Dexter in the Dark

Aparte de lo delicioso que es leer a Jeff Lindsay, un escritor que te mantiene interesado, que desliza el sarcasmo entre líneas mientras te pone en la mente de un asesino serial, esta tercera entrega de la saga de Dexter, se resume en una frase: "Entre mas anormal seas, mas normal debes verte" un nuevo estudio sicológico de la mente, la oscuridad, los efectos del maltrato infantil y la imaginación del ser humano para cometer crímenes( ó al menos, poder imaginarlos y ser capaz de ponerlos por escrito) es lo que nos muestra este libro. altamente recomendado. No se van a arrepentir, o talvez si, pero de no haberlo leído antes.

Man, I loved this book. Absolutely LOVED it. It was exactly what I needed to bust me out of my reading slump. I couldn't put it down and ended up reading for much longer than I'd intended every time I picked it up.

I loved that Jeff Lindsay brought in a genuine paranormal twist to explain Dexter's Dark Passenger. My only issue with the plot was the quick, too pat ending that didn't explain much. The last chapter left me scratching my head, but it wasn't enough to detract from the overall experience I had while reading the book.

I really enjoyed getting to see "Daddy Dexter" in full mentoring mode. And his interactions with the eccentric caterer were priceless! I had numerous laugh-out-loud moments.

Overall, this was an absolute delight! I show more can't wait to see what kind of trouble Dexter gets himself into next. show less

Dexter has a lot on his mind lately. He finds himself accidentally engaged to be married and struggling with all the details of an impending wedding. Adding to his cares is the training of young Cody and Astor, two budding serial killers eager to come to grips with his personal calling. And finally, there's work. A string of strange murders featuring charred and beheaded corpses has got all Miami in a flutter.

Now Dexter must help his sister, Deb, crack the case, there's just one problem. These murders are different, and his dark passenger has fled. Without the whispers from the backseat, Dexter is helpless to offer clues or insights. Worse, he feels that something evil is stalking him. Something is invading his mind, controlling him, show more and sending him bizarre dreams. What ancient force has found him?

Okay, so now there are demons and ancient gods? I always thought the "dark passenger" was just a metaphor. But now you're saying it's a literal evil force from the dawn of time that bonded to Dexter when he went through trauma? And that's what really motivates serial killers? Dexter is demon-possessed? Okay. Sure, man. Whatever you say. show less

Dexter in the Dark, the third in Jeff Lindsay’s series, is the story of a Dexter who has lost his Dark Passenger. No predatory instinct, no gut feeling, no prickly spider-sense. He’s lost, literally in the dark, and even though he doesn’t feel emotions, he experiences fear. Which leads to almost a cathartic exploration about what the Dark Passenger is and where it came from. Does it control him, does he control it? How can he get it back and if not, how does he live without it?

The thing I love the best about Dexter is his duality. He really is wolf and sheep at the same time. The way that Lindsay has written him is brilliant. You really understand how disconnected Dexter is inside - how much of human behavior he doesn’t show more understand, how much he is simply parroting in a desperate attempt to be accepted into the fold. It’s also scary how much sense he can make and shows how our emotional attachments make our world so much more complicated.

I didn’t like this one as much as the previous installment. I mean, self-discovery is good, that part was interesting. I do like it when a character stretches and grows but some of the stuff about the Dark Passenger’s origins, well, I could take it or leave it. That’s all I’ll say, no spoilers here. Also, there’s some seriously creepy stuff with the kids in this one and creepy kids creep me out. The other storylines continue too – the sister, the girlfriend - I’ll probably read the next book just to see how it evolves. show less

While reading this, there was a part of me that was wondering if I was being overly harsh with the plot because Showtime has done such a phenomenal job with the adaptation. And then I remembered that a huge portion of my library has been made into movies, television shows and plays and that I've long since learned to respect such things as separate entities enjoying or disliking things on their own merits. Long story short, I was really trying to give Jeff Lindsay whatever is more than the benefit of the doubt for producing a horrible installment in his Dexter series.

I'd love to say this is about Dexter, but it isn't. At every turn, we find Dexter being forced to do something by someone else - his co-worker and best man convince him to show more use a celebrity caterer for his wedding (do not ask me how a forensics blood spatter expert will ever afford $250-$500/plate), his soon-to-be step children are demanding serial killer lessons, his sister is using him as an expert profiler and we discover that his one talent is no longer home for business because it is also its own entity. So our dangerous Dexter never really needed the lessons of his father - Lindsay spends an entire book showing us that just about anyone can boss our dear Dexter around at will. Note to potential Dexter victims: don't beg for help, whine or cry. Just DEMAND that he let you go, ask him to take your cat to the vet and send him on some random errands if you want to live. The murder mystery is an excuse to introduce an ancient god, a potential source of Dexter's powers and Cody's ability to read evil auras, but I'm already making it sound far more interesting than it really was.

I know that there are more books in the series, but at this point, I think I'll stick with the cable series. There's a reason the book clearly states on the cover, the killer character that inspired the hit Showtime original Series Dexter. The superior storylines and a much better Dexter are living in high definition now. show less

Everyone’s favorite serial killer Dexter is back in Dexter in the Dark. Dexter juggles his job as a blood spatter analyst for the Miami Police Department, shepherds his two soon to be step children along the Harry Path and also makes time for his ‘hobby’. But a new killer is on the loose, causing Dexter’s Dark Passenger to go into hiding. Dexter is left to fend for himself in trying to solve a string of grisly murders and is left wondering, who he is without the Dark Passenger?

The lighthearted writing still manages to be funny and slightly macabre. Though readers are left wondering just how an entire police department could not start to wonder why one of their own forensic specialists is a target for murder, again and again. Die show more hard Dexter fans shouldn’t have too much problem with this latest installment however. show less

Well, I was warned. Lots of LT:ers told me this the third book about Miami’s most loveable serial killer was a lot weaker. And by Moloch, it is.

Arriving at a gruesome double murder crime scene, Dexter finds that his Dark Passenger retracts, goes silent. No matter how Dexter tries, his inner shadow seems gone forever. But why? What’s so scary about ceramic bull heads to make the Passenger leave him alone – forcing him to explore the scary concept of potential normality?

A lot of Dexter fans seem to have a beef with the fact that the Dark Passenger goes away per se. I don’t. I do have a beef with the fact that Lindsey does a half-assed attempt at changing genres to…well, urban fantasy, I guess, and doesn’t even seem to believe show more it himself. Thus the plot here is strained and messy, and what we mostly get are endless repetitions of a few patterns: Dexter in traffic (if I have to read one more account of the chaotic Miami rush-hour I’ll scream). Dexter in family life, wrestling with the fact that this might be it for him from now on. Dexter gets picked up or yelled at over the phone by his sister to get his ass over to a new crime scene. Dexter explains (again, and again) to the reader that the Dark Passenger is no more and the distress this causes. Dexter in traffic. And so on.

Not even the side story of Dexter raising Rita’s kids that seemed so promising in the last book is very interesting – but instead consists of yet another set of repetitions. By the time the book comes to it’s climax, it seems to me that Lindsey is just sick of the whole thing and wants to wrap it up and have a taco. The last twenty pages here are some of the most sloppy writing I’ve seen in a long time.

Mildly funny in places (love looming Doakes), but mostly underwhelming. We have (as the last people on earth) finally begun watching the TV series on DVD, and for the time being I vastly prefer that. show less