As further evidence for my thesis that a full season of a television series is the perfect vehicle for the complexities of a novel, Darkly Dreaming Dexter was indeed made into the series, Dexter and kept mostly intact from book to season one. When I found this out, I bought the book expecting a competent thriller. What I got was much more.
Dexter Morgan works in a laboratory for the Miami Police Department. His forensic specialty is analyzing blood splatter, which fits in with his obsessions about blood perfectly, for he is also a serial killer. In fact that's his main occupation. Jeff Lindsay tells this story first person, through the voice and mind of Dexter. He doesn't consider himself human because he doesn't have human emotions, or human cares. He's been taught to channel his alter-ego, his "Dark Passenger," to kill only those people who deserve death - those who prey on the innocent.
Everything is going great with Dexter until the victims of another serial killer show up. These victims appeal to Dexter, the murders are perfect and the murderer is playing a game with Dexter's Dark Passenger. It's like a siren's call and his carefully crafted control breaks down. Can Dexter control it or maybe he's already lost control and his Dark Passenger is loose without his conscious knowledge.
It's a page turner. Fast and gritty. I'm glad I read it.
- CV Rick, April 2008
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