Remember when my awesome secret Santa sent me this but made me think I was getting a Nicholas Sparks book?
Best joke anyone has played on me in a while.
And its results were completely delightful because I got to spend 8 hours and 25 minutes of otherwise boring stop-and-go car time enjoying it. Jazz assured me that the plotline of the book was significantly different from that of the TV series (on Showtime…if you’re not watching it or at least renting the DVDs, you are missing out, baby) and that I wouldn’t get the two confused, and she was right.
Dearly Devoted Dexter is the second installment in Jeff Lindsay’s Dexter series, and it begins, of course, with the introduction of a mysterious serial killer whom Dexter wants to catch before his hardworking colleagues at the Miami P.D. (where he works as a blood spatter analyst) have a chance.
(For those unfamiliar: the basic premise of the Dexter series is that Dexter is a serial killer who only kills other killers, justifying his urge to kill with the knowledge that he removes dangerous predators from the streets and never takes an innocent life.)
In this case, the killer has connections to Dexter’s colleague Sergeant Doakes from back in his military days, and he seems to be systematically tracking down a group of individuals he feels have betrayed him very deeply. What he does to them, I won’t tell you….but yowza! It’s a doozy.
This story reminded me that books can be much more gruesome than television because TV series, even on Showtime, are limited in what they can depict onscreen. But books? Books know no limits….which is how I ended up squirming my way through several key scenes of this one and loving every minute of it. Really, there’s no way I can imagine seeing on TV the images I had in my head as I listened to this. It takes a lot to shock me, but this just might do it.
(Now is probably a good time to mention that one must be a little bit twisted and have an appreciation for very dark humor in order to really “get” Dexter.)
I also really enjoyed getting a deeper look at Dexter’s understanding of his condition and his total lack of emotions. The show makes it clear that this is the case, but hearing him ponder it and strategically plan his every move in order to appear normal was very compelling and really appealed to my psychologist background.
Narrator Nick Landrum does a very nice job with the story and the many characters’ voices. I found his rendering of Sergeant Doakes particularly skillful and right in line with the character I know from Showtime. But there’s really no competing with Michael C. Hall’s perfectly dry delivery and fascinating portrayal of this complex character, and I found myself wishing he were narrating the audiobook. I’m used to hearing Dexter’s voice a certain way, and Landrum didn’t quite do it for me. This wouldn’t be a problem, though, if I weren’t familiar with the TV show, and it certainly won’t keep me from recommending Dearly Devoted Dexter to other audiobook fans in search of something different.
Filed under: Book Reviews | Tagged: audio books, dearly devoted dexter, jeff lindsay | 1 Comment »























