Darkly Dreaming Dexter

Dexter, Book 1

By: Jeff Lindsay

Narrated by: Jeff Lindsay

Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's 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 likable: he only kills bad people. • The Killer Character That Inspired the Hit Showtime Series Dexter

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.

©2005 Jeff Lindsay (P)2012 Random House

Critic reviews

"A macabre tour-de-force." ( The New York Times Book Review)

“A dark comedy with a creative twist.” ( The Miami Herald)

“Dark and devious..Daring and unexpectedly comedic.” ( USA Today)

Novella Style Serial Killer

While similarities between the tv show and this book are abound, the original trimmed down story is engaging if not a little bit slammed together at the end for the grand reveal. Jeff Lindsay portrays Dexter as more monster than human as opposed to the tv show. As a long time fan I enjoyed it.

Dexter Delivered By Jeff

Dexter is a favorite character. So like yet unlike the TV character.

This one is better, by far.

Great Bones

This seemed like a rare case of the show being better than the book. Though the book is very good and I enjoyed it, the show fleshed the characters out quite a lot more. Michael C Hall’s performance really builds onto Jeff Lindsay’s character and though I’m not sure of the actor’s name, Angel was a major let down here compared to the shows portrayal. Also, though I am excited to continue with the book series and see how it differs, the show really handled the ending of this arc much better and much more believably. All in all great book and I’m even going back now to bump the performance score up to 5 stars. The narrator did a great job and I think Michael C Hall’s 6 star performance is the only thing keeping me from giving the narrator a 5/5!

Literally just read it

If you have watched the show first give it a chance there are big differences at the end that will blow your socks off omg amazing !

A great book.

Really do wish Micheal C. Hall could read the book, but nevertheless Jeff Lindsay has an great reading voice and I loved the experience.

dreamily dark

If you could sum up Darkly Dreaming Dexter in three words, what would they be?

dark, quirky, captivating

Who was your favorite character and why?

Dexter is quite interesting in his view of the world

What about Jeff Lindsay’s performance did you like?

His voice matches Dexter's mood, but not all of the other characters

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

A couple parts made me cringe, others made me laugh

Any additional comments?

The TV show deviates from the book plot.

Strange and interesting

Can one call a book about a serial killer "light?" But it really sort of was. Enjoyed the narrator, the quips. Enjoyed it well enough to now buy book two in the series. I have a feeling it won't last but...

Dark and well performed

So dark and well performed. This book is better than the TV series in my opinion

Excellent book

Such an amazing performance. The ending was unexpected and g great It’s own way, love it!!

If tits were brains she would be a genius

I hope to get a chance to use that phrase some day.

I was following someone who gave this five stars. It is important to try and follow others with the same taste has yours, but I have to disagree with my leader here. Not at one point did I think this was a bad book, and I thought it might be great when I started it. It is certainly a unique character.

The longer I read, the more flaws started to appear. My first problem came at chapter nine. What seem to be a fairly straight (but weird) story, headed into the realms of paranormal. This cheapened the story and gave the author several easy outs. I like paranormal in my Jim Butcher or Simon R. Green books, but there they don't use it for easy solutions and it fits into the rest of the story. Jeff Lindsey makes Miami seem like a small town with just a couple of streets. More then once Dexter is driving around and he comes unto a crime seen involving the criminal he is trying to find. More then once he comes up with a solution to a problem, yet he even admits, that he does not know how he would come up with that clue. It seems he just happen to dream the right dream or have a feeling or etc. The book becomes very predictable. I knew what was going to happen to his sister many chapters before it happened. I knew the ending, before it happened. What makes it worse is JL slowly draws these things out. You hear in his voice, (I am going to surprise you, I am going to have a gotcha moment.) and then he does exactly what you expect. Expect several times to hear the main character say, I should have felt so and so, but I felt the opposite. That gets old after a while.

I did give it five stars, it is not a bad book, it just is not a real good book.