Review: Dearly Devoted Dexter (Dexter #2) by Jeff Lindsay

Print Length: 304 pages

Publisher: Vintage Books (July 19, 2005)

From Goodreads.com: Life’s tough for Dexter Morgan. It’s not easy being the world’s only serial killer with a conscience, especially when you work for the Miami police. To avoid suspicion, Dexter’s had to slip deep into his disguise: spending time with his girlfriend and her kids, slowly becoming the world’s first serial killing couch potato.

Then a particularly nasty psychopath starts cutting a trail through Miami — a killer whose twisted techniques leave even Dexter speechless. When his sister Deborah, a tough-as-nails cop, is drawn into the case, it becomes clear that Dexter will have to do come out of hiding and hunt the monster down. Unless, of course, the killer finds him first. . .

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My Rating: 2 stars out of 5

There are several pros and cons to the second installation of the Dexter series. Since I like to end on a positive note whenever possible I will start with the things that I didn't enjoy about this story. 

What the hell happened to the killer from book number one? Given the big reveal and the very anti-climatic way that book ended I had expected there to be at least some mention of him. He killed a police officer. I would have thought at the absolute very least, the rest of the department would be looking for him. But no. It's like he really was just a figment of Dexter's imagination. I also still don't feel like we have gotten to know the characters on a deep level. They still feel like pale imitations of what they could be. And the fact that Dexter allows himself to so neatly be trapped into becoming engaged to Rita? I understand him needing her to appear normal, but how does she not realize on some level that he's faking it? I'm also not sure how I feel about the books revelation about Cody and Astor. I'm having a very hard time with them. 

On the flip side of things, this one was much better paced and just gruesome enough that it held my attention and kept me reading. I know how awful that sounds, but I've been binge reading a lot of historical and contemporary romance as of late, so this was a perfect way to "cleanse the palate" so to speak. 

Two books down. And because I got them all at once, two down, six more to go. Wish me luck! 

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                           Dearly Devoted Dexter is available from Amazon.com