Quirky Characters in a Zigzagging Plot
Peter Pulaski Must Pay: A Novel
Friendship Fiction, Women's Friendship Fiction, Humorous Fiction
Little A
September 2, 2025
Ebook, Audiobook, Hardcover, Paperback
315
In this twisty, hilarious novel, New York Times bestselling author Jen Lancaster explores what happens when a marriage, friendship, revenge, and the human capacity for deception collide.
Call to order the Friday Night Doom Crew.
They’re an eclectic group of true-crime enthusiasts—a forensic psychologist, historian, and popular Instagram presence among them—dedicated to sleuthing out nefarious offenders and doing whatever it takes to set things right. But when dark secrets threaten one of their own, the Doom Crew grapples with how far they are willing to go to protect her.
Diana Pulaski is the crew’s meticulously organized beating heart whose physician husband, Peter, is secretly a swindler behind an illegal pill mill, not to mention a loathsome cheater involved in an online romance. When they discover the truth, the amateur vigilantes have a plan to make Peter pay. Unfortunately, the closer Diana’s friends are to hunting Peter down, the closer they get to discovering a secret Diana has been hiding.
As the fumbling Doom Crew’s wild ride of vengeance goes awry, they must navigate the consequences of their actions. And Diana, forced to confront the past, must decide to whom she will remain loyal—no matter the cost.
A found-family story that read more like a comedy routine than a novel
Jen Lancaster’s Peter Pulaski Must Pay follows the Doom Crew, a quirky band of true crime enthusiasts whose loyalty to one another drives them into wild situations. With a hacker, a forensic psychologist, and even a social media influencer, this found-family setup had plenty of potential for humor and heart.
While the premise is fun, the execution did not deliver for me. The dialogue often wandered into side stories or irrelevant musings that slowed the pace. The dialogue overall felt unbelievable (and more like a comedy routine gone wrong), and I lost interest quickly. The characters felt more like caricatures than fully developed people. Listening to the audiobook amplified this, with narration that came across as exaggerated and parodic. The story was told across multiple points of view. Some narrators were more balanced than others, but the Southern accents in particular were a bit grating to listen to.
Though there were flashes of humor, I struggled to stay engaged and ultimately didn’t enjoy this one as much as I’d hoped.
Celeste is a woman who is unwavering about certain things in life; three of those being books, cats, and cold brew coffee. If she can enjoy all three at the same time, it’s going to be a good day. Her favorite genres are fantasy or sci-fi romance, historical romance, and historical fiction but every few books she likes to mix it up with contemporary fiction, a good psychological thriller, or an inspiring memoir. She has a busy schedule working full-time for an online university but she makes sure to unwind each day with stories, either by reading to her elementary school-aged daughter or tucking herself in bed with her Kindle or the latest book she picked up at a local book store.
