Deliciously dark diversion! ( )

Having read the first two books in the Dexter series, Darkly Dreaming Dexter and Dearly Devoted Dexter, it was only natural to read the third one. Since I really liked the first two, I was very anxious to start this one, but I was also skeptical because I have heard of many people that were disappointed by it. Even though others might not have liked it, I decided to keep an open mind about it and I am so glad I did!

For anyone that doesn't know yet, although I doubt anyone doesn't, Dexter is a serial killer with a difference. He is what you might consider a good serial killer because he only kills the bad guys. He claims that he doesn't have any feelings, but I like to believe otherwise, and his outlook on human beings is hilarious. This time around, Dexter is being plunged deep into the family life and soon he will be getting married to Rita. He is taking the role of a father to his fiancee's children, but as he discovered in the previous book Astor and Cody need a different kind of guidance and he is committed to being there for them. Amidst all this, Dexter is having a problem of his own, and this time the Dark Passenger is not helping him figuring things out.

I loved this book, and there are many reasons why. The fact that something mysterious is happening to Dexter was very suspenseful, it left me on the edge until the very end. While I was reading I had so many questions which I couldn't wait to find out the answer to. What is happening to Dexter? Why is he being followed? Will everything get back to normal? Since I read a few reviews of Dexter in the Dark, I was waiting for something different to happen but I never expected the ending. I can understand why some people might not like it, but I thought it was a good twist to add in Dexter's life. The prospect of Dexter getting married and becoming a family man was also interesting, how will he be able to manage his marriage and his hobby without raising any suspicions? As usual Dexter's comments on humans and how they deal with life are too funny, even though now he is starting to understand humans more as he goes through this ordeal. The only thing that bothered me about this book was the overuse of the word "sibilant", it seems that Jeff Lindsay likes this word so much he had to use it at least five times in one book. I'm not exactly sure why it bothered me so much, but for some reason it did, every time it came up I thought, "Sibilant, again."

I actually liked this book better than the second one, although it still doesn't beat the first one. I suspect that none of the next books will be better than the first one though, since it had that novelty aspect, something new and different. Now I can't wait to get my hands on the fourth book, I only read a couple of reviews on it but it sounds good. You can never get enough of Dexter!

Jeff Lindsay: Author in the dark OR How to make a silly fantasy from a great thriller and ruin our previous works.... ( )

I know I’m behind everyone else, but last night I finally finished "Dexter in the Dark," by Jeff Lindsay. I’m sure most of you have at least heard of this character, even if you haven’t seen the popular HBO program or read the books.

Dexter is the serial killer who only fulfills his inner urges by going after other serial killers who he knows for certain are guilty but who, for various reasons, can’t be caught by the police. He is, if you will, a nominally “good” serial killer. He comes complete with the childhood trauma that destroyed his capacity to feel like and relate to other human beings, but he had such excellent training growing up that he’s well able to “pass” as human himself. And he’s got a wicked (in all senses of the word) sense of humour.

So I was really looking forward to this third book.

But I couldn’t believe it when the direction of the plot became apparent. I kept thinking, “He’s trying to make this a supernatural thing rather than a psychological? WTF??” I kept hoping that by the end, there would be some explanation that demonstrated that all the seemingly supernatural trappings were fully accounted for in a psychological way. But nope.

The thing is not that I have any problem with supernatural-type plots. I do enjoy Kim Harrison’s Hollows novels, after all.

It’s just that the Dexter books, to this point, have not been that sort of book. As well as just being intriguing, they’ve been a great examination of the psyche of such a damaged person. It’s all been psychological until now, with all the implications and consequences that flow from that.

To make it suddenly into a supernatural thing now? Bad, bad, bad. At least in my opinion. It throws the whole psychological issue back into the Dark Ages: psychological scarring isn’t real scarring, it’s something like demon possession. Forget the psychiatrists — call in the exorcists! Which would have been fine in a series that had begun that way, but not introduced as a sudden change of direction like this.

So while I still like Dexter, and enjoyed seeing him again — I’m very disappointed in this book. As the saying goes these days, it really jumped the shark, as far as I’m concerned. And even though the signs indicate that there will be more books in the series, I have no idea where Lindsay can possibly (and plausibly) take Dexter from here. ( )

Another fine read. So far, book 2 is my favorite Dexter book. This one added some elements to Dexter's universe that I'm not thrilled with (but won't list as they are spoilery). Weird because they are generally my cuppa tea, but here I would rather they were absent. Still the writing remains top notch, the elements don't ruin things totally :-), and the book is a fun read. ( )

The best Dexter book yet. Aside from the super-natural aspect, the book spent the majority of the time on character development. Dexter, Cody and Astor are really the focal point of this outing and not Dexter's hobby which was a little refreshing. ( )

Lindsay delves in to the human part of Dexter in this instalment of the popular series. Our light-hearted serial killer finds himself alone, without the Dark Passenger, as a serial killer rages through Miami, with Dexter bizarrely caught up as usual. Passenger-less Dexter must face the world, his fiancée and the kids alone - daunting indeed. Especially for an emotionless killer. Without the Dark Passenger will emotions emerge? In The Dark is a welcome new direction for the series, offering an insight in to Dexter's psyche, however the actual plot is wafer thin and doesn't really offer much entertainment. ( )

The supernatural aspect of Lindsay's third Dexter tale is a little hard to swallow. The cynic wit and awesome wordsmithing are still here (I'm a sucker for alliteration), but there's also this tie-in side story about some sort of dark god that controls killers. Didn't really buy in to that part...I kept hoping that maybe it was going to turn out that Dexter was starting to lose his grip on reality like a real delusional serial killer would, but got left with this Molak supernatural thing.
I think I would have been more accepting of the plot if it wasn't put in to the Dexter universe...supernatural events and serial killers just don't seem like good bedfellows. ( )

Dexter in the Dark by Jeff Lindsay is the third in the Dexter series. I first found out about the books when I watched Dexter, a television series now in its third season on Showtime. After watching the first couple shows, I caught the book’s title and author in the end credits and ran to my local Waldenbooks… who, unfortunately, only carried Dexter in the Dark, and, even more to my woe, have closed their doors for good, leaving my town bookstore-less.

As far as writing style goes, I enjoyed Lindsay’s playful alliterations and snarky internal dialogue of the narrator: I headed out the door for my date with Deborah’s paramour.(p. 272) Lindsay also toes the line, and occasionally steps over it, with his near-offensive, non-P.C., perverse and irreverent humor, from the xenophobic, misogynistic rant of an elderly witness, to description of the intense and utter pain and agony felt by Dexter Downtroadden at the altar… awaiting his fate as if he were Dexter on Death Row.

click for full review: http://thekoolaidmom.wordpress.com/20... ( )

This is where TV and Book Dexter totally diverge (not that there weren't different to begin with). Though I can say that several plot twists will not be to everyone's taste, I can't argue that they weren't foreshadowed in previous books. But that's just the plot. The gore and the dark wit are still there to enjoy. ( )

Not the best dexter book...it's getting a little too supernatural... ( )

I liked this book in the Dexter series least; in stead of continuing in the down-to-earth, psychologically dented Dexter, we are introduced to the supernatural and find Dexter not entirely himself. To me, it was a bad move to deprecate the thing I liked the most about the previous two books: the Dexter character himself. Hopefully the fourth book will be more like the first two. ( )

Lindsay departs from his usual style by incorporating supernatural elements in his latest Dexter installment. He does so very well, though I hope not all of the future books will center around a supernatural theme. ( )

Ugh, Lindsay tried far to hard to make Dexter not like the TV Dexter. It didn't work. ( )

The Dexter books are great. I really don't think there's much more I can say about them that I haven't said already—the sense of humor that Dexter has is grand, he manages to pull off being a charming, not-entirely-human serial killer quite well, and is absolutely fascinating.

This book takes a different turn from the previous two, that being [this is outlined not just early in the book but also in the plot summary, so no spoilers] that his Dark Passenger—the being in Dexter's head that gives him something akin to extra-human perceptive abilities and who directs him to kill properly—completely disappears, and he seems to become close to human while being paranoid that he's missing things in the case his sister Deborah is in charge of, and is afraid that the Dark Passenger will never return.

Possibly the only dent this novel has is that Dexter, when he would otherwise be talking to his Dark Passenger, talks about his new human faults and his worries and whatnot, and is just not the same character. He's not quite as much fun to read while he's like that, but luckily, that only happens in a few scenes.

It might also not be quite as gory as the others, because as Dexter lacks his killer instinct, he doesn't do a whole lot of killing. The worst that there is, really, is a description of the bodies a serial killer leaves for Deborah's case and a description of what a particular sergeant looks like after, ah, running into trouble in the second book [really very creepy. Thinking about him gives me chills, just a little]. ( )

As much as I enjoyed the first two books in this series... I just didn’t like this one. In this third installment, Dexter’s Dark Passenger becomes its own being, and goes AWOL. I preferred thinking of the Dark Passenger as just a voice in Dexter’s head, not some amorphous lizard thing that makes relatively normal people want to kill. It just rubbed me the wrong way. The Dark Passenger’s absence does create some interesting inner conflict for Dexter, but I think Lindsay just went about it the wrong way. What I do like about this book is Dexter’s growing relationship with Cody and Aster, and it’ll be interesting to see where that goes as Cody’s own shadow gets more insistent. This wasn’t bad enough to make me give up the series, but it was disappointing just the same... ( )

the mystery part was really stupid! the dexter part was amusing and interesting. ( )

I loooooooooooooooooooooooooove Jeff Lindsay .This book is simply insanely good. It is comfort to know people can write like this still.This book is full of irony. On one side it makes you bust your side with laughter yet on the other side your covering your head at night with fright. Jeff Lindsays is a freakin genious with amazing imagination and salubrious writing skills. The Dexter series is the most perfect bunch of contemporary writing i have ever seen. ( )

He ruined the series if you ask me. Went from great anti-hero to silly fantasy garbage. ( )

I enjoyed the first two Dexter novels... this one, not so much.

Lindsay is obviously trying to broaden the concept of Dexter out a little, which is fine, but he introduces a whole "supernatural" element that just doesn't sit well with me. The first two books are pretty much grounded in the "this could actually be happening" world, that it threw off the vibe in this book.

I also could have lived without the sections in a viewpoint other than Dexter's (whether it was The Watcher or IT). All it made me want to do was speed through those sections so that I could get back to Dexter. ( )

Out of all of the Dexter books, this is the only one that did not grab me. While the past two books in Lindsay's series are interesting portraits of an intriguing character, this seemed like a plodding continuation without enough direction.

It follows Dexter as he undertakes the next step in his disguise, marriage to Rita. He's becoming a "mentor" to her children and trying to balance his secret life as well. However, after he kills the wrong person, a series of murders throughout Miami threaten his livelihood in more than one way. Deborah continues to cope with the knowledge of her stepbrother's misdeeds and take care of her crippled boyfriend. Vince Masouka, as Dexter's best man, tries to make the wedding as perfect as possible. And through all of this Dexter's Dark Passenger has disappeared due to the creepy new series of ritualistic murders that have overtaken Miami.

While still written in the creepy tone Lindsay has developed for his Dexter series, the book did not have enough substance to hold my attention. The basis of the plot revolves around a strange philosophy that did not sit well with me. Dexter's lamenting and whining just got on my nerves and his headspace was all wrong to continue as a serial killing hero (never thought I'd say that). If Lindsay writes more in this series, I'd like to see a stronger storyline in the next installment. ( )

In this installment in the series, Dexter's dark passenger gets chased away. Unfortunately Dexter without his dark passenger is hardly Dexter at all. This same story could have easily been written with just any-old protagonist at the helm. It's still an enjoyable read, but it doesn't reach the level of the previous two Dexter books. ( )

Not sure if I liked the direction of this Dexter novel. It goes off on the weird storyline of gods and rituals and spirits and supernatural stuff. The reason I've always enjoyed the series is because of the way Lindsay treats the subject of a serial killer as a damaged child who is now a sociopath. This book just made it all weird. ( )

What happens when a Monster loses his Dark Passenger? That's what Dexter Morgan struggles with in this story, the third in the Dexter series. Engaging and difficult to put down, I kept reading so I could find out what would happen - would the Dark Passenger be gone forever? And if so, where did it go? If you like Dexter, get this book. ( )

I still love Dexter.

It was an interesting experience to read this book, probably because I've thought so long and analytically about this series from the perspective of an author who also takes some character risks.

This is *not* a criticism of JL, but I did find myself wondering in nearly every chapter if JL was/is responding to reader/editor pressure. Writing two brilliant books featuring an unrepentent, psychotic serial killer must have been a walk in the park compared to coming up with a third installment that introduces elements that add depth and blaze new ground and increase the potential longevity of the series.

JL's introduction of "IT" - the genesis of the Dark Passenger - was occasionally clunky, and I was occasionally put off to have IT's POV popping up and interrupting the flow of Dexter's narration.

On the other hand, if JL and/or his publishing support network deemed it necessary to make D. more sympathetic (something which I personally don't require, but I imagine a broad readership would) ITs surprising departure and resulting pitching of Dexter into "human" form do the trick.

Sadly - for me - I find the original Dexter more fun. I'm crazy fond of the guy!!!!

A final kudos to JL: I don't believe anyone does a better job of writing dialog that truly sounds like the way people speak.