By Cynthia Ayala

Someone has seen Dexter doing his Dangerous Delicious hobby and they have learned from him. Now he has made Dexter their prey. Taking another’s identity and haunting Dexter, this man takes his time, taking control of Dexter, following him, planting clues and framing him for murder. Now it’s up to Dexter to hunt him down and turn the tide while simultaneously handling his life as a husband and father and his day job as a blood splatter analysis.

Published on October 18, 2011 by Doubleday. Double Dexter is the sixth novel in the Dexter series by Jeff Lindsey that follows Dexter Morgan, blood splatter analysis by say and serial killer by night, as he kills other monsters like himself and tries to live a normal life.

The strength of the story is in the story itself because the biggest problem of the novel is the dialogue. Most of these character talk in half sentences that make no sense whatsoever. This is not a new technique that the writer employs; Lindsey uses this fragmentation in all of the previous novels of the series. But the problem is that all the characters that do talk like that, like Rita for instance, do it in every single scene they are in, almost as if she is incapable of actually forming real sentences. This is untrue as the previous novels have established her as a frazzled character still rebounding from the abuse of an ex-husband, so in the beginning, it was understandable. It was also not made overtly obvious to the reader. Six books into the series should allow some character growth, She is in a healthy relationship with someone who would never hurt her, there is no reason for her to snivel around anymore, it doesn’t come off as believable and makes her annoying and hard to read. Her linguistics are barely understandable and the one scene when Dexter actually forces her to stop and breath and actually talk is a full sentence that makes sense is a break taking scene because for once, Rita is able to make sense as a character.

Other minor characters talk like that too, but they aren’t important enough to even remember once the page is done. They are the extras that are background noise and allow the plot and the story to move forward.

For the most part the novel is enjoyable. It follows this insanely interesting protagonist who would be the villain under normal circumstances, but instead he’s an enigmatic character who hook the reader in with this charm and narrative. Dexter is the villain you can’t help but to love because he’s not really a villain, he’s a vigilante with dark urges. In a normal world due to those dark urges. Dexter is written in such a clever manner being both charismatic and devious at the same time. He’s such a wonderful character and that alone makes the story worth reading because he’s written so well.

Of course, the story was interesting because it doubled Dexter. Dexter is a man who kills the evil people in the world and someone stumbled onto them and thought “hey, what a great idea”, so he turned into Dexter and made Dexter his prey. It just doesn’t get any better than that. It’s twisted and energizing and the emotions and reflections of the characters emotions leap of the page, drilling themselves into the reader.

There is a moment, about half way through the novel, where it becomes impossible to put down. The audience needs to know what happens next and with a story as strong as that, many of the failings can be looked over.(★★★☆☆ | B)