Dexter's Final Cut

by Jeff Lindsay
368 pgs  (Dexter series #7)

I didn't know what to expect with this latest installment of the Dexter series by Lindsay, and I'll admit to being a little nervous about what was going to happen at the end of the book. Showtime ended its popular series based on Lindsay's character with the recently concluded seventh season, and when I learned of the title of this forthcoming seventh book I feared the worst--would both the literary and televised versions of Dexter be ending this year? Would there be no more devilishly diabolical Dexter?

In Dexter's Final Cut Dexter is given the chance to put his acting skills to more use than simply acting like a man who possesses human feelings and emotions. While working as a technical advisor on the set of a new crime drama being filmed in Miami, he's been given a small role in the pilot episode being shot. He's also protecting the leading actress, Jackie Forest from a mentally unstable stalker. Jackie confided to Dexter, after multiple women bearing a striking resemblance to her are discovered brutally killed in Miami, that someone had been sending her increasingly frightening and threatening letters recently and she hasn't told anyone about him for fear of becoming too much of a liability in Hollywood to ever be hired again. She needs Dexter to find him and get him into police custody before the industry learns about him. But Dexter doesn't bring killers into custody, he makes sure they'll never be a threat to anyone ever again.

This was definitely not my favorite book in the series. There were parts that were disappointing, first and foremost was Lindsay's decision to give Dexter feelings in this one. Why? Dexter's better being emotionally dead. It's one of the main reasons he's so endearing, but overall, the book was enjoyable and well worth the time to read it. Is this Dexter's swan song? I hate spoilers, so I'll stop here. I will say that I wasn't disappointed with the ending.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆