LiterariLeigh

How well do you know your neighbor? Your co-worker? Exchanging pleasantries or group grumbling is certainly common enough. Maybe going out bowling or having a drink sometimes. But did you ever notice what people say when they find out the guy next door was a serial killer? "I can't believe it. He was the nicest man!"

Dexter Morgan is that nice guy. In Jeff Lindsay's debut thriller, Darkly Dreaming Dexter, he is a blood spatter expert for the Miami Dade Police Department, well liked by his co-workers, and helpful to his sister Deborah. And he is a serial killer. At times possessed by what he refers to as his "Dark Passenger", Dexter has a gruesome, ritualistic method of dealing out death, but follows a code that only allows him to kill other killers. But he evaluates emotions he knows he should possess, and has a strange sense of humor that allows him not only to pass as normal, but as a pleasantly amiable guy. This is the first book in a series.

If you haven't already seen it, I also recommend the popular Showtime series now on DVD, simply called Dexter. Dark? Yes. Grisly? Yes. Weirdly humorous? Yes.