direction.

Or at least, she did.

These days, Debbie's life seems to be spiraling out of control. She just lost her job. Something strange is happening with her teenage daughters. And her husband is keeping secrets, according to the tracking app she installed on his phone. Now, Debbie's done being the bigger person. She's done being reasonable and practical. It's time to take her own advice.

And now it's time for payback against all the people in her life who deserve it the most.

From #1 New York Times and international bestselling author Freida McFadden comes a biting, subversive thriller about what happens when women finally choose to take justice into their own hands – with killer results.

#1 New York Times, Amazon Charts, USA Today, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Sunday Times, and Publisher's Weekly bestselling author Freida McFadden is a physician who has penned multiple bestselling psychological thrillers and medical humor novels. Freida is the winner of the International Thriller Writer Award for Best Paperback Original, the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Thriller, and was honored as one of TIME 100’s most influential people in the world for 2026. Her novels have been translated into more than 45 languages.

​ Freida lives with her family and cat in a centuries-old three-story home overlooking the ocean, with staircases that creak and moan with each step, and nobody could hear you if you scream. Unless you scream really loudly, maybe.

To hear Freida talk about herself more in the third person, check out her website freidamcfadden dot com.

"An exciting yarn...McFadden is an expert at keeping the pages turning and misdirecting her audience, ensuring several surprises. The same readers who fell in love with Millie from McFadden's most popular outing, The Housemaid (2022), and its sequels will also be rooting for Debbie." ― Booklist, Starred Review

"Debbie’s dark but consistent moral code makes her easy to root for...this darkly funny thriller will put a wicked smile on readers’ faces." ― Publishers Weekly

"Plucky, puckish Debbie is a nontraditional antihero for the ages...gleefully sadistic, gloriously gratifying revenge fiction." ― Kirkus Reviews

"A perfectly plotted, diabolically fun revenge story. Debbie is such an endearing psychopath―I couldn’t stop reading!" ― Shari Lapena, New York Times bestselling author of The Couple Next Door

“Dear Debbie” by Freida McFadden is a dark psychological thriller about a woman whose polished life begins to crack under the weight of secrets, resentment, and revenge. Debbie Mullen is known publicly for her advice column, where she gives women practical, sometimes fierce guidance about marriage, family, and difficult relationships. On the surface, she appears composed and capable, the kind of person other people turn to for wisdom. But privately, Debbie is exhausted and increasingly unravelling. Her home life is tense, her job is under threat, and the controlled image she has maintained for years starts to break apart as everything around her becomes more chaotic.

The story begins with Debbie at a low point. Her teenage daughters, Lexi and Izzy, are distant and difficult in different ways, and she feels shut out of their lives. Lexi’s boyfriend irritates her, and Izzy’s sudden problems at school and on the soccer team worry her deeply. Debbie wants to hold her family together, but each new problem adds to the pressure. At the same time, her husband Cooper seems emotionally unavailable and secretive, which makes her suspect that he is hiding something serious. To add to her frustration, Debbie’s work life also starts going badly, and the confidence she once had in her role as an advice expert begins to collapse.

What makes the novel especially tense is the contrast between Debbie’s public voice and her private one. In her column, she often gives advice that is sharp, direct, and even extreme, especially when she is dealing with women trapped in abusive or controlling relationships. She has spent years helping other people face their problems, but now she can no longer ignore her own. As her life falls apart, she stops trying to be the reasonable one and begins acting on the darker impulses she has long kept hidden. That shift gives the book much of its energy, because the reader watches a woman who has spent years preaching restraint finally decide to follow her own more dangerous instincts.

A major part of the novel’s tension comes from Debbie’s suspicion that Cooper is lying to her. She installs a tracking app on his phone and starts watching his movements, convinced that he may be involved with another woman or hiding something even bigger. At the same time, she begins forming a complicated friendship with Harley, a woman from the gym who seems supportive but may not be as harmless as she appears. Debbie’s mistrust spreads outward, and the people around her begin to feel like possible threats or accomplices. The novel keeps the reader unsure of who can be trusted and what is actually happening beneath the surface of this suburban family.

As the story develops, a series of revelations shows that Debbie’s life has been shaped by more than current frustrations. Her past contains painful and traumatic events that have affected the way she sees marriage, power, and women’s safety. Those hidden wounds help explain why she reacts so strongly to betrayal and injustice, and they also deepen the emotional stakes of the story. The book does not treat Debbie’s anger as random. Instead, it shows how old trauma can be buried under years of routine, only to come rushing back when new pressure exposes it. This makes her actions more disturbing but also more human.

The novel moves toward a violent and chaotic climax in which secrets begin to surface and the different strands of Debbie’s life collide. The conflicts involving her husband, daughters, job, and personal history all come together, forcing her to confront what kind of person she has become. The story is full of twists, but its real focus is the emotional collapse of a woman who has spent too long trying to stay composed while feeling powerless underneath. Debbie’s transformation is unsettling because it shows how easily frustration can turn into revenge when a person feels cornered.

By the end, “Dear Debbie” is less about simple good and bad than about what happens when a person reaches the limit of patience, control, and forgiveness. Freida McFadden turns the ordinary setting of family life into a place of tension, bitterness, and hidden violence. The result is a fast, sharp psychological thriller about secrets, resentment, and the dangerous satisfaction of finally taking one’s own advice.