Jeff Lindsay: Darkly Dreaming Dexter (2006, Vintage)
Paperback, 304 pages
English language
Published Sept. 19, 2006 by Vintage.
The Basis for the Showtime® Original Series Starring Michael C. HallMeet Dexter Morgan, a polite wolf in sheep's clothing. He's handsome and charming, but something in his past has made him abide by a different set of rules. He's a serial killer whose one golden rule makes him immensely likeable: he only kills bad people. And his job as a blood splatter expert for the Miami police department puts him in the perfect position to identify his victims. But when a series of brutal murders bearing a striking similarity to his own style start turning up, Dexter is caught between being flattered and being frightened--of himself or some other fiend.From the Paperback edition.
The first part felt so much like watching the series. It goes in pretty different directions, however, and the pacing towards the end went to a grinding halt.
All my friends were doing it, so I figured I might as well too, so I finally got the first book in the Dexter series by Jeff Lindsay, Darkly Dreaming Dexter. Dexter is pretty much an anti-hero, as he is a serial killer (but only those that deserve it) by night and a blood spatter expert by day.
In this book, he is out to help his foster sister become a detective in the Miami police force by solving some grisly murders, where the killer cuts the whores up and, most intriguing to Dexter, leaves no sign of blood. He starts to get the feeling these murders are all messages to him somehow, that someone is in on his deep dark serial killing secret. In fact, they are so closely tied to him he begins to wonder if he's doing it in his sleep!
So he gradually gets drawn deeper …
All my friends were doing it, so I figured I might as well too, so I finally got the first book in the Dexter series by Jeff Lindsay, Darkly Dreaming Dexter. Dexter is pretty much an anti-hero, as he is a serial killer (but only those that deserve it) by night and a blood spatter expert by day.
In this book, he is out to help his foster sister become a detective in the Miami police force by solving some grisly murders, where the killer cuts the whores up and, most intriguing to Dexter, leaves no sign of blood. He starts to get the feeling these murders are all messages to him somehow, that someone is in on his deep dark serial killing secret. In fact, they are so closely tied to him he begins to wonder if he's doing it in his sleep!
So he gradually gets drawn deeper and deeper into the killer's web. All the while, he is trying to act out real human emotions and deal with a damage girlfriend, a crazy lady boss at the police department, a sergeant that suspects something is up and his sister pushing him for answers. And as his dark forgotten past gets revealed to him in an explosive finale.
This was definitely a fun read. I loved his descriptions of the Dark Passenger that drives Dexter to murder. I did feel like the dime store psychology of a scarred childhood that explains the emptiness inside to be a bit pithy, but not a deal breaker. And the ending got very confusing to me, both in location and in resolution. Maybe I was reading it too fast but I'm not really sure I understood everything that went on or even where it all happened.
But Lindsay has created a unique character and I'll be looking forward to reading some more books in the Dexter series. And I just watched the first episode of the Showtime series and thought they did a pretty good job of recreating the novel. I did notice that they stepped down some of the intensity, which is a good thing. The book just went over the top sometimes and I think they did well in reigning in the excesses. Looking forward to both the books in the series and watching the rest of the shows.
