Humor doesn't get any more dark or grotesque than in this sequel to DARKLY DREAMING DEXTER, the second in a series starring Dexter Morgan, an extremely intelligent and well-mannered psychopath who works by day as a blood-spatter analyst for the Miami Police Department...and by night as a serial killer who only targets other serial killers. Not long after the novel opens, Dexter is forced to halt his nocturnal predations to avoid alerting the suspicious Sergeant Doakes, who has taken to following Dexter everywhere. Feeling frustrated, Dexter redirects his energies toward behaving aggressively normally--including becoming increasingly romantic with his girlfriend, Rita--and the pursuit of a brutal and highly gifted (in Dexter's expert opinion, anyway) Salvadorean torturer seeking revenge in Miami.