Rather I think 'Lindsay in the Dark'

I must admit that I one of those fans that first experienced Dexter in all its televised glory. And I usually am the one that makes the point of reading the subject to death before watching the movie. And I almost always think that the novel is far superior. My experience with the Dexter novels has been quite the opposite...

After falling in love with our beloved killer on my tv sceen I ran to the library to find the books that inspired such an entrancing tv series. Darkly Dreaming Dexter was a major disappointment for me. Simply stating that Dexter was a sociopath that scoffed at the emotional beings living among him every other page ticked me off after the complexities shown on the screen. His complete disregard and even disgust for Rita pissed me off. Simply depicting someone incapable of feeling....incapable of feeling is so expected (hah) if Dexter cares not at all then why should anything matter but himself? Deeper into the novel and I find nothing does.

I am aware that this is not a review page for the first novel but it all starts at the roots. After the first novel I decided to disregard their existence and just learn to love the show. Months later I thought to try again and surprisingly loved the Second Novel-Dearly Devoted Dexter. The dry humor kept me laughing into the night.

And by the third novel I think I have located my problem with them. Yes Lindsay writes with great humor but without any substance. There is no character development present in any of the novels, nevermind the series as a whole. With a character that claims to be incapable of feeling anything for anyone other than himself development seems an impossibility. Even the teaching of the two children is a lost cause-Dexter thinks constantly about how he must teach them and yet have they learned a thing? No. Other than how to knife a mythical god that has half a sentence's mention in the Bible in the back while your stepdad is grooving out to drums and trumpets with his pants literally on fire.

Despite the completely random subject matter that this book is comprised of there are other problems as well. For example Dexter seems pretty stupid throughout the work, and I'm not willing to give all brain cells' credit to the Passenger. And do not get me started on the two page "climax" that closes the work. A whole novel of mind games leads to....an abduction and a dance party? Did it really only take a knife in the back to ruin their whole multi thousand year old plan?

In the end the novel was suddenly over and I felt cheated. I read through a hundred pages of that hoping for some explanation and that was it?

My advice...first prepare yourself, then maybe read the first novel only and think of it as inspired by the series, and NOT vice versa.