DEXTER IS DELICIOUS by Jeff Lindsay

Everything’s changing for our friendly neighbourhood serial killer. As if getting married wasn’t enough to complete his nice-guy persona, Dex is now the proud father of a baby girl.But even if fatherhood is distracting Dexter from his midnight excursions to rid Miami of a few more lowlifes, there’s no let-up at work. Two young girls are missing – and it’s not long before one of the bodies turns up, partially eaten. But as Dexter and Miami PD’s finest investigate, Dex can’t shake the feeling that somebody’s watching him…

At home, there’s no rest for the wicked. His stepchildren are clamouring to learn how to control their bloodlust and Dexter must train up his young apprentices. But to do that, he’ll have to find the missing girl, find out who’s tailing him and survive a dark journey into a underground community who really have a taste for death.

Talk about a fitting title! This is the fifth Dexter book, and if you're wondering if Dexter's ever going to lose his need to kill... this is the book. Or is it? Well, that's how it seems at the beginning.

You see, something strange has happened to Dexter. He's a lot of things--reluctant husband, mentor to his stepchildren, blood spatter specialist, punching bag for his sister--but he's now become something more. After Rita gives birth to their child, he becomes Dex-Daddy. And just like every new father, he can't help but look at his new daughter, Lily Anne, with wonder and awe. A need to protect and love her actually takes such a deep hold of him that he neglects, and even becomes convinced that he can do without, the Dark Passenger.

Of course, that's until he gets caught up in a case with Deborah. A strange case that begins with the apparent kidnapping of a teenage girl, which then evolves into something a lot darker, and quite horrifying. In spite of wanting to stay out of it, Dexter finds himself being dragged from a school campus, to homes, the Everglades, and even into a nightclub called Fang, that seems to cater to a very, very strange crowd. Are they vampires? Maybe. Maybe not.

The deeper they delve into it, the more Dexter starts to realise that he's not the only person in this world who hides and craves some very sick and dark desires. I actually found my stomach turning a few times, because of just how sick all of this turns out to be. I'll just give you one hint: cannibals in Miami.

Oh, and did I mention that Dexter's older brother, Brian, actually makes an appearance in this book? Well, he does, and he can tell what Cody and Astor are as well as Dexter could when he first met them. He also plants himself right in the middle of Dexter's family life, even impressing Rita. Much to Dexter's dismay, because he knows what type of monster his brother is.

Dexter Is Delicious is another excellent installment to this wonderfully dark and morbid series. It takes the reader on another wild and very dangerous ride through some pretty gross and disturbing subject matter that comes to an amazing Dexteresque conclusion. With plenty of surpises. 

I particularly liked that Dexter finds himself in uncomfortable and alien territory--actually feeling, and caring, like a human. Yikes! That definitely makes for some great reading!

Dexter Morgan, you never disappoint. This is another keeper! :)

Dexter is Delicious, September 2010, ISBN 9781409113478, Orion Fiction