Darkly Dreaming Dexter (Recorded Books Unabridged)

by Jeffry P Lindsay

[empressbrooke]

I simply love Showtime's Dexter. If Dexter the TV show were a book, I'd give it 5 stars. I've held off on reading the books that the show is based on for a while, because I didn't want anything to sully my Dexter-love. Was it possible they could favorably compare?

Luckily, Jeff Lindsay's first Dexter novel is pretty damn charming. Like The Princess Bride, the screen version by its very nature ends up missing a lot of the wonderfulness that's hidden in the narration. I loved the constant use of alliteration and the talky sort of stream of consciousness that book-Dexter has going on.

The first season of the show follows Darkly Dreaming Dexter very closely, with some exceptions. Most of the characters get fleshed out quite a bit, since the book's supporting characters are pretty 2D. I'm thrilled with how much they expended Batista's role on the show, because he's one of my favorite characters - it was quite a shock to see how little he was in the book.

The additions and changes the show makes to the plot are only positive. The book's reveal of the Ice Truck Killer and the use of Dexter's dark dreams to find him toe the believability line.

The epilogue of Darkly Dreaming Dexter is sufficiently different enough from the show that I'm pretty hyped up to find out where book 2 takes things. When my library reserve arrives, I think it will likely jump above all the other books in my currently-reading pile.