Dear Debbie
by Freida McFadden
Contents
Chapter 24
Overview
In a draft advice response, Debbie answers a woman distressed by her husband’s snoring with initially practical suggestions before escalating to explicit encouragement of suffocation. The chapter matters because it exposes Debbie’s advice-column persona becoming openly murderous, reflecting her worsening instability.
Summary
The chapter consists of an entry from Debbie’s draft advice files. A reader calling herself Sleepless in Hingham writes that her husband’s constant snoring has left her exhausted and desperate for relief.
Debbie begins with ordinary advice, explaining that snoring is common and suggesting exercise, reduced alcohol intake, weight loss, and side sleeping as possible solutions.
Debbie’s response then turns dark. If the husband refuses or the remedies fail, Debbie advises Sleepless to press a pillow over her husband’s face until the snoring stops permanently, revealing Debbie’s increasingly violent and unhinged mindset through the format of her advice column.
Who Appears
- DebbieWrites an advice draft that shifts from practical suggestions to murderous guidance.
- Sleepless in HinghamLetter writer seeking help because her husband’s snoring prevents her from sleeping.
- Sleepless’s husbandUnseen snoring spouse who becomes the target of Debbie’s violent advice.