He Only Killed Two: Dearly Devoted Dexter

In the second of Jeff Lindsay's Dexter book, Dearly Devoted Dexter, the poor serial killer never seems to catch a break.  Or a killer.  With Doakes shadowing him and his sister calling on him for help tracking the really icky guy chopping up old grudges, and then his accidental engagement on top of that, there just isn't time to track down the second child killer in his sights.

The plot is flimsy, with Dexter's ability to google up information on secret killer squads in Central America, but the book is short enough that it's easy not to notice, or to complain about a certain repetitiveness in Dexter's impatience.  There are funny reactions from Dexter, some of which he notices and some of which he doesn't, and (for me) the interesting game of watching the wider divergence from the TV show.  For example, the TV likes to keep the same actors around, so there is much less attrition from the main cast.  And the entire Doakes plot changes, with the character whittled down in the books (versus blown up in the show).  Also, his potential step children are much more interesting in the text.  Still fun; I'll probably read the next one in a few months.  B