Dexter's On His Way

Oh, frabjous day! I just checked Amazon and found that Jeff Lindsay's next book is being released on September 18th.

Last October, I did a post here on Jeff's first book, Darkly Dreaming Dexter. Tip: I strongly suggest you read that post before running out to buy the book. It's not for everyone.

Miss Snark loved that first book. Because of her repeated recommendation, I picked it up in a bookstore. I also put it down again. The cutesy title, the overdone alliteration and Dexter's habit of talking about himself in the third person were all too much for me.

It was only when the series (if you can call two books a series) debuted on cable that I finally made a serious effort to read Lindsay's first book. And I was hooked (not immediately--it took me all the way to page 15 to get hooked). The black humor was right up my alley (I also love Quentin Tarantino's films). I checked the second book out of my library within days of reading the first.

Here's the Amazon book description of the upcoming book Dexter in the Dark :

“One of the most likable vigilante serial killers” (The New Yorker) faces his ultimate adversary…an evil so terrifying it scares away Dexter’s inner monster—and nearly dries up his sense of humor—in this wickedly witty, darkly suspenseful novel.

In his work as a Miami crime scene investigator, Dexter Morgan is accustomed to seeing evil deeds…particularly because, on occasion, he rather enjoys committing them himself. Guided by his Dark Passenger (the reptilian voice inside him), he lives his outwardly normal life adhering to one simple rule: he kills only very bad people. Dexter slides through life undetected, working as a blood spatter analyst for the Miami Police Department, helping his fiancé raise her two adorable (if somewhat…unique) children, and always planning his next jaunt as Dexter the Dark Avenger under the light of the full moon.

But then everything changes. Dexter is called to a crime scene that seems routine: a gruesome double homicide at the university campus, which Dexter would normally investigate with gusto, before enjoying a savory lunch. And yet this scene feels terribly wrong. Dexter’s Dark Passenger senses something it recognizes, something utterly chilling, and the Passenger—mastermind of Dexter’s homicidal prowess—promptly goes into hiding.

With his Passenger on the run, Dexter is left to face this case all alone—not to mention his demanding sister (Sergeant Deborah), his frantic fiancée (Rita), and the most frightening wedding caterer ever to plan a menu. Equally unsettling, Dexter begins to realize that something very dark and very powerful has its sights set on him. Dexter is left in the dark, but he must summon his sharpest investigative instincts not only to pursue his enemy, but to locate and truly understand his Dark Passenger. To find him, Dexter has to research the questions he’s never dared ask: Who is the Dark Passenger, and where does he come from? It is nothing less than a search for Dexter’s own dark soul…fueled by a steady supply of fresh doughnuts.

Macabre, ironic, and wonderfully entertaining, Dexter in the Dark goes deeper into the psyche of one of the freshest protagonists in recent fiction. Jeff Lindsay’s glorious creativity is on full display in his most accomplished novel yet.

I can't wait.