Dexter in the Dark (Dexter, #3)

by Jeff Lindsay

Is evil alive...? Dr Jerry Halpern is trying to find out, studying for his PhD on the subject. Dexter Morgan, meanwhile, has a few wicked things of his own to contend with - not least, planning his wedding to Rita to complete his nice-guy disguise. But when a student of Halpern's is found burnt, molested and headless - seemingly sacrificed to an ancient god - and Dex is brought in as forensic analyst to help investigate, he realises he could be dealing with someone a whole lot more sinister than he is. Soon it seems the dark passenger in Dexter's head has gone into hiding. And when something creeps out your friendly neighbourhood serial killer, you know it's serious...As Halpern and Dexter are stalked by death, it looks like it's getting personal - especially as Dex now has a family to protect. Gradually, Dexter realises his stepchildren might share his extra-curricular interest in death. Could he help them target their bloodlust, just as he steers his own? But to do that, Dex must cope with a certain mutilated sergeant from his past, and more importantly...stay alive...

• ISBN10: 0385518331
• ISBN13: 9780385518338
• Publish Date: 18 September 2007 (first published 1 June 2007)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc
• Imprint: Bantam Doubleday Dell
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 302
• Language: English

Reviews

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

Dexter in the Dark is the first of Jeff Lindsay’s “Dexter” series not narrated exclusively in the first-person point of view. Along with Dexter’s first-person narration, the novel also includes third person narrations from two other points of view. One is a person called the Watcher, a member of the cult that follows and observes Dexter. I found Dexter in the Dark a return to form for Lindsay, the feel and the primary case just seems more suited to a Dexter style book, which is nice considering Dearly Devoted Dexter lacked it a bit.

[empressbrooke]

If book-Dexter was running along a slightly different track than TV-Dexter before this, Dexter in the Dark takes as far away as it can possibly get.

TV-Dexter is grounded squarely in reality. A very bloody reality, but reality nonetheless. The first two books in the series hinted a bit at a supernatural element; the first book's dreams, for example, and they way our beloved serial killer referred to his dark side as a separate persona who resided in him. I always figured this was metaphorical, but book 3 makes it clear that this is quite literal. Dexter's Dark Passenger leaves him after being scared off by a darker force that is killing people in Miami. Dexter is left without his murderous intuition, without his bloodthirst, and without his emotionless demeanor.

Now, I've seen a lot of reviews that simply hated this. I was prepared to hate it. I didn't though, for a few reasons. For one, it goes a long way in explaining the dreams from book 1, something I never really bought. If Dexter has this supernatural force living in him, then I can reasonably believe that he'd be receptive to dreams about things that he couldn't know. Secondly, I'm sort of glad to have two very distinct Dexter universes to enjoy. If the show and the books mirrored each other too much, it would start to get boring. Third, it was a serial killer "creation story" that I haven't really encountered before. I'm not jumping up and down over it, but I'm willing to give this idea a try.

Other than the plot, I once again enjoyed the dark humor and Dexter's internal voice. I really wish we'd get more scenes between Dexter and Deborah; since book-Deborah knows about her brother's dark side, it just seems like it's a situation ripe for mining (I just reread my review of the last book, and I see I had used the word 'ripe' then, too. Clearly I A) feel very strongly about this, and B) need a larger vocabulary). I want to see more conversations and interaction between them regarding Dexter's hobby. I feel like Jeff Lindsay has missed an opportunity twice now to really deliver on this. Otherwise, Dexter's getting 4 stars from me.

[ibeforem]

As much as I enjoyed the first two books in this series... I just didn’t like this one. In this third installment, Dexter’s Dark Passenger becomes its own being, and goes AWOL. I preferred thinking of the Dark Passenger as just a voice in Dexter’s head, not some amorphous lizard thing that makes relatively normal people want to kill. It just rubbed me the wrong way. The Dark Passenger’s absence does create some interesting inner conflict for Dexter, but I think Lindsay just went about it the wrong way. What I do like about this book is Dexter’s growing relationship with Cody and Aster, and it’ll be interesting to see where that goes as Cody’s own shadow gets more insistent. This wasn’t bad enough to make me give up the series, but it was disappointing just the same...

[remo]

Tercera entrega de las aventuras de nuestro maníaco psicópata asesino en serie favorito. Las dos primeras entregas de esta serie de novelas fueron comentadas aquí el año pasado: Darkly Dreaming Dexter y Dearly Devoted Dexter. Ambas tienen traducción al español, por lo que es cuestión de tiempo que esta tercera entrega la tenga también.

Para ponerles brevemente en antecedentes, Dexter es un psicópata asesino que siente cada vez que llega la luna llena la necesidad perentoria de matar a alguien. Su padre adoptivo, policía, que vio esta tendencia cuando Dexter era un niño, le enseñó a al menos canalizar sus impulsos asesinos en algo que mereciera la pena. Y desde entonces Dexter se dedica a buscar por su cuenta, cuando sale de su trabajo como analista forense para la policía de Miami, a ciudadanos culpables a los que la justicia “ordinaria” aún no ha conseguido echar el guante. Pederastas, asesinos, violadores impunes son el blanco preferente de Dexter.

Dexter pierde de repente a su “oscuro pasajero”, la voz que le guía, le indica y le anima a dar rienda suelta a sus bajos instintos. Además de bregar con la boda que se le viene encima, deberá resolver un extraño caso de asesinatos rituales y averiguar de una vez cómo recuperar a su otro yo, el asesino, antes de que el oscuro personaje que ha puesto a Dexter en su punto de mira consiga finalmente sus objetivos.

Jeff Lindsay [JL] aprovecha el tirón de las dos primeras entregas para alejarse a veces de la trama y comenzar a divagar sobre las costumbres de los habitantes de Miami, que viendo cómo las pone Dexter a parir suponemos que a JL no le entusiasman. Personalmente, pienso que este libro es algo más flojo que los dos primeros, tal vez porque la sensación de novedad de un carácter como Dexter ha desaparecido, una vez que uno acepta al personaje e incluso se identifica con él. El núcleo de la trama es una ida de olla del autor, que durante toda la novela, a medida que el autor va revelando más detalles, nos negamos a creer. Pero al final resulta que sí. Que se le va la pinza.

Aún así, la lectura es muy recomendable. Los pensamientos de Dexter son sagaces, irónicos, sardónicos, hirientes y muy divertidos. A JL le ha salido un buen personaje. Mi nota: Recomendable.