Dexter by Design by Jeff Lindsay

After a brief and mostly idyllic (except for some gruesome performance art) honeymoon in Paris, Dexter has returned to Miami as a devoted husband and family man. He's even getting involved with Rita's kids as he signs Cody up for cub scouts and takes him to his first meeting.

He returns to work just in time for a string of gruesome new murders: four people who are eviscerated, filled with weird stuff (fruit and sunscreen, among other things), and artfully arranged. When it causes a media storm, a reluctant Deb asks Dexter to please help her out with the investigation. His own experiences (and the Dark Passenger) tell Dexter that this isn't an ordinary serial killer, but someone who seems to have a strange grudge against the tourist trade of Miami. It just doesn't feel like a serial killer, but where did these bodies come from? Deborah looks into the Miami Tourist commission to see who might have a grudge and surprisingly there are several.

So Deborah and Dexter go investigating together, looking into the list given to them by the Miami Tourist commission. But then things get personal for Dexter when Deb is viciously stabbed, and while Dexter saves her and captures the attacker it looks like they can't prove it. After his relief Dexter decides to take things into his own hands and silently kills him in the night. He knows something is wrong when the man whispers "Smile" as his last word and his dark passenger is whispering to him. He quickly discovers that he because he got the wrong guy! An email shows up in his inbox with a link to Utube (we know that can't be good) and it isn't as there is a video of Dexter killing him!

The other man starts making it personal when Dexter takes Cody to his next cub scout meeting and there is the den master dead on display like the previous 4 bodies. Dexter ends up on a race against time to keep Rita and the kids from being the next round of victims. But Astrid and Cody can hold there own as they defend themselves and Rita from a kidnapping and are instrumental in helping Dexter in the end. There is a kind of surprise cliff-hanger at the end.

I eagerly awaited the latest addition of Dexter, hoping it wouldn't be like the 3rd in the series which was really a disappointment. So I was very happy to read and say "Dexter is back!". The author, Jeff Lindsay, has such a way of writing with dry humor and somehow makes you cheer for someone who would be labeled a sociopath and is a serial killer. But I really can't help it as this character is so conscious of this and still tries to live a normal life. When I read about or see on TV these horrible people who do horrible things I wish there was a Dexter in real life. If that makes me a terrible person, than so be it. I have seen a couple of episodes of the show on Showtime so maybe since this is in print it isn't a graphic to me. But I do appreciate how Lindsay, shows the struggle Dexter goes through to find his place. I think we all have that struggle with finding the appropriate way to show our emotions and react.