Book Review: Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay

When Showtime optioned Happy Hour, I started to get interested in their current programming. One show hooked me immediately. I'm talking about Dexter, their serial killer as hero series. It just so happens it's based on Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay, and wouldn't you know? I just finished it.

Fun stuff. Lindsay injects Dexter with seemingly incongruous qualities. He's creepy and endearing, crazy and caring. But above all, he's smart. He's a forensics guy--'cause who isn't, anymore?--for the Miami PD, a blood splatter analyst, to be specific. When hookers start turning up dead, dismembered and neatly packaged, Deborah, Dexter's sister, a vice squad officer, enlists his help to advance to a detective position and shed her hooker clothes. He agrees, but is disturbed to find that the killer is duplicating his own M.O.

Dexter sets up a truly original character in the mystery genre. I enjoyed the journey, but the destination was mildly disappointing. I won't spoil it, and it's not that it ends poorly, but it does seem abrupt. Still Lindsay's novel is worth a read.

As an aside, there's a sentence in the book that jumped out at me. "Life's only obligation (is) to be interesting." I was surprised to see it here. I've used the phrase as a personal mantra for years, particularly in times of personal crisis.

Next Book: Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison