Explore our new BookBrowse Community Forum!

Book Summary and Reviews of Dexter by Design by Jeff Lindsay

Dexter by Design by Jeff Lindsay

Dexter by Design

by Jeff Lindsay

  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Readers' Rating:
  • Published:
  • Sep 2009, 304 pages
  • Rate this book

  • Buy This Book

About this book

Book Summary

After his surprisingly glorious honeymoon in Paris, life is almost normal for Dexter Morgan. Married life seems to agree with him: he’s devoted to his bride, his stomach is full, and his homicidal hobbies are nicely under control. But old habits die hard—and Dexter's work as a blood spatter analyst never fails to offer new temptations that appeal to his offbeat sense of justice…and his Dark Passenger still waits to hunt with him in the moonlight.

The discovery of a corpse (artfully displayed as a sunbather relaxing on a Miami beach chair) naturally piques Dexter’s curiosity and Miami’s finest realize they’ve got a terrifying new serial killer on the loose. And Dexter, of course, is back in business.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"While the darkly witty Lindsay deserves credit for continuing to make imaginative use of his original concept, a contrived resolution disappoints." - Publishers Weekly

"Starred Review. The best of Dexter's four adventures to date, the trademark mixture of amusement and horror complemented by a genuinely suspenseful plot." - Kirkus Reviews

"This will no doubt be another best seller, and with good reason." - Library Journal

This information about Dexter by Design was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Write your own reviewwrite your own review

Cloggie Downunder

murder as art
Dexter by Design is the 4th of the Dexter series by Jeff Lindsay. After his honeymoon in Paris, where a bizarre limb-mutilating art installation had Rita awed and Dexter intrigued, Dexter is back at work in Miami. As Sergeant Debbie drags him along to investigate the suspects linked to four bodies displayed in macabre fashion (maybe like an art installation?), she begins to confront the dilemma of her position as an agent of the law in regard to Dexter’s hobby. But before she can decide to arrest him, she is stabbed by a suspect and ends up in the ICU. Taking justice into his own hands, Dexter strays off the Harry Path with disastrous results. This installment of Dexter involves, amongst other things, an Internal Affairs investigator, an FBI agent, an attempted kidnapping, a rather bloody ending and a tantalising teaser for the next installment. Surprisingly, Dexter teams up with Deb’s boyfriend, Kyle Chutsky, and even gets to eat some Cuban food in Cuba (if only I knew where to get some Cuban food near my home!) Lindsay shows the reader he is skilful with similes: I especially liked “It just seemed wrong, like washing your socks in the baptismal font at church.” Fun plot, clever dialogue: another excellent read.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Author Information

Jeff Lindsay Author Biography

Photo: Hilary Hemingway

Jeff Lindsay is the pen name of American playwright and crime novelist Jeffry P. Freundlich. He is best known for his novels featuring sociopathic vigilante Dexter Morgan, who was also the inspiration for the hit Showtime and CBS series Dexter.

He has written several novels featuring Dexter, some of which include Dexter by Design (2009), Dexter Is Delicious (2010), Double Dexter (2011), Dexter's Final Cut (2013), and Dexter Down Under (2014).

He lives in South Florida with his wife and three daughters.

Link to Jeff Lindsay's Website

Other books by Jeff Lindsay at BookBrowse
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

More Recommendations

Readers Also Browsed . . .

more thrillers...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Our Evenings
    Our Evenings
    by Alan Hollinghurst
    Alan Hollinghurst's novel Our Evenings is the fictional autobiography of Dave Win, a British ...
  • Book Jacket: Graveyard Shift
    Graveyard Shift
    by M. L. Rio
    Following the success of her debut novel, If We Were Villains, M. L. Rio's latest book is the quasi-...
  • Book Jacket: The Sisters K
    The Sisters K
    by Maureen Sun
    The Kim sisters—Minah, Sarah, and Esther—have just learned their father is dying of ...
  • Book Jacket: Linguaphile
    Linguaphile
    by Julie Sedivy
    From an infant's first attempts to connect with the world around them to the final words shared with...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Pony Confidential
    by Christina Lynch

    In this whimsical mystery, a grumpy pony must clear his beloved human's name from a murder accusation.

Who Said...

A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

F the M

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.