Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

Adopted at the age of four after an unnamed tragedy left him orphaned, Dexter's learned, with help from his pragmatic policeman father, to channel his "gift", killing only those who deal in death themselves. But when a new serial killer starts working in Miami, staging elaborately grisly scenes that are, to Dexter, an obvious attempt at communication from one monster to another, the eponymous protagonist finds himself at a loss. Should he help his policewoman sister Deborah earn a promotion to the Homicide desk by finding the fiend? Or should he locate this new killer himself, so he can express his admiration for the other's "art"? Or is it possible that psycho Dexter himself, admittedly not the most balanced of fellows, is finally going completely insane and committing these messy crimes himself?

Despite his penchant for vivisection, it's hard not to like Dexter as his coldly logical personality struggles to emulate emotions he doesn't feel and to keep up his appearance as a caring, unremarkable human being. Debut author Jeff Lindsay's plot is tense and absorbing, but it's the voice of Dexter and his reactions to the other characters that make this one of the most original and highly recommended serial killer stories in a very long time. --Benjamin Reese, Amazon.com

Average Customer Rating:

couldn't put down	Customer Rating:
I loved this book and having read it felt compelled to buy the other two... my other half is not a reader but boy did he read this in record time... can't wait for book 4 next year! Dark humor at its best! TV serious is pretty darn good too...

Dexter a neat monster

Customer Rating:

Okay I admit i got this because of the tv series and I wish people would stop trying to say one is better than the other BOTH are great verisons of Dexter. Dexter is a great read and you wont be able to put it down it is very dark grity and at the same time filled to the brim with dark comady. I would say that even like me you watch the tv show first that there is other things in this that make it well worth the read. I hope that the fact it has had bad reviews wont put you off because you will be missing out. ----Alex Gradwel/Venomthevil----

Loved the TV Show	Customer Rating:
... Books are even better. Simple as that. If You enjoyed the show the books are the icing on the cake. Ok technically the other way round, but I went from the shows to the books. Well worth it.

Wow!	Customer Rating:
I read this book after I saw the TV show, and the programme is almost exactly based on this book (except the ending!). I think it is a true testiment to a brilliant novel for TV producers to not have to change a thing (except the ending!).

Laborious yet entertaining

Customer Rating:

As a story and an idea this is a book that leaves many others trailing in its wake. However, where other books catch up and surpass this one is through the writing itself. A serial killer with a difference is a novel and original idea yet a difficult one also as there are many roads to be chosen and much to explain. This story moves at varying paces throughout and often leaves a lot of confusion and questioning. Scenes of suspense often take too long to be acted out yet scenes of monotonous unimportance take quite the opposite. Character interaction is below par, even for Dexter himself, who of course needs little and many possible avenues of investigation go overlooked. From this I would also say that the book itself is far too short and would be much better placed as a longer novel. Despite this it cannot be denied that the story as a whole is a good read and if you have the time it is a book which should be tried by everyone.