Synopsis
Dexter Morgan has been under considerable pressure. In trying to avoid the deep suspicions of the dangerous Sergeant Doakes-who believes Dexter is a homicidal maniac (which, of course, he is)-Dexter has had to slip further into his foolproof domestic disguise. While not working as a blood spatter analyst for the Miami Police Department, he now spends nearly all his time with his girlfriend, Rita, and her two children. But how long can Dexter play Kick the Can instead of Slice the Slasher? How long before his Dark Passenger forces him to drop the charade of family life and let his inner monster run free?
In trying times, opportunity knocks. A particularly nasty psychopath is cutting a trail through Miami-a man who "slices and dices and leaves vegetables behind." Dexter's dark appetite is revived, but it's not until his nemesis, Sergeant Doakes, is abducted that Dex can finally throw himself headlong into the search for a new plaything. Unless, of course, his plaything finds...
The New York Times - Marilyn Stasio
I honestly didn't think that Jeff Lindsay could get away with a sequel to Darkly Dreaming Dexter, his flamboyantly offbeat debut novel about a witty homicidal maniac who makes a point of killing only those who deserve it. Dearly Devoted Dexter proves me wrong. No less macabre (indeed, rather more gruesome) than its morbidly funny predecessor, the story provides the unorthodox hero with enough subhuman forms of life to sharpen his skills without compromising his identity as ''a well-designed artificial human.''