Cultural aspects

The story takes place in Miami, the state of Florida and a lot of places that are described can be found on a map, like South Beach, North Bay Village, names of streets, etc.

"In spite of living in Miami for most of her life, Rita still thought South Beach was glamorous."
"I moved up to 75 and roared past the turn for 79th Street Causeway, around the bend by the Publix Market..."

There are many descriptions of typical nature and scenery that help us to feel the location better.

"Full, fat, reddish moon, the night as light as day, the moonlight flooding down across the land and bringing joy, joy, joy. Bringing the full-throated call of the tropical night, the soft and wild voice of wind, roaring through the hairs on your arm, the hollow wail of starlight, bellow of the moonlight off the water."

And since Miami is a city situated on the Atlantic coast, Dexter likes to sail his boat to drive bad thoughts away.

"I took my boat out that night after work, to get away from Deb's questions and to sort through what I was feeling."


Author mentions many philosophical problems.
The main character reflects on the nature of human feelings and how sincere they are.
"I'm quite sure most people fake an awful lot of everyday human contact. I just fake all of it."


He also thinks about what's better for people who have incurable diseases.
Harry would do what was right, no matter how hard it was. But what did that mean in dying? Was it right to fight and hang on and make the rest of us suffer through the endless death, when death was coming no matter what Harry did? Or was it right to slip away gracefully and without a fuss?"

He also descibes unperfection of the judicial mechanism. 
"And so there it was. Case closed, justice done. It made a wonderfully ironic package; the appearance of danger and the lethal reality, so very different. Was I the only one who could see that Daryll Earl could not possibly be the killer? How many innocent people go to prison because of lack of evidence to defend them?"

USA Today Review

'Dexter' delivers dark, lively thrills 
By Carol Memmot, USA TODAY

If a serial killer could have one good quality, what would it be? How about he kills only evil people?

"Protagonist Dexter describes himself as "above suspicion, beyond reproach and beneath contempt. A neat and polite monster, the boy next door."

That is the premise for Jeff Lindsay's Darkly Dreaming Dexter, a dark and devious debut novel about Dexter Morgan, the serial killer with a heart. A blood-spatter expert and police-lab geek in Miami, Dexter slices and dices bad guys during his time off.

Despite what he does in his spare time, there's something charming about Dexter, who describes himself as "above suspicion, beyond reproach and beneath contempt. A neat and polite monster, the boy next door." And how can you hate him knowing that the people he dispatches to the next life are deprived of their chance to kill innocent people?

Lindsay makes us dote on Dexter and worry how he got to be this way. Something terrible happened when he was a child. His foster father, Harry, a cop, alludes to it, sometimes asking Dexter whether he remembers anything that happened to him when he was 3. Dexter can't remember. Harry knows something the rest of us don't and isn't surprised when he discovers a teenage Dexter has begun killing things.

"I know you're a good kid," Harry tells Dexter. "But what happened to you when you were a little kid shaped you. ... It's going to make you want to kill. And you can't help that." But Harry has advice for Dexter: "Choose what ... or who ... you kill ... There are plenty of people who deserve it, Dex." Harry's words direct Dexter's life. The handsome, smart young man with the "clean, crisp outside" who takes care of his sister, a Miami vice cop, and who was devoted to his foster parents now rids the world of very bad people. His job with the Miami-Dade police gives him access to information about criminals who can feed his need to kill. But when a new serial killer's MO seems uncomfortably similar to Dexter's, he worries that the killer is taunting him or that maybe he's committing the killings and doesn't know it.

Lindsay's tale is daring and unexpectedly comedic. The writing is lively and the plot steps away from the common ground in which many thrillers are rooted. When it comes to light, the tragic incident in Dexter's past rolls over us like a nightmare from which we can't wake up. Darkly Dreaming Dexter occupies its own unique space in the thrill-kill genre. That Lindsay is finishing his second novel means the dark and dashing Dexter will live to dream again.

I agree with the author of this review. The most important thing that makes this book interesting and  distinguishes it from ordinary novels is a good mixture between drama and detective story which has a lot of suitable humour.

The main reason that makes this book so popular is the main character, "a serial killer with a heart". The fact that he is the narrator of the story makes people understand that he isn't so violent every single minute. He wears a mask that is rather hard to keep if you aren't clever enough or if you don't know how to control yourself. He has to consider every little thing he does for his secret not to be revealed. And the tragic incident of his childhood makes readers feel sorry for him and understand his motivation, reveals why he has become what he is now.

Another reason is the problem of fairness of the punishment that modern society has chosen for the criminals that is described in the book. I think this problem can't be solved at all because people are not the ones who should determine the weight of the crime. As the judicial system is imperfect a criminal can always find a way to avoid the punishment through bribes etc. And since almost all the countries (that call themselves civilized) have banned death penalty it seems unfair to people who suffered from the criminals who just got several years of prison for killing their relatives that can't be returned.

Opinion about the story

As I already wrote in the beginning, the book mentions a very urgent problem: the division of people into good and into bad. Should we treat everyone equally because they are all human beings or according to their actions? But another problem that is described by the author is the trauma that can change person's behavior forever. Even an accident in the unconsicious (as most people think of it) childhood can damage one's personality.

On the one hand, Dexter's foster father tried to direct his violence against bad people, to use it for the welfare of the innocent people. But on the other hand he didn't fix the problem, he made it even worse. He allowed Dexter to kill people and the darkness inside him started to evolve. Probably if his father tried to help him forget that scene from his childhood, for example by psychological treatment, Dexter would become an ordinary man and wouldn't have to do the things his Dark Passenger tells him to do.

A summary of a few first chapters

Dexter receives a voicemail message from his sister Deborah, who asks for help with a new case she's working on. She usually uses his deduction when she reaches a deadlock. He arrives at the scene as a blood spatter analyst, but it turns out that there's no blood. The work of the killer seems so neat and professional to him, but what's worse it's so close to Dexter's methods and there's no evidence on the crime scene.

The specialists say that the body was frozen and Dexter thinks that the killer could use a refridgerator truck or something like that to be mobile. So he tells his sister to give an order to look for a suspicious refridgerator truck all over the city.

Meanwhile, Maria LaGuerta, the head of the homicide division thinks that she has found the serial killer. It is a guard of a hockey stadium where a new body was found. And though all the evidence shows that he was set up she closes the case to earn a good reputation.

The next night Dexter wakes up at 3 a.m. He has a foreboding that a new crime is about to happen. He has a suspicion that probably the Dark Passenger, his alternate personality, took over and Dexter himself is the serial killer he's chasing. So he decides to take a ride to drive bad thoughts away, but suddenly he sees a refridgerator truck honking him at the crossing so he decides to follow him. They go over the whole city but suddenly Dexter loses him. The next moment the truck appears out of nowhere and a rearview mirror hits the front glass of Dexter's car. He is so shocked that lets the truck get away though now he knows that it is the killer, as the police finds a new body not far away from that place.

After an interrogation as a witness, Dexter returns home and understands that someone has been there. He can't tell what's wrong but he feels that something has changed. After an hour of looking for something strange Dexter decides to cook something for dinner and finds a Barbie doll's head attached to his fridge. Now Dexter understands - the killer addresses to him personally, he wants to play with him...

A poster featuring main characters of the book

From left to right:

Vince Masuka - a lead forensics at the Miami Metro Police. Works with Dexter in the laboratory and in crime scenes. He is the closest person that can be called Dexter's friend.

Maria LaGuerta - a Lieutenant of the Miami Metro Police. A determined woman, head of the Homicide division. Has feelings to Dexter that often confuses him. Has a bad relationship with Dexter's sister Deborah.

Harry Morgan - Dexter's adoptive father. Was a highly-respected detective. Trained Dexter to direct his violence at criminals not to harm innocent people. Had a relationship with Laura Moser, Dexter's biological mother and police informant. Commited a suicide after he realised what a violent and professional killer he had created.

Angel Batista - a detective of Homicide Division. An honest man with a sense of justice.

James Doakes - a sergeant of Miami Metro Police. He is the only person who can see darkness in Dexter. He thinks that Dexter tries to seem ideal to everyone and suspects that he has a secret life.

Rita Bennett (sitting) - Dexter's girlfriend. Doesn't know anything about his secret "activities". Was introduced to Dexter by his sister Deborah.

Deborah Morgan - Dexter's younger foster sister, daughter of Harry Morgan. Doesn't know anything about her father's secret concerning Dexter. Became a police officer inspired by her father and always wanted to be a good detective like he was.

Dexter Morgan - the main character and the narrator. He is a forensics expert and blood spatter analyst of the Miami Metro Police, but has a secret life of a serial killer. Has a kind of alternate personality that he calls "the Dark Passenger", who makes him kill. A biological son of Laura Moser, who was violently killed when he was a boy. This psychological trauma made him a violent serial killer.

The picture features the main characters of the book. They are standing in front of Dexter's boat, that he often uses in his killings. The arm that protrudes from the boat symbolizes the secret that he is hiding from everyone around him.