The language of the first page of this hauled me up, but I persevered and was soon in territory I recognized from the excellent TV series. I was a bit dubious about the somewhat camp depiction of Dexter and the emphasis on his 'Dark Passenger' which only kicked in in the TV series when he was pretending to have a drugs habit, both as an alibi with Rita and a way to put Doakes off the scent. I really enjoyed the first two books of this, noting the differences and being quite happy with them - there were quite simply things that happened in this only suitable an X classification and would have cut down on the success of the TV series. The last book I hated. Lindsay took Dexter's 'Dark Passenger' into supernatural territory, Dexter himself became a soppy ineffectual mess, and I felt it was wrong wrong wrong.
Thing is, whilst there were a couple of really enjoyable books here, and the idea of Dexter is all down to Lindsay, I find the TV series a lot better. I think that the TV version nailed the essence of it, of Dexter, which was in the first two books, and definitely not in the last one. You may think it odd me feeling that straying into fantastical territory was the wrong thing to do here, if you do, then go read my post about UFOs again.
5 comments:
yeah, when i was introduced to the books, the friend that did the introducing told me "watch the TV series season one first. it's better."
he was right. actually, the same guy that turned me onto gridlinked. ;p
I read the first book and quite enjoyed it before watching the series. I have to say that I find Debs incredibly annoying in the series but other wise probably like that better.
ah! yes! the actress playing deb i want to punch every time she's on screen.
I loved the first and second series, 3rd, Meh. 4th outstanding. Great ensemble pieces, great music and mood. Never boring.
I've followed this because I loved Michael C Hall's acting in 6 Feet Under. And finally we get to cheer a serial killer. That must really piss off some of the religious nuts in the US.
I agree with the book/series divide, I came across th series by accident, then read the books after season 2. Didin't like the descent into supernaturalism after watching the TV shows, but was reminded that this way of writing works very well for John Connolly. Maybe difficult to tuen into TV or film though.
No problem with Deb here.
Having read statements like yours about the "supernatural territory" of the third book was the main reason I stayed away from the books. I know if I start them and like them, then no way will I stop before reading the third. And I don't want to ruin dexter for me yet.
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