Fun and Games with a murderer ….. of murderers

When I tell people that I’ve been reading a series of books about a serial murderer, they usually give me a certain look. It’s basically a frown with a furrowed brow, and they quickly change the subject.

“No, you don’t understand!”, I implore. “Dexter’s funny and charming and he only kills serial murderers, so he’s sort of a "good" guy. He wouldn’t harm an innocent person”, I argue. So, this review is my attempt to set the record straight on this book that seems, at first glance, to be so disturbing and violent and odd. In reality, this is a Can’t-put-down Page-turner that is an absolutely fun and delightful read.

Darkly Dreaming Dexter is Jeff Lindsay’s first book in the popular Dexter series, now a Showtime series. The story opens with a chilling scene that will get your heart pounding, that’s for sure. Skillfully written with words that are crisp, colorful and catchy (and full of alliteration), it is an easy read. Literally by the time I finished reading the first page, I knew, without a doubt, that I was in for a fun read here.

Please Provide a Portion of the Plot:

An extremely violent event in early childhood left our protagonist, Dexter Morgan, with a Need to kill. Fortunately, his wise foster father, Harry, taught Dexter a Code of Honor: to kill only those who truly deserve it. Dexter understands that he is different from “Humans”. He lacks typical human emotions (such as anger, happiness, and lust), and he regularly needs to listen to his Dark Passenger who leads him to those who are truly deserving of a painful, torturous death.

During the day, Dexter is a mild-mannered, always polite, blood splatter analyst for the Miami Police Department, investigating crime scenes. No one around him suspects Dexter’s nocturnal “hobby”.

When prostitutes in Miami are regularly turning up in a condition that can only be described as Very-Very-Dead, our Determined, Dutiful Dexter hops on the case, along with the rest of the Miami Police force, including his ambitious homicide-fighting sister. Along the way, Dexter, to his utter befuddlement, even snags a girlfriend of sorts.

If you want to know more, you will have to read the book, because that’s all I’m giving you!

So, he’s another Superman type character with a double life. What’s the big deal?

Yes, the idea of the polite, mild-mannered milquetoast of a man, who turns into a SuperHero (well, even if he’s a SuperHero murderer!) has been done before in movies and comic books. Here’s what makes this story special:

1. Our SuperHero is a murderer who Loves to kill. He enjoys it as a competitive sport, and privately lives for those wonderful nights where he can feed his Need. This makes for some really fascinating writing! In the same vein, he coldly admires the work of the Highly Skilled serial killers he murders: their artistry and technique, their neatness and patterns.

2. The book is written in the first person, and Dexter understands his paradoxes, so this makes for some outstanding reading. Dexter continuously battles his desire to fit in with normal Human society, with his Need to Kill. He must satisfy the urge to murder, while taking pride in the perfection of his killing technique. All while ensuring that his coworkers, sister and girlfriend do not learn of his Special Surgical Skills. Dexter will typically think things such as, “Yes, I know I am a monster, but at least I am a polite and charming monster”. There is a dry humor throughout the book, in the form of Dexter’s thoughts. Great, great stuff!

3. Dexter does not experience typical human emotions (sort of Spock-like) and there is tremendous humor and fun as he “pretends” to be Human, in order to, say, comfort his crying sister or share physical moments with his girlfriend. Really laugh-out-loud moments!

Yes, but I don’t like to read gory, violent, bloody things!

Fear not. I personally do not care to see (or read about) overly graphic violence. However, the murders in this book are so over-the-top ridiculous, that it is impossible to take them seriously. Nor is there any blood. The effect is essentially the same as watching violent cartoons such as Roadrunner, Yosemite Sam, or Bugs Bunny. I personally did not find the book to be disturbing or upsetting, and I would bet that few adults would have trouble with it, either.

Still, it is conceivable that some folks might find even this cartoonish book to be too viscerally upsetting to read, so I guess one needs to know one's own limits here.

This is definitely one book I would not share with the kiddies, either! However, I confess that I was so taken with the writing, that I ended up reading the first chapter out loud to my 14 year old son. He listened with rapt attention, and I could practically see his heart pounding in his chest! (ok, now some of you are horrified at my poor judgment as a parent, but let's just say I did NOT read him anything beyond the first chapter. I know when to quit!)

Sounds like some heavy reading, right?

Surprisingly, considering the subject matter, I found the story to be a quick, light read. Very much like a fun cartoon. A well-written one, at that.

For a Fun, Fabulous, Fast, Fantastic, Funny, Free (hey, I got it at the library!) Frolic of a read, I highly recommend Darkly Dreaming Dexter.