Dexter in the Dark

Dexter in the Dark, by Jeff Lindsay

Third in the series, Jeff Lindsay always has something for Dexter up his sleeve, but this time it almost becomes too much for one of my favorite characters to handle.

Dexter Morgan, forensic analyst for the Miami Police Department, has a secret that only a few know about. And the only reason they know is because this secret helped save their lives at one time or another. Dexter Morgan is a serial killer. But don’t worry, he’s not out to get you; that is, as long as you aren’t a dangerous criminal yourself. Thanks to his cop foster father, Dexter has been trained to seek out and kill only the bad guys that the police can’t put away on their own. Can’t get a warrant? No problem, Dexter doesn’t need one once he’s sure he has found his guy. With the help of his inner voice, the “Dark Passenger,” Dexter is smart, meticulous, and unstoppable. However, upon arrival at a new crime scene, his “Dark Passenger” is scared off and Dexter is left alone. Dexter finds it difficult to work without his inner-voice giving him serial killer tips to help him out. And if it weren’t hard enough for this killer with a conscience, Dexter must also try to plan his upcoming wedding to girlfriend Rita, and deal with his soon to be step-children, Cody and Astor, that appear to have the same type of “inner shadow” as Dexter. On top of his regular life, trying to look normal, the now vulnerable Dexter must try to solve this new case with his foul-mouthed cop sister Deborah and without the “Dark Passenger.” It just keeps getting better when Cody and Astor get involved and possibly become the next victims of a new voice that shares the narration while stalking our Dexter.

The plot is exactly what you’ve come to expect from Jeff Lindsay: creative, engaging, and always intelligent. The style of writing, however, has changed somewhat in this novel. For starters, Dexter is not the only narrator. He is still our favorite, darkly comic voice, but he must now share time with two other narrators that do not compare to what readers have been used to. There is the new watchman figure, always on the periphery, identity unknown to the readers until the end. In addition, there is a type of third person narrator that has its own sections in italics. These sections seem interesting because they start to describe the origins of where Dexter’s “Dark Passenger” might come from, and whether or not there are others like him with the same passengers. Yet, these sections seem too repetitive and take away from the voice we really want to be hearing: Dexter’s. Jeff Lindsay still has his amazing writing talent; I just think his attempt at trying some new things is something we as readers could probably do without. When you strike oil with a narrator like Dexter Morgan, stop drilling.

I would still say that nothing compares to Jeff Lindsay’s first novel in the series, Darkly Dreaming Dexter, but once you start reading, you will not be able to stop. This is in major part to Jeff Lindsay, but I also like to think it is because of the characters themselves, even if they only seem real in my head. This is a definite series to have on your reading list.

“The ability to read awoke inside me some long dormant craving to be mentally alive.”
- Autobiography of Malcolm X, 1964