D-D-Dexter

When I was a teenager, I took this creative writing class. To make the point that a well-written book or story wouldn't necessarily be a commercially successful one, the teacher used the example of a book where the narrator was a serial killer, with whom the reader would be expected to sympathize. Few people would want to read that book, she said, and as a result, no matter how well-written it was, a publisher would be unlikely to pay for it.

This week, I read Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Dearly Devoted Dexter, and Dexter in the Dark, by Jeff Lindsay. These are the original novels that the Showtime series was based on (as opposed to tie-ins written after the series started, like the Monk books from last week). In case you don't know, in both the book and the show, Dexter is a serial killer whose type is...other killers. He also works for the police department as a blood spatter analyst, alongside his foul-mouthed cop sister. Dexter is the viewpoint character and--yes--we the readers are expected to sympathize with him. The show has gone into three seasons, so it seems to be working. One element that definitely helps is that the reader/viewer is shown that Dexter's victims are guilty as sin--but, perhaps even more importantly, the killings themselves are not dwelt on. The approach is similar to that used for sex in mainstream media--there's enough detail that an adult reader or viewer will know what's going on, but not a lot of detail. (The opening credits sequence of Dexter-the-show does, cleverly, make use of the kind of fetishistic detail in which mainstream film often depicts extreme violence--but in the opening sequence, Dexter is getting dressed, shaving, and eating breakfast.)

I came to these books pretty thoroughly spoiled, having both seen (most of) the series, and read some articles about differences between the books and the show. The first season of the show very closely follows the plot of the first novel (Darkly Dreaming). Usually, when you read a book that's been made into a movie, the book is more substantial--to put even a short novel into a film of less than two hours takes quite a bit of trimming, naturally. But to turn a novel of moderate length into an entire season of a TV show (about sixteen hours, I think) requires quite a lot of adding. In the case of Dexter, the TV version uses a lot of its increased scope to flesh out the supporting characters. In the novel, all of the non-Dexter characters are a bit flat--which I suppose is justified, since the narrator (Dexter) is a sociopath. The other two novels have different plots from the second and third seasons of the TV show--although season 2 adapts some elements from the second book. The first two books are pretty good--although the show is, I think, a bit better--but the third absolutely stinks.

I knew that coming in, too--all of the reviews say so--but the library had all three, so what choice did I have, really? In the show, and in the other two books, the Dark Passenger can be read as a metaphor for Dexter's homicidal impulses--Dexter does refer to it as if its a separate entity a few times, but it comes across as a fairly ordinary psychological defense mechanism. In Dexter in the Dark, however, Lindsay decides to make absolutely clear that the Dark Passenger really is a separate entity--in fact, it's the Big Bad, the First Evil, a thingamajig as old as time. In the plot, Dexter and his Dark Passenger go toe-to-toe with another guy who has his own Dark Passenger. All well and good so far, and having the second killer be convinced that he's the vessel of a Dark God is an interesting idea. Even having Dexter consider the possibility that he's right could certainly work. Lindsay's fundamental errors, IMHO, was putting in non-Dexter-Narrated sections, making it 100% clear that the Authorial Voice's unequivocal position was that the Dark Passenger really is a separate thing that's existed since the beginning of time. Because, honestly.

The interesting thing about Dexter as a character is that he's a sympathetic figure who kills people and enjoys it. Taking him out of our real world and putting him in a contemporary fantasy setting undercuts the entire premise.

Dexter in the Dark was written in 2007, so it'll be interesting to see if Lindsay writes another Dexter novel--and if he does, whether he continues with the whole first-evil thing, or pretends it never happens.

I'm a little behind--look for writeups of The Tales of Beedle Bard and Laura Lippman's newest novel shortly.