After seven books and a Showtime spinoff, Jeff Lindsay bids a fitting farewell to his beloved antihero, the witty, food-obsessed forensic blood spatter analyst and sociopathic vigilante, Dexter Morgan. While this last novel is less a nail-biter than a tidying of loose ends (the whodunit being solved midway through), it nevertheless provides fans with thought-provoking and interesting closure on a pop culture icon.
Dexter sits in solitary confinement, having been caught for a gruesome murder that he, ironically, did not commit. His actress-lover and ex-wife are both dead, and his stepdaughter is the victim of a pedophile actor, the true murderer. His coworkers on the force, including his sister Deborah, have turned against him; only fellow forensic analyst Vince Masuoka believes in his innocence. Coming to Dexter's rescue is his presumed dead brother, who hires a high-powered attorney with stolen drug money to defend Dexter against charges brought by crooked Detective Anderson. What follows is an entertaining and sinister cat-and-mouse game among pursuing drug lords, Detective Anderson and the Morgan brothers' killer instincts.
"The point was not to win; you never did," muses Dexter. "Nobody can win a game that ends with everybody dying--always, without exception. No, the real point was to fight back and enjoy the combat."
Like his protagonist's, Lindsay's final adieu isn't an emotional reveal that will leave fans wanting. Rather, the literary jousting stops only when Dexter's final thought has been punctuated with a blood bath worthy of the big screen. --Nancy Powell, freelance writer and technical consultant