Dexter is back!I stopped reading the Dexter novels for the longest time, not because I disliked the third book, but just because I sort of forgot. I watched the whole series and then decided to get back into the books, and read them all.Dexter by Design is a nice return to form for Jeff Lindsey. It has a wicked pace, a solid plot, and it sucks you in with lots of twists and turns. The word that comes to mind while reading this review is that this book is lean. No fat, not extraneous parts, its just a solid quick thriller with a great pace, sharp, and tight.Dexter fans should dig this one. Is it really such a good thing when you don't want to put a book down? I could almost say no, considering I was up until nearly 5am engrossed in Dexter by Design, but I suppose this is the sort of thing writers hope for? They want you interested. They want you feeling that you must find out as soon as possible what happens next. It seems I had to know everything last night or I would not rest easy.Perhaps one of my biggest curiosities throughout the story was "Will Debs make it?" I've seen the tv show. I know how it ends. Deborah in hospital is unsettling. It's worse when the doctors keep saying "It's too soon to tell." and "there's a possibility of brain damage." Of course, though I know the show didn't follow the books too much now, I spent most of the night worried that she was going to die. (SPOILER: she doesn't)For the smallest portion of the book I was also convinced that Ritas time was up. She is such a hilariously annoying character and I admit that I laughed several times throughout as I empathised with Dex, Astor and Cody living with such a sensitive and silly woman. I suppose I was almost hoping she would die in a way, because it would be interesting to see how Dexter would react, however when Rita gets kidnapped towards the end of the story, I got a good idea that Dex does somewhat care about her after all. He enjoys her cooking at least...There were several more laugh out loud moments for me and I'm pretty sure Doakes was responsible for those. It's absolutely great that he's still alive, clodhopping around like a Terminator. It's brilliant that he still pops up now and again to try to intimidate Dexter. It's even more brilliant that he has the phrase "I'm still watching you, motherfucker!" prerecorded on his little talking computer.As it has been in past novels, there is a big bad guy lurking out there committing some pretty outrageous crimes and as usual there is not much of a "whodunit" mystery for long. That works fine as the killer is never someone introduced to us at any point usually until Dexter figures out who they are. As always, he starts to figure things out quite quickly, but he makes several mistakes in this novel and the killer is often a step ahead of him. It's exciting... I went to say "but" and realised I had no "but".I am so grateful that this book is a massive step-up from the last. The third in the series nearly killed these novels for me. There are only a few small reminders that the Dark Passenger is supposed to be some sort of supernatural, ancient being and that's how I like it. I obviously can't forget "the truth" of the story now, but I can push it safely to the back of my mind and not let it matter while the books stay away from the supernatural references and going too far into the realm of the unbelievable.The question for me now is how many stars to give. Do I give five because it seems to deserve it? There is some little voice nagging I should give this book a four, but why? Is it because the last in the series has tainted things so badly? This book wasn't bad at all was it? I couldn't stop reading and I laughed many times and never really felt frustrated. Why are four stars calling out to me? I can't put my finger on it at all, and I suppose it's not right to give something four stars if you're not sure why? I'll just have to hope that if anybody reads this review they can help me answer that last question.
What do You think about Dexter By Design (2009)?
Dexter is always a delight, especially when he's bad!
—mooshkaloo
Took me forever to get into this one. Not the best
—672050
