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Summary
Summary
"One of the most likable vigilante serial killers" ( The New Yorker ) faces his ultimate adversary...an evil so terrifying it scares away Dexter's inner monster--and nearly dries up his sense of humor--in this wickedly witty, darkly suspenseful novel.
In his work as a Miami crime scene investigator, Dexter Morgan is accustomed to seeing evil deeds...particularly because, on occasion, he rather enjoys committing them himself. Guided by his Dark Passenger (the reptilian voice inside him), he lives his outwardly normal life adhering to one simple rule: he kills only very bad people. Dexter slides through life undetected, working as a blood spatter analyst for the Miami Police Department, helping his fianc#65533; raise her two adorable (if somewhat...unique) children, and always planning his next jaunt as Dexter the Dark Avenger under the light of the full moon.
But then everything changes. Dexter is called to a crime scene that seems routine: a gruesome double homicide at the university campus, which Dexter would normally investigate with gusto, before enjoying a savory lunch. And yet this scene feels terribly wrong. Dexter's Dark Passenger senses something it recognizes, something utterly chilling, and the Passenger--mastermind of Dexter's homicidal prowess--promptly goes into hiding.
With his Passenger on the run, Dexter is left to face this case all alone--not to mention his demanding sister (Sergeant Deborah), his frantic fianc#65533;e (Rita), and the most frightening wedding caterer ever to plan a menu. Equally unsettling, Dexter begins to realize that something very dark and very powerful has its sights set on him. Dexter is left in the dark, but he must summon his sharpest investigative instincts not only to pursue his enemy, but to locate and truly understand his Dark Passenger. To find him, Dexter has to research the questions he's never dared ask: Who is the Dark Passenger, and where does he come from? It is nothing less than a search for Dexter's own dark soul...fueled by a steady supply of fresh doughnuts.
Macabre, ironic, and wonderfully entertaining, Dexter in the Dark goes deeper into the psyche of one of the freshest protagonists in recent fiction. Jeff Lindsay's glorious creativity is on full display in his most accomplished novel yet.
Author Notes
Jeff Lindsay was born Jeffry P. Freundlich on July 14, 1952 in Miami, Florida. He graduated from Middlebury College in Vermont in 1975. He is best known for his novels about sociopathetic vigilante Dexter Morgan. The first book in the Dexter series, Darkly Dreaming Dexter, was published in 2004 and was the basis of the Showtime TV series Dexter. His other works include Tropical Depression: A Novel of Suspense, Dream Land: A Novel of the UFO Coverup, Time Blender and Dreamchild.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In Lindsay's third novel to feature endearing Miami cop and serial killer Dexter Morgan (after 2005's Darkly Devoted Dexter), the Dark Passenger, the voice inside Dexter's head that from time to time drives him to the "Theme Park of the Unthinkable," inexplicably disappears while Morgan is investigating a gruesome double murder on the University of Miami campus. The crime scene, at which two co-eds were ritualistically burned and beheaded, gives even the human vivisection-loving vigilante the creeps. As the burned and beheaded body count continues to mount, Morgan realizes that the force behind the killings is something even more evil than his Dark Passenger. Though the macabre wit that powered the first two installments of this delightfully dark series (also a hit on TV's Showtime) is still evident, this third entry takes a decidedly deep introspective turn as Dexter is forced to contemplate not only life without his enigmatic companion but also who-or what-he truly is. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Dexter Morgan, Miami's favorite vigilante sociopath, battles demons more powerful than even he can imagine. Miami Homicide is baffled by the ritual killings of two coeds who've been decapitated, burned and neatly laid out, their heads replaced by ceramic bulls' heads. On the strength of forensic evidence, Sgt. Deborah Morgan, Dexter's sister, arrests professor Jerry Halpern, who watches from jail as the murders continue--including, most satisfyingly, the monstrous caterer Dexter has booked for his wedding to his girlfriend Rita. The case clearly calls for the special talents of a forensic technician who moonlights as the untroubled executioner of bad guys (Dearly Devoted Dexter, 2005, etc.). This time, though, Dexter is in the dark. The familiar spirit who normally incites him to dastardly deeds has taken fright at something in that first crime scene and abruptly decamped, leaving Dexter unpossessed and alone. It's a spooky feeling when you're no longer haunted by evil spirits because even more evil spirits have driven them out. And it couldn't have happened at a worse time for Dexter, who'd just begun to bond with Rita's children. Astor, nine, and Cody, seven, have all the makings of apprentice serial killers themselves--if only Dexter can keep them safe long enough to teach them the prudence they'll need to survive. Sadly, the struggle between Dexter and his new demons is more portentous than interesting. How you feel about Dexter's third adventure will depend on how invested you are in Dexter. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* It's tempting to say the Dexter series keeps getting weirder, but how can a series about a serial killer who works as a blood-splatter expert for the Miami police department get any weirder? In case you've never met him (or watched the television series based on the character), Dexter Morgan, one of the most original and complex protagonists in recent years, is a bright, likable fellow with one flaw: he's a monster. True, he only kills people who deserve it killers who have escaped justice but make no mistake, he enjoys what he does, and he does it very well. In this third installment in the series, Dexter is shocked, while working a crime scene, to discover that his Dark Passenger, the evil thing that makes him who he is, has abruptly vanished. Soon after that, and still reeling from the unfamiliar sense of solitude, he learns that he's being stalked by someone more evil than anyone he's encountered in the past. Can Dexter, the psychopath who looks like an ordinary man, survive without his faithful companion? This novel explores new facets of Dexter's multifaceted personality and plumbs new dramatic depths (while never losing the sharp-witted humor that makes the series so perversely enjoyable). For fans of Lindsay's one-of-a-kind creation, it's a must-read.--Pitt, David Copyright 2007 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
There are no daredevil steeplechase races in DEAD HEAT (Putnam, $25.95), no close-ups of quivering horseflesh, no heroic jockey to vanquish those villains who would corrupt the sport of kings. Rather, this new novel by Dick Francis, written with his son Felix, focuses on the restaurant business, even to the point of tossing in some cooking tips. Max Moreton, the personable young master chef who narrates this thriller, may care less about the ponies than he does about pied de cochon; but his restaurant, the Hay Net, is located near Newmarket and is a favorite with the owners and trainers. His giddy success skids to a halt when guests at a black-tie dinner he catered for "250 of the great and the good of the racing world" come down with food poisoning. And there's worse to follow. The next day, a bomb goes off at the gala luncheon Max is serving in two of the glass-fronted boxes of the grandstand, for the American sponsors of the prestigious 2,000 Guineas stakes. "Carnage was not too strong a word" for the devastation, which the authors take care to render in vivid color. Aside from taking a detour to address the seemingly obligatory specter of Middle East terrorism (barely examined and quickly dispelled), the sure-footed plot closely follows the increasingly dangerous steps Max is forced to take to salvage his business, restore his reputation and unmask the architect of the bombing - all the while falling in chaste love with a nice English girl. Like other Francis heroes, Max is cool under pressure and a stoic about physical punishment. But for someone who isn't a jockey or a trainer, he also has a solid feel for the politics of the racing world; because he depends on the good will of this moneyed crowd, he knows as much about their business as he does about his own. So while it doesn't feature the Francis trademarks of high-strung horses in high-stakes races, "Dead Heat" doesn't abandon the sport as much as turn it inside out, so we can inspect one of the many small, labor-intensive businesses that operate behind the scenes in this rarefied and utterly exotic world. Scholars can be such cutups when they put their minds to it. Jennifer Lee Carrell, who holds degrees in English and literature from Harvard, Oxford and Stanford, really kicks up her heels in her first novel, INTERRED WITH THEIR BONES (Dutton, $25.95), a weighty piece of scholarship packed into a feverishly paced action adventure. The heroine of this brainy romp is Kate Stanley, an American authority on Shakespeare who has come to London to direct "Hamlet" at the reconstructed Globe Theater - which promptly burns down around her. That's only the first of many disasters that befall Kate once she accepts a murdered mentor's challenge to search for the manuscript of a lost Shakespeare play. And oh, while she's at it, could she kindly resolve the nagging question of the playwright's true identity? Carrell nimbly dramatizes various Shakespearean academic theories, cuckoo and otherwise, although the methods of operation she assigns to Kate are ludicrously facile, and her speculative resolution is sure to startle Bardolators of all persuasions. In fact, the most imaginative scholarship goes into Kate's pursuit of the lost play across the landscape of the American West, where Shakespeare was once popular with cowboys, miners and gamblers, and where the author's wild storytelling style finally clicks with the dashing Indiana Jones spirit of the adventure. Jeff Lindsay's bad boy is back in DEXTER IN THE DARK (Double-day, $23.95), and what a relief it is to find the amiable serial killer unspoiled by his success as the hero of the Showtime TV series he inspired. True, this heartless, soulless self-described "monster," who has made it his mission to stalk and kill other predators (but only those who "truly needed it"), doesn't personally commit much mayhem here. And the two homicidally inclined tykes he hopes to train after he marries their unsuspecting mother have barely gotten around to stringing up a neighbor's cat. There's good reason, though, for all this restraint. Dexter's animating force, the insane killer he holds within and has christened his "Dark Passenger," has fled in the face of a far more potent and evil force that's orchestrating the mischief of other killers in Miami. "What was Dexter without Darkness?" the paralyzed antihero laments. What indeed? After toying unmercifully with his pathetic psychopath, Lindsay takes relish in resolving Dexter's existential crisis in his own cruel, perversely funny way. Stanley Hastings, the hangdog hero of Parnell Hall's droll mystery series, is a private eye who would be more fulfilled teaching linguistics. It seems entirely appropriate, then, that in his latest outing, HITMAN (Pegasus Books, $24.95), Stanley is hired by an English teacher who wants to retire from his sideline profession as a contract killer. The shamus and his new client mix it up at their first meeting, at odds over whether "hit man" should be one word or two - and what distinguishes a sentence fragment from a phrase. The more important issue, yet to be addressed, is whether Stanley can see the weary killer safely into retirement. Fans of this offbeat series already know that the chances of Stanley's getting anything right are fairly slim. But the fun of having him around again, if just to ponder the modern-day failure of the Socratic method, is worth the agony of watching him trip over his own feet or lose yet another intellectual argument with his wife. "Hitman" is the kind of pithy, clever, modestly erudite mystery that was once a genre staple. It's nice to know somebody still has the knack. Dick Francis's new thriller, written with his son Felix, is narrated by the chef of a fancy Newmarket restaurant.
Library Journal Review
Miami crime scene investigator Dexter Morgan kills but only really evil people and only when told to by his Dark Passenger. But the latest crime Dexter encounters is so awful that even the Dark Passenger is spooked. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.