Dearly Devoted Dexter by Jeff Lindsay

Dexter came to me as a suggestion from my book club, just like many of the surprises in my bookcase. As usual, the paperback book club did not steer me wrong, and I devoured the first Dexter book, Darkly Dreaming Dexter, in a couple of hours. I anxiously awaited the sequel Dearly Devoted Dexter to reach paperback (cause I am cheap reader like that) and when it finally did, I ordered that puppy as fast as Amazon could ship it to me. Jeff Lindsay and his friend Dexter did not disappoint me.

Dexter is a blood splatter expert for Miami-Dade PD. He has a girlfriend, a sister, and is the foster son of a cop. He is also a serial killer who preys on other killers, if they pass the Harry Test (Harry was his cop father. You learn in the first book that he knew about Dexter’s tendencies and instead of stifling them, trained them to “benefit” society). This time around, Dexter has to deal with his sister coming to terms with what he is, an angry cop trailing him wherever he goes, a girlfriend who expects to move to the next level of the relationship, and a particularly icky serial killer who maims his victims in a really disturbing way. I won’t spoil it for you, cause you need to read that first encounter with fresh, unspoiled brain cells.

The whole premise sounds a bit cliché, and I suppose it is on one level. Serial killers are all the rage, especially since Silence of the Lambs. It’s not often though, that you read about a guy like Dexter and find him to be the hero of your novel. He’s funny, but he’s also cold, and believes that his punishment should fit the crimes of those he kills. He is not a good guy, but somehow you forget that. Somehow, Jeff Lindsay makes Dexter into someone you like, someone you scarily enough, can identify with. That’s what makes these books.

I’m not sure if I found Dexter’s comments about his “Dark Passenger” more annoying in this book because this was my second time around with Dexter, or if it was because Lindsay mentioned it more this time. I do know the killer Dexter hunts is not someone you would want to meet on a dark street, but even so, he too is a believable antagonist. He’s scary, but not so scary that you have to imagine that people like him could not possibly exist. You see too much in the news these days to not believe he could, and that adds even more unease to your psyche while you read.

I wasn’t scared while reading this book, but it did give me chills. I would give the first installment of the Dexter story 5 Purrs, but I can’t give this one a perfect score. Too much “woe is me, Dark Passenger” musings this time for my taste, but it was well worth the read.

Rating: 4 Purrs