Far above the aimless scurrying of the city IT watched, and IT waited. There was plenty to see, as always, and IT was in no hurry. IT had done this many time before, and would do so again, endlessly and forever. That was what IT was for. Right now there were so many different choices to consider, and no reason to do anything but consider them until the right one was clear. And then IT would start again, gather the faithful, give them their bright miracle, and IT would feel once more the wonder and joy and swelling rightness of their pain.All that would come again. It was just a matter of waiting for the right moment.And IT had all the time in the world. Michael C. Hall plays DexterJeff Lindsay really put a lot of noses out of joint with this one. He has fans of the show and fans of the previous two books to please and this one just hit a jarring note with a lot of people. It is similar to being strapped to a board with duct tape and you open your eyes to find there is a menacing serial killer standing over you with a bloody scalpel. You make the connection that it is your blood on that scalpel. You pass out. You come back to consciousness when he starts slicing and dicing...oh so lovingly...your inner thigh. You scream. You negotiate. He laughs, soaking up your terror like an extra large roll of Downy paper towels, and then before he really starts going to work on removing some appendages or organs he just lets you go. You feel relief as you stumble down the middle of a four lane road in Miami dripping blood hoping someone will stop before you become a hood ornament on a Kenworth supercab. Then you get mad thinking isn’t my body good enough for even a damn serial killer. What the f**k is wrong with me? Didn’t I scream loud enough? Didn’t my blood spurt as well as the next guy? You feel oddly let down.The interesting aspect of Dexter Morgan’s character is that he is a regular run of the mill serial killer with a code of ethics that was instilled in him by his cop stepfather Harry. Now those codes that have been instilled in young Dexter are also the same codes that keep average people like me or you from being strapped to a board feeling Dexter joyfully dismembering the fine temple we’ve spent so much time sculpting. In this third installment Lindsay chose to instill a supernatural element to the life and times of Dexter Morgan. Readers were upset, with feelings ranging from betrayal to outrage. They don’t want to believe that something netherworld evil might be controlling Dexter. They want to believe that Dexter is just well Dexter, a really nasty serial killer that has a code that allows us all to feel reassured that he is only killing really bad people, so it isn’t sick and disgusting that we are rooting for him. I was fortunate enough to have Jeff Lindsay sign my run of Dexter books.Well Dexter has a shadow that he calls the DARK PASSENGER. For the first time in his life this constant companion, this trusted advisor, disappears leaving him feeling empty like a body without a soul. He is having disturbing dreams for the first time in his life. ”No, this was my subconscious. If it was crying out in pain at the threat of abandonment, I knew exactly what it feared losing: the Dark Passenger. My bosom buddy, my constant companion on my journey through life’s sorrows and sharp pleasures. That was the fear behind the dream: losing the thing that had been so very much a part of me, and actually defined me, for my whole life.”In the midst of a new case with bodies burned and their heads lopped off and replaced with ceramic bull heads Dexter encounters something dark and dangerous, something so creepy that the Dark Passenger scurries away leaving Dexter feeling exposed and weak and very human. ”Dashing Dexter does not know the meaning of fear. That would have to mean that the roaring thump of my heart, the parching of my mouth, and the sweat pouring out of my hands was no more than massive uneasiness. I did not enjoy the feeling. I was no longer the Knight of the Knife. My blade and my armor were in some subbasement of the castle, and I was on the field of battle without them, a suddenly soft and tasty victim, and for no reason I could name I was sure that something had my scent in its ravening nostrils.” King Solomon killed his brother because he had something DARK inside him.Dexter is also in the middle of wedding plans, all part of his overall scheme to appear normal. The children of his bride, Cody and Astor are far from normal kids. In fact they too have shadows that drive them to want to inflict pain. He feels pressured to teach them the code of Harry, but like all kids they are impatient to skip the work and get to the fun. Dexter, without the reassuring presence of his Dark Passenger feels his life unraveling. He becomes the main focus of something known as IT, something that was around in the days of Solomon, something so powerful so fear inspiring that Dexter finds himself being controlled and helpless to escape. Hopefully in the fourth Dexter Morgan book Lindsay will choose to get back to the regular “mortal” adventures of our favorite serial killer. I was not as bothered by the supernatural elements as much as other readers were because I feel that any perception made by a human being can seem supernatural. The whole idea of Voodoo is that it only works if people believe that it can. I think the same idea can be applied to the cult of Moloch that wrecks so much havoc on poor Dexter in this novel. The Cult of Moloch or MLK.I’ll end this review with a bit of Florida environmental commentary that Lindsay slips into the novel. ”The island we headed for was one of the smaller ones. Half of a forty-foot sports fisherman lay on the beach at a crazy angle, and the pine trees inland of the beach were hung with chunks of Styrofoam, tattered cloth, and wispy shreds of plastic sheeting and garbage bags. Other than that, it was just the way the Native Americans had left it, a peaceful little chunk of land covered with Australian pines, condoms, and beer cans.”
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.
What do You think about Dexter In The Dark (2007)?
Dear DexterI am writing to you to say really you brighten my day, you and me are the same we both are in tune with our dark passenger, well you used to be! What happened its seams in this chapter of you're life aptly named 'Dexter in the dark' you're dark passenger is in the dark for a while. Not for me around the same period of year you had written this I was actively in tune with my dark passenger in let's say the most macabre of methods of execution. I unlike you do not prey on the hunters I am the hunter so dear Dexter when you do get back with yourself again good old bad Dexter try and check me out. Well that would be a problem at present, as I have been doing time, a long stretch, I have served up my years behind bars and my release is days away so dear Dexter I might just be paying you a visit. I must applaud you, you're trying hard in this chapter of your life in being a family man but that mask will soon show and when it does you will find yourself in the very place I am. Well still it's fun, it's a playground for you're dark passenger here also, if you know the ropes and don't get caught. I do hope you tie the knot with that lady of yours and hey what are you trying to do with Astor and Cody. Their young and let them be don't try to tune them in with their dark passenger just like your dear step-father had done with you, wake up dexter do what you do best out into the playing field I eagerly await.(This is a letter of fiction)
—Lou
The first 2 Dexter books were great. Then the Dexter saga comes to a screeching halt with this book. This one was awful! Dear Disappointing Dexter, I'm sorry that Lindsay shat this one out. Perhaps he was sleep writing this one while listening to the Ghost Busters theme song. I honestly don't know what "possessed" Lindsay to think that the Dexter story needed ghosts.To Lindsay's credit, there were a few places in the book that I cracked a smile or two. Even a spot where I was slightly excited to find out what happened next... slightly. But when I put the book down, all I could remember thinking was, I want those hours of my life back so I can watch paint dry. This book ruined the print version of Dexter for me, I will not be buying anymore of these books. I love the show and I hope the writers leave the supernatural to the x-files.
—Tim Allcock
Book Info: Genre: Supernatural Thriller/Police ProceduralReading Level: AdultRecommended for: twisted peopleTrigger Warnings: murder, human sacrificeMy Thoughts: So, again, this is my second time through this book. I originally picked it up in 2010 and read it shortly thereafter, so it's been around three years since I first read these books.This book has a lot more of the dark humor that we so love with Dexter, superimposing the comedic wedding plans and Dexter's attempts to work with Astor and Cody with the dangerous killings (and danger to Dexter himself) in a very effective way. I was particularly amused by the description of Dexter and Deborah's visit to a New Age shop: “We stepped in..A suffocating cloud of sickly sweet incense rolled over me, and I could tell that my inner enhancement had begun with a complete overhaul of my lungs. Through the smoke I could dimly see a large yellow silk banner hung along one wall that stated WE ARE ALL ONE. It did not say one of what. A recording played softly, the sound of someone who seemed to be fighting off an overdose of downers by occasionally ringing a series of small bells. A waterfall murmured in the background and I am sure that my spirit would have soared, if only I had one. Since I didn't, I found the whole thing just a bit irritating.” I also frequently laughed at Dexter's impatience with Cody and Astor's impatience to begin learning the Dark Path.The hints of the supernatural made in the first books are now fully formed and in motion, thus I have changed my genre designation. I really enjoyed the prologue, and the bits intertwined in the story, that give us some more details on the Dark Passenger and its history. Although I really like reading the books from Dexter's point-of-view (even when he is speaking of himself in the third person), I also liked that we had a hint of the Watcher's thoughts throughout the book, too. I think it really increased the tension, letting us know that Dexter really was in danger (oh NOES) and it certainly kept me on my toes. As Dexter put it, “Feeling—what authentic human fun. Next I would join a bowling league. Find a chat room online and talk about New Age self-help and alternative herbal medicine for hemorrhoids. Welcome to the human race, Dexter, the endlessly futile and pointless human race.”I was very surprised that Dexter had never heard of the stories about Solomon and demons, or about Moloch, honestly. Or maybe he had heard the stories but never knew the background, I'm not sure, but I immediately was aware of the background. Scary stuff. But wonderful. I really do enjoy these books. I hope you will, too.Series Information: Dexter Morgan seriesBook 1: Darkly Dreaming Dexter, review linked hereBook 2: Dearly Devoted Dexter, review linked hereBook 3: Dexter in the DarkBook 4: Dexter by DesignBook 5: Dexter is DeliciousBook 6: Double DexterBook 7: Dexter's Final CutDisclosure: I purchased this book for myself. All opinions are my own.Synopsis: In his work as a Miami crime scene investigator, Dexter Morgan is accustomed to seeing evil deeds... particularly because, on occasion, he rather enjoys committing them himself. Guided by his Dark Passenger—the voice inside him that helps stalk his prey—he lives his outwardly normal life adhering to one simple rule: he only kills very bad people.Dexter slides through life undetected, working as a blood spatter analyst for the Miami Police Department, helping his fiancee raise her two adorable (if somewhat... unique) children, and always planning his next jaunt as Dexter the Dark Avenger under the light of the full moon.But everything changes when Dexter is called to a gruesome double homicide. Dex realizes he's dealing with someone a whole lot more sinister than he is and it sends the Dark Passenger into hiding. And when something scares your friendly neighborhood serial killer, you know it's serious...More used to inspiring fear then experiencing it, Dex must investigate, while simultaneously coping with is demanding family. If he's to save himself, and those around him, Dexter must pose questions he's never dared ask—where does evil come from, and does it hide inside everyone...?
—Katy
