Over the years, I’ve become a fan of America’s favorite serial killer, Dexter Morgan (although I’ve only seen season 1 of the show). I’ve enjoyed all the books (except Dexter in the Dark, that one sucked). So, I was very excited for the newest book in the series, Double Dexter (Lindsay does love his alliteration). It was a perfectly cromulent book, fast-moving, easy to read and fun (as much fun as a serial killer can be). But I did have a couple issues with the story. So, let’s see who Dexter’s Double is.

Dexter is relaxing in his favorite pastime, hunting and slowly murdering a child rapist, when something strange happens. Someone sees him and escapes before Dexter can react. Dexter than starts worrying about this being the end of him. But, as the days go by, nothing seems to happen (except for seeing the stranger drive away off the freeway) and Dexter has a case at work to deal with. Two policemen are killed by a serial killer in a very nasty way. They are kept alive while every bone in their body is systematically broken by a hammer. Deborah is assigned the case.

With little help from Dexter, Deborah solves the case and becomes a national celebrity (until the next big story breaks). But when another policewoman is killed in a similar manner, Deborah is seen as having messed up the case. And when the policewoman is found to have 100s of pictures of Dexter around her house, Dexter becomes a “person of interest” and has an old enemy (Doakes) following him around. Doakes following him puts a crimp into Dexter’s hunting of the person who saw him. And he starts realizing that the person who saw him might be becoming a serial killer of his own. And Rita has decided that with their growing family, they need a new house, finances be damned. The policewoman’s pictures and Dexter’s night-time missions make Rita start to get jealous which could dampen Dexter’s devious hunting for a long time.

Let’s start with the problems. The two problems I had with this book are first with the bad guy spilling his complete story on his random blog. It’s not difficult to figure out from a blog who the author is and where they live (especially if, you’re I don’t know, a police officer). Second, Dexter has Brian join in some of the fun, but a mistake is made. At no point does the Law of Harry come into Dexter’s mind. That was the first thing I thought of, but the plot twist seemed to exist solely for the plot and Law of Harry contradiction be damned.

Having said that, it was still an entertaining story and I loved reading it. I’ll probably line up again to read the next Dexter book because he’s such as good character and Lindsay has done a great job creating the world around him. The plot is almost secondary to Dexter, since we know he’s going to thrive no matter what. And Lindsay has done a great job expanding the Dexter universe without losing focus on what’s important: a charming serial killer who tries to fit into society. Recommended.