Dear Debbie
Debbie Mullen spent years urging New England’s frustrated wives to take the high road in her column, Dear Debbie. But now, her own life is hitting a dead end. Between losing her job, struggling with her teenage daughters, and tracking a husband full of digital secrets, Debbie is officially done being the bigger person. The practical advice stops here—it's time for payback against everyone who deserves it most.
- Debbie - Advice columnist for Hingham Household, Cooper's wife
- Cooper - Accountant, Debbie’s husband, 46
- Lexi - Debbie and Cooper’s daughter, 17
- Izzy - Debbie and Cooper’s daughter, 15
- Zane - Lexi’s boyfriend, 18
- Coach Pike - Lexi's soccer coach
- Jo - Debbie’s neighbor
- Cindy - Employee at Titan Fitness, Ken's ex-wife
- Ken - Cooper’s boss, Cindy's ex-husband
- Harley - Debbie’s friend from the gym
- Garrett - Debbie’s boss at Hingham Household
- Jesse/Hutch - Cooper’s co-worker, 47
- Home Gardening is scheduled to photograph Debbie’s yard.
- Izzy is kicked off the soccer team but won't tell Debbie why.
- Lexi says she heard Coach Pike is always walking into the locker room while the girls are changing.
- When Home Gardening is late, Debbie calls and is told they meant to cancel and decided to go with Jo instead.
- Debbie goes to drink wine and finds the bottle has been replaced with water.
- Cooper asks for a promotion and when Ken says no, Cooper puts in his two week notice.
- Debbie gets fired because she gave advice telling a woman to get a divorce because her husband was financially abusing her and now the husband is threatening to sue unless Debbie is fired.
- Debbie confronts Coach Pike, who says he told Izzy she needed to lose 20lbs to be faster and that she might rejoin the team afterward.
- Cooper tells Debbie he didn’t get the promotion and that he quit.
- Harley is sleeping with Cooper.
- Debbie grows opium poppies in her garden, but she tells people they are wildflowers.
- In the middle of the night, Debbie buries something in Jo’s garden to attract Japanese beetles that will destroy her roses.
- Debbie drives to Ken’s house and threatens him with a gun.
- Debbie posts a video of Garrett having sex with his secretary on the Hingham Household website and emails a copy to his wife.
- The police arrest Coach Pike after finding a camera in the girls locker room and an app on his phone connected to it.
- Cooper goes to work where he’s told that Ken is on a last minute fishing trip.
- Jo’s photo shoot with Home Gardening is cancelled because her garden is overrun with bugs.
- Debbie goes to Harley’s for lunch and sees a shirt that has a scent she recognizes instantly.
- Lexi tells Debbie that Zane has explicit photos of her and is threatening to show them to his friends if she doesn’t sleep with him.
- Debbie was raped at a frat party in college by a guy named Hutch.
- Debbie drugs Zane and sends the pictures of underage girls on his phone to the police and the school administration.
- Money is missing from the accounting firm’s business account.
- Zane crashes his car into the school and gets a broken neck.
- Cooper and the girls check Debbie’s locations over the last few days and Cooper sees that she was at Ken’s house.
- Cooper goes to Ken’s house and finds him dead in his bed with a bullet wound in his forehead.
- Harley invites Debbie to dinner at her house so she can tell her the truth about her affair with Cooper. Cooper is supposed to arrive shortly after Debbie.
- Cooper checks his gun case and sees his gun is missing.
- ‘Cooper’ shows up at Harley’s house, but when Debbie sees him she calls him Jesse and doesn’t seem surprised it isn’t the real Cooper.
- Jesse told Harley his name was Cooper to better hide from his wife that he was having an affair.
- Cooper has been sneaking off to AA meetings and has been hiding from Debbie that he’s been an alcoholic since before they met.
- Cooper is the one who replaced the wine with water.
- Harley tries to kick Jesse out when she realizes he lied to her, but Jesse starts to fall asleep because Debbie put opium in his gym water.
- Debbie shoots Harley in the head and places the gun in Jesse's hand.
- The gun Debbie used to shoot Ken and Harley is Jesse’s.
- Debbie also funneled the company money into a bank account in Jesse’s name.
- Debbie did all this because Jesse is Hutch, the person who raped her.
- The shirt Debbie found at Harley's carried Hutch's scent, seared into her memory from the night she was raped.
- Cooper drives to the only address in Debbie’s recent history that he doesn’t recognize.
- He finds Debbie outside and admits that he’s an alcoholic and Debbie tells him she was raped in college.
- Cooper asks Debbie if she shot Ken with his gun and she says no.
- Debbie admits she got rid of his gun because she didn’t like him having it.
- Epilogue: One year later
- Everyone believed the story Debbie set up that Jesse stole from the company and killed Ken and Harley.
- Jesse went to jail for two counts of first degree murder.
- Cooper is running his own accounting firm.
- Lexi gets into Harvard.
- Debbie sells her new app, ‘Punish Your Husband’ for a lot of money.
- Jesse’s wife files for divorce.
- In college, Jesse raped a girl named Misty and killed her when he realized she would not stay quiet, and he got away with it.
- Jesse’s cellmates beat him up because they owed Misty’s brother a favor.
- Debbie doesn’t tell Cooper that Jesse is her rapist.
- Cindy is the woman who wrote the Dear Debbie article about the financially abusive husband that got Debbie fired.
- Debbie really killed Ken to help Cindy, and in turn Cindy spiked Jesse’s water bottle with opium at Debbie’s request on the final night he went to Harley’s house.
Freida McFadden has done it again, and this might be her best book so far. The story alternates between the perspectives of Debbie, Cooper, and Harley, keeping the plot moving at such a fast pace that I physically could not turn the pages fast enough.
Debbie is instantly lovable and so easy to root for throughout the entire story. We can all relate to that feeling of wanting to get revenge on the people who wrong us or those we love, which makes her character arc so satisfying. I loved the unique premise of Debbie being an advice columnist because it is so different from other thrillers out there. In true Freida style, I thought I had it figured out, but the twist was more surprising than ever before.
My only small grievance is that the epilogue is a little long. It ties every loose end up in a neat bow, and I prefer a book that leaves some of the more minor plot points to be reasonably assumed by the reader. But if you need a book that will completely absorb you, this is absolutely the one!
- Coach Pike - Alive - Arrested after Debbie plants a camera in the girl’s locker room to frame him
- Ken - Dead - Shot in the head by Debbie
- Harley - Dead - Shot in the head by Debbie
- Jesse - Alive - Serving two life sentences for Ken and Harley’s murder
- Cooper - Alive - Running his own accounting firm very successfully
- Debbie - Alive - Successfully coding apps
- Zane - Alive - In legal trouble for distributing child pornography
- Lexi - Alive - Attending Harvard
- Izzy - Alive - Playing soccer
- Murder
- Sexual assault
- Substance abuse
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
ISBN: 9781464264832
Publication Date: January 27, 2026
Note: Details are for the original edition. Other formats, editions, and audiobook versions may be available.
