Double Dexter

I always seem to forget that Dexter of the novels and Dexter of the television exist in two separate universes, universes in which Deb is either privy to Dexter's hobby or ignorant of it, universes in which Doakes is dead or alive, universes in which Rita is dead or alive... There's a lot of Schrodinger-ing that goes on for me before I open a book or start a new season...

This book felt like a return to the delicious form of the first of Lindsay's Dexter stories, but perhaps it is just because I have been so long without Dexter of the television that I was more forgiving of the failures of the storytelling to begin with. However, as the tale of the shadow wore on, I found myself so bored - exposition for ages, and then ten pages of brick throwing! child snatching! boat jumping! shark attacking! sneaky escape! Phew. Not enough tension for the short and conclusive burst of intensity that we finished on.

Darling Dexter has lost his Dastardly Charm in his old age, and his inability to move beyond his inanities(he's obsessed with how he has lost his edge - YES WE SEE THAT, TOO!) and failure to fight having fallen into the married life mask he tried so carefully to create.