Darkly Dreaming Dexter--Audio Book Review

Darkly Dreaming Dexter

Jeff Lindsay
Read by Nick Landrum

If you know anything about the TV series Dexter, based on the series of books of which this is the first, you know the basic plot of Darkly Dreaming Dexter. Traumatized by a childhood event he can't remember, Dexter grows up a sociopath with a need to periodically kill. He was adopted by a police officer, however, who recognized his condition and taught him a "code" to use to control it. When Dexter can no longer ignore the demands of what he calls the "Dark Passenger," he kills. But he only kills other serial killers--people who, according to his code, deserve it.

In his more socially acceptable life, Dexter works as a blood splatter analyst for the Miami Police Department. His sister Debra is a police officer desperately trying to gain a promotion to Detective. Her chance comes in the wake of a series of bizarre murders, as she and the rest of the Miami PD try to find a killer who dismembers his victims and leaves their body parts in trash bags, completely drained of blood.

Except Dexter is starting to believe the killer is actually him.

The plot of the television adaptation diverges in several ways from the book, and this is a rare case where I felt the TV version is actually more involving and more fully realized than the book. The book's climax seems incomplete and a bit too pat. The book is definitely entertaining, though, with dark humor and well-written character voices. I look forward to reading more in the series.

Nick Landrum's reading is competent but not especially powerful, though he does a good job with various accents and maintaining suspense through the last act.