Light My Kindle

I had been meaning to read the Dexter books since I first started seeing commercials for the “Dexter” TV show in 2006. There always seemed like there was something else on my reading to-do list, until I got the Kindle. I ordered Darkly Dreaming Dexter right from the built-in Kindle store and had started reading in just a few seconds (Take that, procrastination!).

The opening scene has us following Dexter while he stalks a victim. The victim turns out to be a priest who was murdering kids. How can you not root for a killer that kills child murderers? Especially one whose day job is working in a crime lab putting away criminals.

I liked the character of Dexter right away, despite his coldness. He was amusing, in a very dark kind of way. He reminded me a bit of a character in a teen novel series I used to read called Fearless. It featured a girl named Gaia who was born without the gene that causes fear. In the same way, Dexter seems to have been born without any human personality genes. He fakes it pretty well, but he doesn’t feel love or shame or guilt like most people do.

The only almost-human interactions he has are with his sister Debra, who also happens to be a police detective. He actually cares about her and wants to protect her.

The first novel in the Dexter series follows a strange crime spree where the killer drains all the blood from the victims and then stacks the cut-up body parts neatly in plastic for the police to find. Debra desperately wants to catch this guy to improve her career, and she asks Dexter for his help since he has a strange “knack” for knowing what a killer might do next. Unfortunately, Dexter has been having some strange dreams and some even stranger experiences that makes it very hard for him to help his sister.

The book is interesting. It wasn’t my favorite crime novel of all time, but I’ll definitely read the others in the series. I really enjoyed the characters and the story. One thing that really, really bugged me was the author’s heavy use of alliteration (ie: darkly dreaming Dexter). He uses it constantly and it’s really annoying. The book is, however, fast-paced and has a great mystery, so I can overlook the arbitrary use of alliteration.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys crime thrillers, watches any version of CSI, or who wants to watch the show (I always recommend reading the book before watching the show or seeing the movie).

Get yours for the Kindle or buy it in paperback.