Dear Debbie is one of the latest thrillers by Freida McFadden. I had never read anything by this author before, but I was really curious: after all, her name keeps popping up whenever people talk about domestic thrillers (and not only that: recently she’s also been widely discussed because of the reveal about her true identity).
I had actually already seen and enjoyed the fun movie starring Sydney Sweeney, based on The Housemaid. From what I know, it’s a fairly faithful adaptation, so I can say right away that Dear Debbie follows a similar formula, while also delivering a novel that is both pure entertainment and an irreverent parody of Western suburban life.
Plot
Enough is enough…
Debbie Mullen is losing her mind. For years, she has collected her best advice in her “Dear Debbie” column, where countless New England wives turn for understanding and friendly guidance. Through her work, Debbie has listened to women who feel ignored, belittled, or even mistreated by their husbands—always trying to steer them in the right direction.
Or at least, she used to.
Lately, her life seems to be spiraling out of control: she’s just lost her job, her teenage daughters are acting increasingly strange, and her husband is hiding something from her… at least according to the tracking app she secretly installed on his phone. Debbie is no longer the calm, reasonable, pragmatic person she once was.
For the first time, she’s ready to follow her own advice.
Review of Dear Debbie
Debbie’s Mission
If you’re looking for a psychological thriller that’s engaging but relatively “soft” and family-friendly—never quite reaching truly disturbing levels of tension—Dear Debbie might be exactly what you’re looking for.
The story follows a multi-POV structure, an almost inevitable choice for a plot that openly plays with the idea of the unreliable narrator and constant shifts in perspective.
Harley and Connor are fairly forgettable characters, but the protagonist truly stands out. Debbie—a stay-at-home mom by vocation and advice columnist by hobby—is a sharp-edged antiheroine with an irresistible narrative voice, capable of drawing more than a few complicit smirks from the reader.
I absolutely loved how her character was constructed, as she challenges classic gender stereotypes. At first glance, Debbie embodies every cliché of the perfect American housewife, from school fundraisers to petty neighborhood rivalries. But beneath the surface lies a hidden side that is both unexpected and—at times—simply hilarious.
The Sleight of Hand
I recently came across the trope “suburban mom gone dark” and, honestly, it’s hard to imagine a more fitting description for this novel. Debbie’s clever moral ambiguity is definitely one of the story’s most successful and surprising elements.
The pages fly by quickly, although for much of the book I had the feeling that I wasn’t entirely sure where the story was heading. I had almost given up hope for a truly effective twist when suddenly—bam!—there it was. And yes… in my case, I have to admit, it worked perfectly.
I can’t say how surprising it might be for readers already familiar with McFadden’s style, but personally, I found the ending extremely satisfying—so much so that it significantly raised my overall opinion of the book.
Entertainment vs. Depth
Let’s be clear: Dear Debbie is not a literary psychological thriller, and you won’t find a great deal of realism, depth, or even plausibility within its pages.
But that’s not its goal.
After all, there are books we read for their ability to move us or offer meaningful insights into ourselves and others… and then there are thrillers like this one: explosive, surreal, built on twists and over-the-top situations, designed to help you completely escape reality for a few hours.
That said, somewhere between revenge fantasy and an escalation of repressed anger, Dear Debbie still manages to offer a few interesting thematic ideas. After all, everyone has secrets. And, as I recently heard in a TV series, “no one is normal; people only seem that way from across the street.”
Conclusion
So, don’t expect chilling vibes or a mystery worthy of Agatha Christie.
But if you love dark comedies, morally gray characters, and twist-filled thrillers, Dear Debbie might be the perfect read to switch off your brain and get swept away (without too many expectations) by a guilty pleasure that’s as absurd as it is delightfully surreal.
What to read after Dear Debbie
- House is Where the Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose
- The Risk by S. T. Abby
- The House on the Cliff by Riley Sager
- Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough
- How to Kill Men and Get Away with It by Katy Brent
- Sweetpea by C. J. Skuse
