Dexter's Final Cut: Dexter Morgan (7) (Dexter Series)

Dexter’s Final Cut is the seventh book in the popular Dexter series by American author, Jeff Lindsay. Dexter Morgan, blood spatter expert with the Miami Dade Police Force (and everyone’s favourite serial killer), and his ever-scowling sister, Sergeant Deborah Morgan, are assigned by Captain Matthews in a show of goodwill to assist Big Ticket Network in the making of a TV pilot for a police drama. So the very beautiful and popular actress, Jacqueline Forrest, shadows Sergeant Deborah and Dexter is shadowed by the equally popular Robert Chase. While the real police work is left to the useless Sergeant Anderson, Deb soon finds a way to be involved; Dexter, meanwhile, already unsettled by having his every mannerism aped, is intrigued by the discovery of a mutilated corpse in a dumpster, a murder that rouses his own Dark Passenger. This is a welcome distraction from Dexter’s home life: a parent /teacher conference, weekends spent painting the new house and packing up the old one, while Astor and Rita continuously snipe at each other. Filled with black humour and dry wit, this instalment also features a stalker, fire ants, a paedophile, the shock death of a main character, some wonderfully inventive insults and the usual cleverly descriptive commentaries on Miami traffic: “…the steady lines of cars were squeezing together, coagulating in loud, angry knots and beginning to form a motionless scab on the highways” as just one example. Dexter abandons his usual occupation to become a body guard and a bit part actor, then departs even further from his usual practice to make a daylight kill. Rita maintains her usual unfinished sentences; Cody maintains his usual silence (and is noticeably absent from the final scenes); Deborah maintains her usual crankiness and foul language; only Dexter behaves in an uncharacteristic manner, becoming dazzled by an actress, tempted by a life of luxury and remaining totally oblivious to blindingly obvious clues. While Lindsay’s writing style always ensures an entertaining read, not all readers will be pleased with the cliff-hanger ending.