Dexter is not your average blood splatter analyst. He's a serial killer. He works with the police but cannot resist, and frankly doesn't want to, the urge to feed the dark need inside him. Dexter tries to keep his head down among people. He says the right things and smiles at the right times. Few ever notice that he's slightly off. When Dexter's foster sister, Deborah, asks for his help catching a serial killer Dexter is torn between his personal desires and the urge to help her.

I really liked the voice of this book. I was easily pulled through the pages. The mix of dark humor, confusion with human emotions, and unapologetic need to kill worked for me. I fell easily into the mind of Dexter and enjoyed my time there. I think that it is the mark of a skilled writer that I was able to like a character so much when he was clearly a sociopath. I couldn't help but feel for him even when I was repelled by his actions.

I enjoyed watching Dexter fumble with the emotions of people around him. Seeing him try to figure out what most normal people know by instinct was very amusing. I particularly enjoyed his confusion in relation to Rita. What seemed so obscure to him was obvious and hilarious to me (as well as most readers I'm sure). I really loved how he was disturbed and confused over what ended up happening with Rita. The embarrassment and definite yuck feeling was funny, but also kind of sad.

I was faintly disbelieving of Harry's reaction to Dexter. I mean, the guy was a cop. I really thought the teaching and honing of his setup and clean up was an odd thing to do. I don't know, maybe I'm just being idealistic.

I can honestly say that I wasn't expecting the serial killer to be who it turned out to be. It occurred to me when Deborah and Dexter were watching the video, but I discounted it. I guess I should have listened to myself.

The ending really bothered me. What happened exactly? How did that get resolved with all the cops? What happened in that final moment before it skipped to the last chapter? It's bugging me that I don't know. Hopefully it's covered in the next book. I'll definitely be buying it. I can't wait to see how Dexter's story continues. ( )

Dark and light hearted. Scary. By 2/3rds thru I wanted relief from the battering. Didn’t let up until the end. ( )

Tries so hard to be dark and unemotional that I found I could not feel anything for the main character. Might have been my mood.

Enjoyed this character. It was nice to delve a little deeper in his mind after watching the TV series. Wasn't expecting the completely different ending from the series but enjoyed how it played out. ( )

Weirdly enough, didn't like it as much as the TV show. ( )