Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Darkly Dreaming Dexter
Book Review: Wonderful!
Summary: 5 Stars
What a very original book this is. Dexter is the adopted son of a policeman. The brother of a policewoman. And he works for the forensic dept in the Miami police force. So, is he on the side of law and order? Well, kind of. He's a serial killer and a very good one, in that he hasn't (so far) been caught. And he only kills bad guys, so that's all right. Well, it's all right with me. I have to say that I liked Dexter, and I think most readers will agree with me. Beautiful character, so well written and screaming for sequels! So nice to have great humour and most of the words coming directly from Dexter's mind. A thriller that isn't written like a movie script - whoopee! Loved it. Have ordered the next book. Will order them all - keep writing, please. Do yourself a favour, buy this and be entertained by a fabulous author.Book Review: Dexter makes a good companion
Summary: 5 Stars
I devoured this breathtakingly original book. The writing is so fluid, the characters so well drawn, and the plot so believable that the book is mesmerising. I loved Dexter, I want him to be in another book so that I can spend more time with him, his outlook on life is so uplifting. He looks for the amusing in life, and finds it in unexpected places. His relationship with his grumpy adoptive sister is very realistic - without sentimentality, yet the ties that bind them together are there.
This book is just a winner, if you are happy reading about serial killers.
There was just one wrong note, right at the end - but whether it was a deliberate wrong note to jar against all of the neatly tied loose ends, I couldn't say.
Book Review: In a world bereft of hero figures, don't look here
Summary: 4 Stars
"What was sleep, after all, but the process by which we dumped our insanity into a dark subconscious pit and came out on the other side ready to eat cereal instead of the neighbor's children." - Dexter MorganThe world is singularly lacking in individuals worthy of hero worship. Or maybe I've just gotten cynical. However, there is a surplus of sociopaths, violent psychopaths, and generally sick puppies.
Kudos, and 4 stars, to author Jeff Lindsay for creating in DARKLY DREAMING DEXTER a most unlikely hero, or at least protagonist, in Dexter Morgan, a blood splatter expert for the Miami Police Department, who's also a serial killer exercising his own brand of vigilantism. His victims - 37 to date - are those that society would perhaps like to see dead anyway, e.g. pedophile priests, child rapists, and at least one "mercy killer" RN. Dexter's modus operandi is to vivisection them to death. Nice.
Here, Dexter is faced with a serial murderer of prostitutes whose method mimics his own. Morgan is torn between helping his foster sister, a Miami PD vice officer, catch the monster to jump start her stalled career and bonding with somebody who's obviously a soulmate. Wouldn't it be nice to work on some poor unfortunate together?
In a world bereft hero figures, I'm left to seek them in fiction. Despite Lindsay's inventiveness, I don't see why I should have to adopt one whose elimination from the human gene pool would be so desirable. So, four stars to DARKLY DREAMING DEXTER notwithstanding, I don't intend to continue with the series.
Book Review: So near, and yet...
Summary: 3 Stars
It really pains me to have to give this book less than five stars, because for most of the way Darkly Dreaming Dexter is a blistering, caustic, delirious and hugely entertaining novel that sweeps the reader up and carries you effortlessly along for the ride. However, in the closing stages the plot reverts to one too many over-used crime fiction staples which spoil the outstanding promise shown until that point. The damage is severe, but thankfully Dexter is such dazzling company before this that the weaknesses in the conclusion are not quite enough to bring the whole enterprise to its knees.There is much to recommend this book before you get to the end, however. Firstly you must admire the originality of Jeff Lindsay?s undertaking: without ever shying away from what Dexter is, he gives us a serial killer who is not only human but also extremely likeable. There is something endearing in Dexter?s inability to understand emotion and the coldly clinical view of people that he takes as a result of this. That he simply accepts it as part of who he is, rather than lamenting it at great length, only makes him a more congenial narrator, as his cynicism, honesty and confusion are wonderful traits to observe; he never asks for sympathy and yet is still a surprisingly sympathetic character, especially as everything starts to unravel beneath him.
Lindsay?s use of back-story to explain Dexter?s beginnings is spare but effective, and the other characters are mostly effortlessly drawn with a great eye for detail ? the observations that typify Captain Matthews and Vince Masouka in particular had me laughing out loud. The only real exception is Dexter?s sister, Deborah; we are assured on several occasions what a good cop she is, but she seems singularly unable to do anything on her own, running to Dexter every time any thinking is required. Granted, some of what Dexter comes up with is dependent on his own, uh, expertise, but his sister?s dependence on him to do her job for her grated with me. Thankfully, she is not around too frequently to spoil things.
Lindsay ties plot and character together with some truly outstanding writing, never losing sight of who Dexter is and what he is about; the fact that Dexter spends most of the novel at cross-purposes is also a lot of the fun here, and his own musings on the crimes being committed show uncommon bravery for a first time novelist. The book starts out of the gate so quickly that for the first 30 pages you are running to try and keep up, and Lindsay maintains a swift and effortless pace throughout as his prose veers joyously between the sublime (?Another huge new development was going to improve life for all of us by turning trees and animals into cement and old people from New Jersey?) and the delightfully ridiculous (?How bad could things be if my hair was neat??).
All of which makes the flaws of the ending harder to bear, since Lindsay has proved himself considerably better than what he offers up. I?m not suggesting that there is an obvious better alternative, but the way it finishes feels rushed to me, as the predictability that he has staved off so well and for so long comes crashing in, leaving an unexpected sour taste after I closed the book. Lindsay is clearly a very gifted author, however, and on the strength of his creation here is most certainly a name to watch.
Book Review: Very very strange
Summary: 2 Stars
I have to say that this book is so wierd. I bought his other book at the same time and so wish I hadnt. I think it may gather dust on my bookcase as it will be unread.