Reviews

Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay

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mudmule's review against another edition

5.0

After hearing a snippet about the TV show inspired by these books I was intrigued. I'll be honest I've started to read the book 2 times and put it down. Dexter's voice is very distinct. It does take a bit getting used to, seeing into the mind of a mad man. Before the third chapter I loved Dexter. He's the perfect killer... is that even possible? Anyway, it took me only 2 sittings after starting reading to devour this book. I loved how Mr. Lindsay really put you in Dexter's head and then made you think he was losing his marbles.

This book was great. I've not seen the TV show but I'd like to try a couple episodes. And I've ordered all the books in this series, can't wait to read them.

lauraborkpower's review against another edition

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3.0

There is something poetic about Dexter's "dark passenger" that I quite liked and once I got over the completely absurd plot, I did get into the book. It's a super fast read, and the ending as absurd as the premise, but somehow that's okay--the absurdity is so over the top that you stop caring and just go with it. The narrator is good and the audiobook is only about seven hours. I might listen to more of these if I have some time to kill (ha).

pzameche's review

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

3.5

cormoranlucreade's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

lethaldose's review against another edition

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3.0

Like many people I read this book because I am a huge fan of the tv show. All my favorite characters were here and the story is basically the first season of the series.

I have seen movies that were just as good as the books, but here is a case where the show far outstrips the book. The characters are basically the same, but they are better in the show. Dexter is a show where you love the characters in spite of their major flaws. Here every character other than Dexter himself are very uninteresting.

But the story should have been bette too because it is the story from the show, but it really isn't. There is none of the flavor here, and apparently the series writers are more clever than Jeff Lindsay because the came up with better spins on the story than he did. And the end of the first season of Dexter was very satisfying, here the end of the book is aggravating and cheap.

This is not to say that this is a bad book, it isn't, but I think most people are coming to this book because they are fans of the show. And that might not be a good reason, because like the book fan that gets upset when the movie doesn't live up to the book, here is a book that doesn't live up the show.

I am not sure at this point if I will bother continuing with the book series, maybe I will just stick with the Michael C Hall Dexter, and leave the Jeff Lindsay Dexter on the shelf.