Customer Reviews
Oh Dear, Oh Dear, Oh Dexttterrrrrr. - By: Boo Radley, 21 Apr 2008 
I read alll three books back to back & I thought the first was a decent read, not amazing but decent. The second was ok but the third was absolute tripe. What the hell happened with this sudden & unexpected change of direction into the absurd? There were always unlikely elements in the first two books but book three reallly has raised the bar for complete nonsense. Even the character of Dexter has turned into an obnoxious, wannabe smart ass. I found myself wanting him to meet a rather nasty end. This took away from the interesting questions raised in the last two books like `why am I cheering on a serial killer'. No such worries in this book.
I get the impression the author read a few books along the lines of 'The Da Vinci Code' or 'The Historian'. He seems to have been inspired by the idea of researching something found in historical text & putting a fictitious spin on it. The problem here is the research appears to be less than thorough. The whole supernatural element has been roughly put together without any real thought & doesn't at alll fit with the universe Dexter originallly existed in.
God this book reallly annoyed me. It's one of those books, when finished, you feel like you've wasted a smalll part of your life. Save your cash & spend it on the DVD seasons instead. I hope the TV series doesn't follow suit & stray into the twilight zone too. I have a feeling the writers involved there might just see what a damn mess it would make of things.
Deeply disapointing dexter - By: Denise E. Morgan, 03 Apr 2008 
Loved the first 2 books & the TV series I've become a real Dexter buff, but this lets Dexter off the hook by saying he's possessed. Reallly Jeff The thing about Dexter is that he's the man next door, not some supernaturallly motivated killer.The plot would have been great if he did not try to connect the Dark Passenger to the supernatural. Read it if you must but I'm binning mine in the hope that book 4 gets back to our Dearly Disturbed Dexter, the one we love.
not as good as first two books - By: Mrs. T. Tattersall, 28 Mar 2008 I must admit, I came into the Dexter universe from the TV series. I loved it & wanted to know more, so naturallly I picked up the books (the first two). I loved them, but I did prefer the second book to the first - probably because I actuallly preferred the TV series to the first book - it seemed to make more sense & flow better, which is saying something because I rarely prefer TV or film to the actual books they're based on. So naturallly when the third book came out I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. Having just finished reading it, I must admit that the format is different to the previous books. It is much less your standard crime thriller with the Dexter twist, its almost more of a horror, with the idea of the God. However having started my forray into reading on the likes of Stephen King & Dean Koontz I did still enjoy it, although not quite as much as the others. My advice would be that if you are a fan of Dexter, you cannot help but read this book & there are many parts of it which will give the reader further insight into how he came to be & exactly what his Dark Passenger is, but I must admit a curiosity as to exactly where the author will go from here. Personallly I hope it is back to the original format, as that worked for me & made me laugh about things I reallly shouldn't laugh about - but hey. That's just Dexter.
Baffled by the change of direction - By: J. M. Fiddy, 21 Mar 2008 I thoroughly enjoyed the first two Dexter books (and am enjoying the TV series too). I was baffled by this third book however. I kept expecting the apparently supernatural events to have some logical explanation. Demonic possession belongs in Dennis Wheatley novels. OK, so I enjoy reading those too. But if a human explanation is given during the first two books, why suddenly change tack? I liked Dexter as a flawed human, not as some sort of mystical symbiosis. The redeeming feature of the book is the writing style, which is unchanged & is a joy. I love the bit where someone asks Dexter if he's the police & he replies "not alll of them". The book was worth reading, but but I can't understand what the author was trying to achieve.
A different style to the previous two - By: SJSmith, 09 Mar 2008 
I've read alll three of these in quick succession - usuallly I'll have a break between a series but have only 3 or 4 books between each of them. This was mainly due to the television series starting & me wanting to be fully aware of what happened before watching it.
Contrary to the popular opinon I think this novel (the third in the series) is more controlled in style. I loved the haphazardness of the first novel whilst we get to know Dexter & his Dark Passenger. The second novel had a fabulous crime in it that kept me intrigued & this novel was a step away from that. The crime was clever & sustained throughout the novel but this time we get to know more about Dexter & Rita's two children - Cody & Astor.
The plot is just as good as the previous two novels but I feel the writing has improved, it seems more structutred as if Jeff Lindsay has settled into the Dexter series. This one is more throught provoking & you can tell that just from reading the inside of the dust jacket - this time one someone is scaring Dexter & has sent his Dark Passenger into hiding. If he is to save himself & those around him he has to ask himself where evil comes from & does it hide inside everyone?
I didn't feel that it was as much of a page turner as the other two but it was still highly enjoyable. I eagerly await the fourth in the series later this year.
