The back cover gives us a brief synopsis of the book:
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.
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.
Praises for the book includes:
"Demonology has a dastardly new darling." – The New York Times
"With chills like these, you can skip the air-conditioning." – Time
"Entertaining… Dexter is a fascinating character, though he’s not the kind of guy you’d like to invite to dinner." – Chicago Sun-Times
Personally, I’d invite him to dinner. I have nothing to worry about, I think. I mean, I’m not perfect and I sometimes border between meanness and insanity (wait, aren’t they from the same side of the fence?), but I highly doubt Dexter would care two cents about me. One: I don’t kill little kids. And as fans of the first book might notice (and I surely hope they did), Dexter is very fond of children (which is ironic, since he’s supposed to be void of human emotions). But he is, and most of his targets (Father Donovan, Jamie Jaworski) are kid-nappers and killers. So as long as I keep my kid-bullying to a minimum (not that I bully kids, I swear I don’t!), I think I’ll be safe. Two: Aside from the usual whacks and punches (and kicks and bites too, sometimes) I give my close friends, I dislike hurting people. No one has ever filed a complaint about me hitting them so badly they had to be sent to a hospital for a CT scan, and I haven’t pushed anyone, not even those people who irritate me, down the stairs. (Well, I threw a marble at a kid when I was in grade school, but I blame him and his constant stalking for that.) So I really doubt if Dexter will be interested in me. I’d be as boring to him as a sack of rotting potatoes… or something like that.
Now.
I guess one of the things I really like about our hero is his ability to engage in witty banter with other characters, even when the situation does not call for it. During breakfast with his foster sister Deborah, this conversation took place:
"How was your date last night?"
"A lot of fun," I said. "You should try it sometime."
"Feh," said Deborah.
"You can’t spend all your nights standing on Tamiami Train in your underwear, Deb. You need a life."
"I need a transfer," she snarled at me. "To Homicide Bureau. Then we’ll see about a life."
"I understand," I said. "It would certainly sound better for the kids to say Mommie’s in homicide."
"Dexter, for Christ’s sake," she said.
"It’s a natural thought, Deborah. Nephews and nieces. More little Morgans. Why not?"
She blew out a long breath. "I thought Mom was dead," she said.
"I’m channeling her," I said. "Through the cherry Danish."
"Well, change the channel. What do you know about cell crystalization?"
I blinked. "Wow," I said. "You just blew away all the competition in the Subject Changing Tournament." (pp.83-84, 2004 paperback edition)
Note that the date they were talking about didn’t exactly end well. But I’ll let you guys read the book to find out why.
Dexter also likes entertaining his readers by way of narration coated with dark/dry humor. During one of his killing escapades (with Jamie Jaworski, this time):
"Let’s talk," we said in the Dark Passenger’s gentle, cold voice.
He didn’t know if he was allowed to speak, and the duct tape would have made it difficult in any case, so he stayed silent.
"Let’s talk about runaways," we said, ripping the duct tape from his mouth.
"Yaaaooww--Whu--whataya mean?" he said. But he was not very convincing.
"I think you know what I mean," we told him.
"Nuh-no," he said.
"Yuh-yes," we said.
Probably one word too clever. My timing was off, the whole evening was off. But he got brave. He looked up at me in my shiny face. "What are you, a cop or something?" he asked.
"No," we said, and sliced off his left ear. (pp.172-173)
In normal circumstances, it is not supposed to be funny. I mean, slicing off another person’s ear was nothing to laugh about. But by that point in the book, readers have already established the fact that Dexter is an unfeeling monster whose only delight is slicing up monsters worse than him. I guess this reason shouldn’t justify chuckling at his jokes or attempts at witty exclamations, but somehow it does.
My personal favorite line from the book is found in page 284. Dexter was having a long soliloquy about the possibility (or impossibility) of sleep murder and his involvement in it. And as such:
"Weren’t we all crazy in our sleep? 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?"
Lovely, lovely. Good writing, is it not?
Darkly Dreaming Dexter is not your typical good-cop-bad-cop story, and it introduces a wide array of characters that you will either love or hate with utmost fervor (and I’m not talking about the children killers here). There’s even an interesting twist in the end as bonus. For people who are interested in crime/thriller/suspense/slasher fiction, I would like to recommend this book. For those who still believes in fairy tales and all that, I suggest you grab a copy of Snow White (Disney version) instead. Unless you want to be converted. Dexter just might show you the way.
Oh, and did I mention that this book inspired the hit Showtime series Dexter in TV? No? Well, there you go. Another reason to try it out then.
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