Book Review - Darkly Dreaming Dexter

Darkly Dreaming Dexter : A Novel

Jeff Lidsay

288 Pages

“Meet 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.” – Back Cover Description


Most people have already seen the show that airs on Showtime (and briefly on CBS proper during the writers strike), DEXTER staring Michael C. Hall. I do not get any premium channels so I have yet to catch the show although many people I trust just rave about it. Before starting the DVDs I decided to begin at the original source material – the books the story is based on. This is my preferred way of order: book before movie/TV show. There are four books in this collection, with a fifth one being released in September.

Darkly Dreaming Dexter was a quick read but rather enjoyable. It does not take long to become fond of the title character whether he is Dexter or the Dark Passenger. I do not want to give too much detail as I would not want to spoil certain key things. I will say that I expected it to be much darker and cynical but for me, it seemed more like dark humor. I did not have the intrigued mind set and expressionless face like I do when reading about Alex Cross serial killers; I had more of an amused smirk. Not saying that is a bad thing, just not what I was expecting. The story has some interesting twists and turns and moves quickly. You would think with this being the original book there would be endless chapters of character development, but it keeps it’s pacing up. I am very interested in seeing how the book turns into an entire TV season. It definitely sets up the potential very well. Next book in the series – Darkly Devoted Dexter.