Book Review: Darkly Dreaming Dexter

Reviewed By: Pat Reid - RAM

Darkly Dreaming Dexter     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Jeff Lindsay
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Thriller   Serial Killer
Doubleday, 2004, 240 pps.

I’ll bet you didn’t think you would ever fall in love with a serial killer and that is true of me – until I met Dexter. Dexter is very unique and quite an interesting fellow. Dexter suffered some sort of trauma when he was a child but he only remembers his time with his foster parents Harry and Doris Morgan. Both are dead now but he still has a foster sister Deborah who is a policewoman.

Harry Foster was a policeman and was able to recognize the signs that Dexter was displaying as a young boy as traits normally found in serial killers. Harry took Dexter in hand and explained that although he didn’t have the power to change Dexter’s tendencies toward murder that his desires could be directed towards people that really deserved to die. Many criminals that prey on children and helpless victims are picked up by the police, held and a little while and soon are out on the streets again and this group was the one that Harry instructed Dexter to target.

A serial killer commits a string of horrendous crimes in the area and Deborah leans on Dexter for help in finding the killer. Soon Dexter begins to believe that he is the killer and just can’t remember the style of the murders are so like ones Dexter has committed.

I read the book cover to cover and immediately purchased the next book in the series. I think Dexter is a wonderfully different character and I look forward to many more Dark Dexter stories.

Pat Reid - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Pat Reid - RAM

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