Yzabel / November 20, 2012

Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay

My rating: [rating=2]

Summary:

Meet Dexter Morgan, a polite wolf in sheep’s clothing. He’s handsome and charming, but something in his past has made him abide by a different set of rules. He’s a serial killer whose one golden rule makes him immensely likeable: he only kills bad people. And his job as a blood splatter expert for the Miami police department puts him in the perfect position to identify his victims. But when a series of brutal murders bearing a striking similarity to his own style start turning up, Dexter is caught between being flattered and being frightened-of himself or some other fiend.

Review:

I really liked the TV series (especially the first two seasons), and so I wanted to read the book that spawned it. And I must say it’s one of those rare cases when I actually liked the TV adaptation more than the original.

I’m not even sure I’d have liked the book more if I had never watched the Showtime series first. While the idea behind it–a serial killer working for the police force, and focusing his killing urges on murderers only, on people who sort of ‘deserve to die’–appealed to me, if only out of curiosity, I found the execution and writing quite poor. Dexter’s tone as he tells his story isn’t so witty as condescending, and too often I felt that the events were told rather than shown.

I had a hard time with the portrayal of Deborah, Angel, Doakes and other characters: too often they just seemed to be here to add people to the story, but things wouldn’t have been much different hadn’t they been there. I thought they deserved to be given more room, and more credit: mostly the Miami police is described as a bunch of idiots absolutely unable to do anything, which is rather hard to believe.

The events, too, unfold in a bizarre way, and Dexter’s dreams looked too much like an easy way to get to the ending. There didn’t seem to be any real police work involved, and too many chance encounters/conveniently placed hints packaged in dreams. I expected more from this book in that regard, more investigation on the part of the characters, and not what felt like a series of deus ex machina.

Once again, I admit that having watched the TV series first probably influenced me a lot; but the flaws I perceived in this novel would’ve stood out for me anyway. It’s an easy read, perfect to keep you busy for a few hours, without having to think much; however, if you really want to enjoy such a story, my honest opinion is that you watch the show instead. The characters in it are better developed, and the various steps of the investigation much more believable (and present!).