Series · thriller
Dexter
The Dexter series by Jeff Lindsay has 8 books and is best read in publication order, starting with Darkly Dreaming Dexter (2004).
- Books
- 8 books
- First published
- 2004
- Status
- completed
- Last checked
Start here: Darkly Dreaming Dexter (2004) — then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The order the books were released — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
Darkly Dreaming Dexter
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Darkly Dreaming Dexter - Book 2:
Dearly Devoted Dexter
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Dearly Devoted Dexter - Book 3:
Dexter in the Dark
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Dexter in the Dark - Book 4:
Dexter by Design
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Dexter by Design - Book 5:
Dexter Is Delicious
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Dexter Is Delicious - Book 6:
Double Dexter
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Double Dexter - Book 7:
Dexter's Final Cut
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Dexter's Final Cut - Book 8:
Dexter Is Dead
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Dexter Is Dead
About the Dexter series
Dexter Morgan is a blood-spatter analyst for the Miami-Dade Police Department — cheerful colleague, doting boyfriend, devoted brother. He is also a serial killer. Orphaned in traumatic circumstances and adopted by policeman Harry Morgan, who recognized what the boy would become, Dexter was raised on the "Code of Harry": if the Dark Passenger inside him must kill, it will kill only those who deserve it — the murderers, predators and monsters the justice system misses. Jeff Lindsay's novels are narrated by Dexter himself in one of crime fiction's great comic voices: alliterative, vain, coolly puzzled by human emotion, and very funny about the logistics of being a monster with a day job.
Across eight books, Lindsay tests the Code from every angle. Darkly Dreaming Dexter (2004) pits him against the Ice-Truck Killer, an artist in blood whose work Dexter can't help admiring; later books push into stranger territory than the TV series ever did — a supernatural rival predator in Dexter in the Dark, cannibals in Dexter Is Delicious, a Hollywood production shadowing Miami Metro in Dexter's Final Cut — while Dexter marries Rita, helps raise three children (two of them showing his own dark symptoms), and spars with his suspicious foster sister Deborah. The saga closes definitively with Dexter Is Dead (2015). The first novel inspired Showtime's Dexter, but the books chart their own darker, weirder, wittier course.
How to read this series
Read in publication order — the eight novels form one continuous story, and publication order is story order. Start with Darkly Dreaming Dexter; the fallout of each book (Dexter's marriage, the children, Deborah's knowledge of what he is) carries straight into the next, and the final two books in particular are a connected endgame.
One heads-up for TV viewers: only season 1 of the Showtime series follows the books. From Dearly Devoted Dexter onward the novels tell a completely different story — characters who die in the show live in the books and vice versa, and Dexter in the Dark takes a supernatural swing the show never attempted. Treat the novels as an alternate, more macabre timeline and you'll be fine jumping in even if you know the series ending: Dexter Is Dead concludes the books on its own terms.
Frequently asked questions
How many Dexter books are there?
Eight, from Darkly Dreaming Dexter (2004) to Dexter Is Dead (2015). The series is complete.
What order should I read the Dexter books in?
Publication order, starting with Darkly Dreaming Dexter — the novels form one continuous story ending with Dexter Is Dead.
Are the Dexter books the same as the TV show?
Only the first book. Season 1 adapts Darkly Dreaming Dexter closely, but from book 2 the novels and the show diverge into entirely different storylines and endings.
Do the Dexter books have an ending?
Yes — Jeff Lindsay finished the series definitively with Dexter Is Dead (2015), an ending unrelated to any of the television finales.
Reading order last verified .