Publication: September 19th 2006 by Vintage Books
Source: Library Book
Goodreads Summary: 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.
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My Thoughts:
Right, so, like pretty much everybody who has read this book, I have watched the TV show. I've just finished season 4 so I was a little apprehensive about reading the book, afraid that it would give away some spoilers. But this book is what season 1 is based off of so it doesn't give any future spoilers away if you are concerned about that.
Obviously, since I watched the show before reading this, I'm a little biased from what the show is able to portray compared to a written work. But I genuinely tried to read it with an open mind and tried the best I could not to let the show influence my opinions on this. And I know that if I had picked this book up and read it before watching the show, I wouldn't have liked it and wouldn't have had any interest in watching the show.
In all honesty, the writing just isn't that good. It may be because this was always meant to be a series so Lindsay decided to spend the majority of the book setting the scene for the future books, but this was pretty boring for me. Nothing significant happens until the very ending of the book, and the ending is poorly explained in my opinion. Lindsay pretty much spends the entire book setting up Dexter's personality and the whole "Dark Passenger" element then throws in the twist at the end and quickly ends it. I was unsure about what exactly took place in the storage unit and how one character lives only to have another character die. Lindsay doesn't make it particularly clear, mostly because Dexter seems to be unsure himself, so I just became confused at the end.
Again I think this is something else that is an issue because this is only the first in the series, but Lindsay introduces the character of Rita, and then never comes back to her. Rita and Dexter are obviously a significant amount of the way into their relationship, something significant happens between them, and then Lindsay never comes back to tie up the loose ends with Rita. It was just the twist and the end of the book. I know that if I hadn't watched the show and known what the future held for them, I would've just been left being like Um, hello, what happened with Rita??? I'm sure that Lindsay picks back up with their relationship in the second book but this just isn't a strong first novel.
I did like the character of Dexter and found his voice to be interesting enough. I didn't like the character of Deb, but that might also be because I didn't like her on the show either until season 2, and she became one of my favorite characters by season 4. I think she's meant to be a mildly unlikeable character who mellows out and becomes more likeable as the series goes on. I kind of get the feeling that Lindsay wanted to make the majority of his characters unlikeable so that Dexter would become more likeable and slightly endearing in his demented way.
Totally random side note for the TV show lovers: I really love the show. It's so well-written and that was what captured me so much in the beginning and kept me watching. I also love after reading this that they kept so true to Lindsay's characters and it makes me love it even more. Okay, I'm done.
Likes: Characterization of Dexter.
Dislikes: Lots of just setting up for future books. Boring the entire time for me. Abrupt, short ending without much development. Ending was confusing for me. Why did he never come back to Rita??
Overall:
Recommend? Yes if you are very, very interested in the show. If you're not a fan of the show, I don't think most people would like this book.
Reading the Next One? I might just to see if the writing gets better but it's not on my immediate need-to-read list.
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