Dexter is Delicious is the latest entry in the Dexter Morgan series by Jeff Lindsay. For those of you who aren’t aware, the first novel in the Dexter series, Darkly Dreaming Dexter, was the basis for the first season of the Showtime series Dexter. But after that the books and TV series had nothing in common except a charming serial killer of killers named Dexter Morgan. And much like the show, the books have been of uneven quality. Book 3, Dexter in the Dark, was bad, while books 2, Dearly Devoted Dexter, and 4, Dexter by Design, were better (but not nearly as good as the first book). So how does book 5 stand up?

For a person who’s made their career on a serial killer, Jeff Lindsay seems devoted to changing Dexter from a deeply disturbed person with a Dark Passenger being a thing of the past. That was one of the main problems with Dexter in the Dark, without Dexter’s dark friend, there is nothing but an empty hull of a person. Where in book 3, the Dark Passenger is scared into silence, in the latest book, he is pushed aside by the new family member, Lilly. Dexter and Rita had a little baby girl and the humanity is seeping into Dexter. He now feels bad about pulling Cody and Astor into the life he led and hopes that the new baby will change them as it did him. But then Brian, Dexter’s brother from book 1, shows up. And for a person with an APB out for him, Brian seemed to be moving around in public without anyone worrying.

The book is a quick read and about average for the Dexter series. I’ve given up hope that Lindsay will be able to create a book as good as the first Dexter (at least not in the Dexter series) and am satisfied with a fun, quick read. In that manner, the book lives up to my expectations. This time around, Lindsay separates Dexter from his Dark Passenger better than he had done previously. But substitutes in Uncle Brian, who takes the kids on a dog hunting trip and uses the villain du jour, vampires, as the bad guys. But not just vampires, cannibal vampires.

Dexter is fleshed out decently and Deborah gets a decent handling. But Cody and Astor are largely ignored and Rita is the loving wife/mother with no real personality. Normally, that would be a problem, but this is Dexter’s world and he’s so damn charming that it works. The book has a couple twists (one easily seen and one slightly silly), the book manages to handle itself decently. But it does leave a few questions about where Dexter and the book series, go from here. Mildly recommended.