The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group discussion

Our favorite serial killer!

Does anyone know the order of the Dexter books? I would like to get the book for this season.

Thanks!

Here is the website from the author with the order: http://www.randomhouse.com/doubleday/... . The last one on the page is actually the 1st one (which is almost identical to the first season). The others no so much, a lot of similar items but not like the 1st one.

Have you read the books? Thanks for the link!

I have read the first one, which is very similar to the plot of the first season -there are a few differences-, most of the second one (my kindle restarted on me and lost my place - have never got around to restarting it, but it is on my list for this winter) and I have also finished the 4th one. I started the 4th one after discovering it on a library shelf before I even knew they were books and that it was a series.

All in all the books are good. In some aspects I like the books better than the show and visa versa.

From what I can tell though is that #2,3,4 and 5 are NOTHING like season #2,3,4,5..maybe with a few interrelated elements but not a bunch.

I've read the first two books. I loved the first one, then I started watching the series. When season two started I read the second one. I hate to say it but I really love the way the show took Dexter more than the book. The book was good but not as good as the show I feel. I have the third one now and will be reading it soon. Are you guys into the show at all?

Oh yeah. Waiting on tonite's show.

What happened with the guy who killed Dexter's wife? Did Dexter kill him before he found out about Rita?

Yeah he killed him so he wouldn't hurt his family but he didn't do it in time. I guess you haven't watched the last season. Go back and watch it if you have time. It's really good. I'm glad to see that this season is turning out a little better. I thought it started a little weird but now I'm starting to like it.

So, Dexter's in danger of being exposed once again. How will he evade exposure? Will he kill the private eye guy who's shadowing him? Only if the private eye guy tries to blackmail him instead of going to the cops.

Do you see Deb coming around to Dexter's way of thinking in this case? I get the idea that she'd like to take a crack at these sadistic killers.

Read the first book. Loved it. I've watched seasons 1-3 so far. I've heard other than Darkly Dreaming Dexter, none of the books are like the show. I don't plan on reading the books since the show is so remarkable.

Good Morning Raggedyann
How neat is Dexter I have only read one book Dexter is delicious it was very humoress

This is one of the few series that is better than the books. The first to books in the Dexter series were good, but in the third book the author suddenly changed genre from psychological thriller to dark fantasy. If the books had started out that way i would not have minded.

Be sure to watch the 4th season. That was a really good season. I have read the second book but, for some reason, I really can't remember anything about it. I promised myself that when it goes off the air, I'm gonna read all of the books. The first was great but I have to agree that I liked where the show brought him more than the books.

While Season 1 was very similar to book 1, the rest of the book series seems to go in a completely different direction to the TV show. I love both the books and the show, and I'm glad they are different, makes things a lot more interesting.

I've read all the books, I would recommend the series to anyone that enjoys the TV Show.

I never could manage this series and I know it's me, not the author/book, but as a former police dispatcher and having been married to a cop for years ... I can NOT deal with 'serial killer as cop' thing.

Like some of the really gross serial killer books and some of the very graphic pedophilia, I simply do not see serial killer as good cop as something I can bend my mind around.

Since I read for entertainment, just have to admit I find nothing entertaining about this premise.

Sharon I agree with you completely. I watched and read two and they made me sick. They undermine what our policemen stand for.

I love them for that, but I am a psych/criminalogy nerd! It isn't uncommon to have the good cop go bad (real life and fiction)....a lot of arsons are actually started by fire marshals, firemen etc. A quick google search of "arsons set by firemen" gave me 763,000 results in 19 secs. Everybody has a facade, sometimes the facade is being a cop (we all have facades like how we act differently in front of our in-laws, teachers etc then we might act in front of friends etc)...and technically Dexter isn't a cop, he is a lab guy and in VERY rare cases lab guys have the same duties as a cop. They are mostly there to look at the evidence...yes, they work with the cops but that is about as how far their similarities often are.

BTK (Dennis Rader) who was a serial killer in Kansas, held a few public service positions in Wichita (a lot of which he used to gain access to his victims)...he even received a degree in Criminal Justice from Wichita State.

As a wife of cop, you know that being a cop is a very high stress job...stress can do some crazy stuff to your brain, especially if you have predisposed for such activity. Being "evil" is both a nature and a nurture subject...and just because you hold a "good guy" position doesn't mean you are in fact a good guy because internally something is waiting in the background for that right conditions to cultivate...even if you were raised with good values. So far NOTHING can turn off that switch. I know it is a scary thought to have your good guys not be good, we are trained to trust the authorities but it isn't a far stretch from the truth. Nothing is ever as it seems.

Katrina wrote: "know it is a scary thought to have your good guys not be good, we are trained to trust the authorities but it isn't a far stretch from the truth. Nothing is ever as it seems.

True. But for me, the point is that I read for entertainment, not reality. If I want reality I can turn on the TV and listen to the news.

I'm most definitely not 'entertained' by serial killers, pedophiles, rapists, murderers that are cast as 'good guys'... they aren't as far as I'm concerned. While that may be judgemental on my part and although I realize that in reality there are bad cops, bad firemen, bad doctors, etc. ... I am not entertained by books in which they successfully evade punishment.

It takes an exceptional writer to convince me otherwise ... and in fact I can only think of one who has managed to do that ... Thomas Perry in "Butcher's Boy", where the protagonist is a killer for hire and who escapes.

I tried to write a book that featured the thoughts of serial killer. Very difficult to do. Trying to put your head where a sociopath's is, is incredibly complex. Lindsay has done a great job.

My latest book also features a 'cured' serial killer.

Murderson

Sharon wrote: "Katrina wrote: "know it is a scary thought to have your good guys not be good, we are trained to trust the authorities but it isn't a far stretch from the truth. Nothing is ever as it seems.

True...."

Its kinda sick to think that we are entertained by the idea (which we are kinda but not in a weird way because we do read those types of books) but then again, this is the mystery/thrillers group. The whole genre pretty much has to do with one of those kinds of people...

Dexter is something different because he found a way to satisfy his, how should I say, need to kill by doing it in the that he'd kill the ones who deserved it rather than innocent people. That was what interested me in this book and the TV series.

Mark wrote: "I tried to write a book that featured the thoughts of serial killer. Very difficult to do. Trying to put your head where a sociopath's is, is incredibly complex. Lindsay has done a great job.

My ..."

Try Pluto, Animal Lover!

The show is pretty disturbing actually. Nothing is left to imagination and nothing is ever implied. The show takes a bold approach and shows everything on the screen and the graphic content is very gruesome. It is very popular and of course, I have watched it and liked the story. Doesn't make it any less disturbing though.

I had a hard time getting into this show. I just could not identify with a serial killer even if he is doing a public service. It goes against everything I've always believed about good and evil, right and wrong.

I can respect your view on that with your morals. Not many people now stick to what they believe. And the show is gruesome but I think it does a good job at leaving it to our imagination, it doesn't show everything like some movies like Saw or Hostel which are just gross. This shows blood splatter or stabbings but never full on cut off the head of a living person, although there are decapitations they just don't happen on screen.

The thing that turned me onto this show and book was that he was doing something that the police couldn't. How many times were the criminals let loose because of lack of witnesses or evidence that couldn't be used in court? The police couldn't touch them and they would just be set free. Dexter found those people who are guilty, and he does do his research to be sure, and he stops them from hurting people again.

That is why I liked the show so much.