Product Description

“One of the most likable vigilante serial killers” (The New Yorker) faces his ultimate adversary…an evil so terrifying it scares away Dexter’s inner monster—and nearly dries up his sense of humor—in this wickedly witty, darkly suspenseful novel.

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 reptilian voice inside him), he lives his outwardly normal life adhering to one simple rule: he kills only very bad people. Dexter slides through life undetected, working as a blood spatter analyst for the Miami Police Department, helping his fiancé 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 then everything changes. Dexter is called to a crime scene that seems routine: a gruesome double homicide at the university campus, which Dexter would normally investigate with gusto, before enjoying a savory lunch. And yet this scene feels terribly wrong. Dexter’s Dark Passenger senses something it recognizes, something utterly chilling, and the Passenger—mastermind of Dexter’s homicidal prowess—promptly goes into hiding.

With his Passenger on the run, Dexter is left to face this case all alone—not to mention his demanding sister (Sergeant Deborah), his frantic fiancée (Rita), and the most frightening wedding caterer ever to plan a menu. Equally unsettling, Dexter begins to realize that something very dark and very powerful has its sights set on him. Dexter is left in the dark, but he must summon his sharpest investigative instincts not only to pursue his enemy, but to locate and truly understand his Dark Passenger. To find him, Dexter has to research the questions he’s never dared ask: Who is the Dark Passenger, and where does he come from? It is nothing less than a search for Dexter’s own dark soul…fueled by a steady supply of fresh doughnuts.

Macabre, ironic, and wonderfully entertaining, Dexter in the Dark goes deeper into the psyche of one of the freshest protagonists in recent fiction. Jeff Lindsay’s glorious creativity is on full display in his most accomplished novel yet.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #47014 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-18
• Released on: 2007-09-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In Lindsay's third novel to feature endearing Miami cop and serial killer Dexter Morgan (after 2005's Darkly Devoted Dexter), the Dark Passenger, the voice inside Dexter's head that from time to time drives him to the Theme Park of the Unthinkable, inexplicably disappears while Morgan is investigating a gruesome double murder on the University of Miami campus. The crime scene, at which two co-eds were ritualistically burned and beheaded, gives even the human vivisection–loving vigilante the creeps. As the burned and beheaded body count continues to mount, Morgan realizes that the force behind the killings is something even more evil than his Dark Passenger. Though the macabre wit that powered the first two installments of this delightfully dark series (also a hit on TV's Showtime) is still evident, this third entry takes a decidedly deep introspective turn as Dexter is forced to contemplate not only life without his enigmatic companion but also who—or what—he truly is. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine
Jeff Lindsay has created a fascinating antihero in Dexter, now the star of a popular Showtime television series. Critics were relieved to find that Dexter’s small-screen success has had no effect on Lindsay’s fast-paced plotting, absorbing characters, and delicious black humor. Dexter in the Dark, the third in the series, is longer than its predecessors, which allows Lindsay to delve deeper into Dexter’s psyche. Some critics were pleased, while others felt that Dexter’s longwinded self-analyses detracted from the storyline. According to the Denver Post, "readers who have not yet met Dexter can enjoy reading the latest without starting at the beginning." Returning admirers of this original, offbeat series will be happy to know that a fourth installment is in the works.

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* It's tempting to say the Dexter series keeps getting weirder, but how can a series about a serial killer who works as a blood-splatter expert for the Miami police department get any weirder? In case you've never met him (or watched the television series based on the character), Dexter Morgan, one of the most original and complex protagonists in recent years, is a bright, likable fellow with one flaw: he's a monster. True, he only kills people who deserve it—killers who have escaped justice—but make no mistake, he enjoys what he does, and he does it very well. In this third installment in the series, Dexter is shocked, while working a crime scene, to discover that his Dark Passenger, the evil thing that makes him who he is, has abruptly vanished. Soon after that, and still reeling from the unfamiliar sense of solitude, he learns that he's being stalked by someone more evil than anyone he's encountered in the past. Can Dexter, the psychopath who looks like an ordinary man, survive without his faithful companion? This novel explores new facets of Dexter's multifaceted personality and plumbs new dramatic depths (while never losing the sharp-witted humor that makes the series so perversely enjoyable). For fans of Lindsay's one-of-a-kind creation, it's a must-read. Pitt, David

Customer Reviews

Mitochlorians
Lindsay has managed to do to Dexter what George Lucas did to "The Force" in Phantom Menace: he attempted to "explain" him, and did so using the stupidest, most ridiculous idea possible. Just like the idea of The Force was ruined by "mitochlorians", the Dexter mythos has been utterly wrecked by this book.

Based on everything we've seen in the past two books, Dexter's issues were purely psychological: severe childhood trauma manifested into a disconnect of emotions and an urge to hurt and kill things. That is plausible.

But introducing a supernatural element into this is plain ridiculous. As I read I hoped that Lindsay was simply making Dexter's imagination run a bit wild, but it turns out he wasn't. Turns out our Dearly Disconnected Dexter's Dark Passenger is really the byproduct of some ancient god's magical trickery.

On top of that, the book version of Rita continues to be a screechy, cartoonish character. The TV version of her character along with the children's on-screen portrayals are far, far better than what was written in the books. Thank goodness at least the TV show continues to get better as it goes along.

Avoid this book. It ruins everything you like about Dexter.

Disappointing Departure for Dexter
Dexter in the Dark, the third book in Jeff Lindsay's series about a serial killer with -- if not a conscience, at least a code -- is quite a departure, and not in a good way. There's a lot of supernatural stuff going on in this one, which was largely absent from the first two novels. I agree with the other reviewer who said Dexter's at his best when he's pitted against a normal world -- Dexter himself is weird enough. We don't need ancient gods piled on.

The business with Dexter's stepchildren following in his footsteps is just ugly, and not especially believable. The vast, vast majority of children who survive childhood trauma do not grow up to become sociopaths; what are the odds that Dexter would find himself stepfather to two who do?

The cardinal sin of this novel, though, is that it was kind of boring. I had to force myself to get through it, and that's not something that's ever happened with a Dexter novel before.

Here's hoping Lindsay drops the supernatural mumbo-jumbo and gets back to basics for his next Dexter book.

Dearly Dissapointing Dexter
Jeff Lindsey was definitely on to something when he invented the serial-killer-gone-vigilante in Darkly Dreaming Dexter, an entertaining if not quite polished twist on both the crime-murder mystery and the serial killer tale. But, he hit his stride with the excellent Dearly Devoted Dexter, a pitch-perfect novel of sarcasm and wit with plenty of blood and character development. It's unfortunate then, that he trips over Dexter in the Dark.

As we re-acquaint ourselves with the witty blood-letter, we find him beaten and bemused. Dexter has lost it, all he's got is homicidal step-kids, a $500 a head wedding caterer, a short-fused sister and a dearly dumb-witted fiancé, but no dark passenger.

Dexter spends the entire book castrated, unable to kill or even understand the homicidal impulse. Worse, he sets about training Astor and Cody to be just like him, a disturbing and overly coincidental plot element. In fact, it seems as if Lindsey wrote the entire novel to explain why damaged kids become lurid psychopaths. It doesn't work.

The plot here is as thin as the paper it's written on. The father of all Dark Passengers wants Dexter, the anomaly of serial killers gone. The feint whiff of the supernatural that we got in the first Dexter book is back in force this time and it's a mood killer. Dexter works best when it's him against a normal world, when the world becomes as twisted as him, it all gets foggy, like a bad LSD hit.

Lindsey also stumbles on his use of, count them, four narrations. We have first persons "It" being the thing that makes people kill, these parts are boring, over written and pointless. Then we have Dexter, thankfully for most of the book. There's also a third person narrating "the watcher" at the end of most, but not all chapters, and finally there is one, count it, one part of one chapter with a flat out third person "Lindsey" narration that is completely off tone with everything else. The book would be an amateur read if it wasn't that Lindsey had already established that he can write.

There little to offer here. Dexter mopes around, fails to figure out the crime, gets captured, barely manages to save the children and ends up married, that's all you get in 300 pages. It's decidedly distracting Dexter. The book is, if nothing else, the funniest of the three novels. Dexter may not kill, but his wit is sharper than ever and his observations keen and biting. The third Dexter book pales behind the second season of the Showtime series they spawned, Dexter on the Television is, for now, better than Dexter in print.