Horror Books: Dearly Devoted Dexter

“And now it is Dexter’s turn to feel the queasy prickling of eyes on his back, the flutter of fear as I become more certain that something is now hunting me.”

Dexter Morgan is your friendly neighborhood sociopath with two differences, he kills only bad people that the law can’t touch and he genuinely likes children. But he’s not fond of a detective who puts him under surveillance.

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TITLE:

DEARLY DEVOTED DEXTER

WRITER:

by Jeff Lindsay

SERIES:

The Dexter Series #2

GENRE:

Horror Fiction, Thriller.

DESCRIPTORS:

Forensic Scientists, Fiction, Serial Murderers, Serial Murders, Miami, Florida, Vigilantes, Psychological, Suspense,

CHARACTERS

Dexter Morgan, A blood-spatter specialist who moonlights as a serial killer.
Deborah Morgan, Miami vice cop who wants to be a homicide detective.
The Dark Passenger, The need Dexter has to kill — or is it something more?
Harry Morgan, Dexter’s foster father, a cop who formulated the Code of Harry.
Rita, Dexter’s girlfriend who is still recovering from a bad marriage.

SUMMARY:

Dexter Morgan is a serial killer who only kills other murders — bad guys. This is part of The Code of Harry which he follows rigorously. However, he soon finds out that he can’t follow that code or any other code when Sergeant Doakes begins watching him after work hours — or catches up to him when he leaves work early.

“I am not a drinker — really, drinking is not a recommended habit for predators.”

.Under Doakes’ personal surveillance, Dexter can’t kill the second of two people involved in child raping and killing — which soon causes his Dark Passenger to start screaming bloody murder. Since killing Doakes is not an option, Dex burrows deeper into his human disguise — which means he begins showing up at Rita’s place each night and planting a great big kiss good-bye when he leaves, for the detective to see. By happenstance, Rita introduces him to lite beer which helps put his Dark Passenger to sleep for the long haul. But Dexter has to wonder, how long can Sergeant Doakes keep it up?

Fate intervenes when a new monster comes to Miami and opens up shop — and it’s a monster that even offends Dexter’s horrific sensibilities — a serial amputator who leaves his victims alive . . . and hopelessly broken.

And Sergeant Doakes may have a personal tie to the monster.

APPEAL:

Dearly Devoted Dexter is a crime novel with a mystery thrown in and a character study of a sociopath who bends his dark obsessions to killing bad people instead of innocent people. Lindsay walks a difficult line here because as Dex is the narrator and the protagonist, the reader needs to like him — if not identify with him — in order to enjoy the story. Yet by the very definition of sociopath, Dex has no human emotions — he just fakes being human.

“As I have said, I don’t really feel emotions. I can, however, experience fear . . .”

Lindsay solves the problem with humor, acerbic wit, a sense of charm (even if it is just an act) and the Code of Harry which gains our sympathy. After all, he is killing the bad people. I think of it like the Spock phenomenon — millions of women loved Spock even though he is an emotionless, logic driven alien — yet he’s humanized by the humor (usually he fellow shipmates at his expense) and his duty to Starfleet.

Dearly Devoted Dexter is told in first person past tense from Dexter’s point of view — Dexter narrates, much like a private investigator novel. Lindsay lets you in to the mind of his character and constantly reminds you that he is not human — but a monster in human disguise. Dexter is very open and honest about this throughout the story. He talks about the things he does to “fake” being human, including dating an emotionally and psychologically damaged woman named Rita. However, it is her children that he cares about — not her. He discovers the sociopaths’ version of fatherhood in his involvement with Cody and Astor.

Part of the book’s horror is that Lindsay does such a good job of making us like him and yet not denying his monstrousness. When I identify with the monster — and realize that I’m identifying with it — I feel a sense of creepy vertigo. Not as rich as the outright scare but it is fun in its own right.

For the most part the supernatural element was suppressed in this story. It will be interesting to see if Lindsay develops this further.

NOTES:

Showtime has made a television series called Dexter. The first season loosely followed Darkly Dreaming Dexter and the following two seasons took off with their stories growing out of the first season. Although this seems to be the same serial killer we all know and love, his life goes in different — yet interesting — directions from the novel series. Currently available are: Dexter: The Complete First Season, Dexter: The Complete Second Season and Dexter: The Complete Third Season.

READALIKES:

I’ve been wracking my brain to figure out what reads like Dearly Devoted Dexter and I can’t come up with much. However, The Fever Kill by Tom Piccirilli comes reasonably close. Crease is a bent undercover agent who leaves the city and returns home to Hangtree, Vt. He needs to find out what really happened the day his father, then Sheriff, accidentally shot and killed the girl he was supposed to ransom back. It’s told from 1st person and Crease has a similar “superior” attitude towards the townsfolk he encounters. It is, however, heavier on the drama and doesn’t attempt to turn normal sense of morality on its head through the main character’s assessment of the world. Crease is a bent cop and he knows it but he does have a sense of honor — he feels emotion and he has empathy, diminished though it may be.

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Tagged as: Horror Book Summary, Horror Books, Serial Killers