Darkly Dreaming Dexter

Starred review from April 19, 2004
A starred or boxed review indicates a book of outstanding quality. A review with a blue-tinted title indicates a book of unusual commercial interest that hasn't received a starred or boxed review.

DARKLY DREAMING DEXTER
Jeff Lindsay
. Doubleday
, $22.95 (304p) ISBN 0-385-51123-X

It's been years since there's been a thriller debut as original as this one by Lindsay, who takes a tired subgenre—the serial-killer novel—and makes it as fresh as dawn. Lindsay's premise alone is worthy: narrator Dexter Morgan, a blood-spatter specialist for the Miami cops, is also a serial killer. But all his life, Dexter has followed the rules set down by his cop foster father (who knew of Dexter's proclivities), to indulge his passion only by slaying other serial killers. What makes this novel zing, though, is the narration—humorous, self-deprecating, smart and sometimes lyrical, it's a macabre fun ride ("I thought about the nice clothes that I always wore. Well of course I did. I took pride in being the best-dressed monster in Dade County"). The story opens with Dexter at play, kidnapping and killing a priest who has murdered a number of children, then moves on to the main plot, a series of gruesome killings of prostitutes by an unknown madman. Dexter's foster sister is a Miami Vice Squad cop working on the killings, so Dexter decides to help her solve the case. This puts him in conflict with a dumb but ambitious female homicide detective as well as, soon enough, the killer himself, whose approach to serial killing mirrors Dexter's own, uncomfortably so. Might Dexter himself be the culprit? The answer feels a bit contrived, but will surprise most readers, and it's a minor flaw in a gripping, deliciously offbeat novel that announces the arrival of a notable new talent. Agent, Nicholas Ellison. (On sale July 27)

Forecast:
Strong reviews on this title will alert readers, as will clever jacket art, depicting a smiley face painted in blood. Expect healthy sales.

Starred review from August 2, 2004
Audio reviews reflect PW
's assessment of the audio adaptation of a book and should be quoted only in reference to the audio version.
Fiction
DARKLY DREAMING DEXTER
Jeff Lindsay
, read by Nick Landrum. Recorded Books
, unabridged, seven CDs, 8.25 hrs., $22.99 ISBN 1-4025-8138-6

Miami blood spatter specialist Dexter Morgan is not your average monster. He occasionally gives in to the impulse to kill in order to satisfy the Dark Passenger inside his brain, but he's much more well-adjusted than the label "serial killer" implies. He has a girlfriend, a sense of humor and, thanks to the loving tutelage of his cop foster father, he dismembers only other serial killers. But his self-control is sorely tested when he agrees to help his sister, a vice cop, solve a string of murders so bizarre, and yet so familiar, that he seriously starts to wonder if he is committing them in his sleep. Voiceover artist Landrum does a superb job conveying Dexter's witty first-person narration; he seems to embody "quirky, funny, happy-go-lucky, dead-inside Dexter." With his nimble vocal chords, he also has no trouble giving voice to the story's female characters and affecting an authentic-sounding Cuban accent for the incompetent homicide detective assigned to the case. Perhaps Landrum's finest feat, however, is the chill-inducing voice he adopts for Dexter's Dark Passenger, which underscores Dexter's transformations from charming neighborhood killer into inhuman predator. Refreshingly original and expertly narrated, this audiobook should be required listening for all thriller aficionados. Simultaneous release with the Doubleday hardcover (Forecasts, Apr. 19).