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Dexter Down Under
Dexter Down Under #1
It's a new, blood-soaked adventure starring Dexter Morgan, who isn't just Miami's #1 forensic blood splatter expert...he's also a serial killer who targets other serial killers! When Dexter travels down under, he quickly discovers that sharks aren't Australia's only deadly predator!
- GenresComics
23 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 19, 2014
About the author
Jeff Lindsay
84 books4,409 followersJeff Lindsay lives in Florida with his wife, author Hilary Hemingway, daughter of Leicester Hemingway, Ernest Hemingway's brother.
Lindsay is best known for writing the Dexter series of novels. Several of his earlier published works include his wife as a co-author.
Jeff graduated from Middlebury College, Vermont, in 1975, and Celebration Mime Theatre's Clown School the same year. He received a double MFA, in Directing and Playwriting, from Carnegie-Mellon University, and has written 25 produced plays. He has also worked as a musician, singer, comedian, actor, TV host, improv actor, and dishwasher.
Lindsay is best known for writing the Dexter series of novels. Several of his earlier published works include his wife as a co-author.
Jeff graduated from Middlebury College, Vermont, in 1975, and Celebration Mime Theatre's Clown School the same year. He received a double MFA, in Directing and Playwriting, from Carnegie-Mellon University, and has written 25 produced plays. He has also worked as a musician, singer, comedian, actor, TV host, improv actor, and dishwasher.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 10, 2026
WHY I CHOSE THIS BOOK
I chose to read Dexter Down Under #1 because I wanted to read a book that brought back memories of when I was younger. I was looking through my teacher's extraordinary library in her room and I randomly stumbled upon the graphic novel section. Seeing all the books with pictures warmed my heart and reminded me of when my grandparents from England and I would read a British book series called Mr. Men. I started looking through her collection of graphic novels and I saw the name Dexter. I already knew the character Dexter from the chapter books I've read and the show, so I knew that this would be the perfect book for me.
SUMMARY
Dexter Down Under #1 follows Dexter Morgan as he is invited to Australia to help investigate a gut wrenching series of murders connected to human trafficking and illegal immigration. Even though people believe that he is just an expert forensic scientist, he has a secret dark side called the Dark Passenger. Once he is in Australia and examines the crime scene, he realizes that this case is more disturbing than he thought, but he also feels his urge to kill spiking.
In the beginning of the book, Dexter is introduced to his partner in crime Shawna who is extremely determined to get to the bottom of this case. At the crime scene Dexter gets to work right away examining every inch of the bodies for clues. Shawna tells him there's been 19 bodies just like the ones he's looking at and they have no leads. Dexter starts thinking about all the possibilities of why someone would kill all these immigrants, especially Asians. Without wasting anytime he comes to the conclusion that the killer must be insecure. Or in other words threatened by Asians. They begin investigating possible suspects and quickly land on a man named Grigsby. Shawna tells Dexter he hates immigrants and runs a group called CWA, which stands for Citizens For A White Australia. They both believe it's him but unfortunately they have no proof. However, Dexter's Dark Passenger starts to come out and it is illustrated in the book by him seeing an evil aura around bad people.
In the middle of the book, Dexter discovers that all the killings are around Grigsby's properties, which leads him to finding his website. Dexter finds Grigsby has a robot which you can pay for and hunt endangered animals just by the click of a mouse. But Dexter found that very suspicious so he hacks the website and they see that the robot is being used to kill innocent immigrants. Shawna recognizes where the video takes place so they go there to investigate in the hopes of taking him down. When they arrive at his murky building they realize the place was built like a fortress, it clearly doesn't want anyone coming in or out. They disregard any warnings and sneak into the area and as they peep through a window they see an immense amount of people trapped in cages. Just as they think they are in the clear and finally have enough evidence to convict Grigsby he arrives out of nowhere like a bat out of hell and shoots both of them.
When they wake up they are in the middle of nowhere in a smoking hot dessert and Grigsby greets them. He exclaims, “You have a one hour head start” before his killer robot machine kills them. After being on the run for hours Grigsby has other plans. He thinks the robot is taking too long so he sends one of his prisoners after them with a knife. Dexter then springs into action and murders him, almost revealing his true dark side to Shawna. The both realize they will never outrun the robot so they devise a plan. As they're running Dexter suddenly collapses and is presumably seen as dead so Shawna carries on running. Eventually Shawna is cornered and Grigsby attacks her with a knife and we think all hope is lost until Dexter appears out of thin air with Grigsby's shotgun and they take him down. They have him just where they want him and could take him into the police station and have him arrested but Dexter has other plans. Instead he fully lets his Dark Passenger out and murders him with no remorse. They return back to the building with the enslaved people and free them and Dexter's job is finished.
WHAT WORKS
I gave this book a 4 out of 5 stars so obviously I think a lot of things work but my overall favorite part of the book was the art work. Since this was the first time in a while reading a graphic novel, I really enjoyed how the pictures helped enhance the story and just overall made it easier to understand. My favorite part about the pictures is when Dexter would see the dark cloud of evil aura behind bad people or whenever his Dark Passenger was kicking in. It also helped me feel the emotions of the book a lot more than regular chapter books because I could really see what they were feeling. This made the book so much more fun and engaging and really made me want to read more.
Another thing that works well is how relevant the story feels to similar issues happening today. The book focuses on illegal immigration and human trafficking, which are major topics being discussed right now in the real world. I think this just makes the book more relatable and has more of a true meaning instead of Dexter's usual stories that only focus on violence.
Lastly, I liked how different and unique this book was compared to other Dexter pieces of literature I have read. Dexter is usually in Miami dealing with normal serial killers, but in this one he is in Australia dealing with a weird crime. It did not feel repetitive at all and was refreshing to see something different about Dexter than just what he normally does.
WHAT DOESN’T WORK
There are not a lot of issues with this book but the main issue I had with the book is that the main villain is introduced way too quickly. The story reveals the villain after only 16 pages which makes the mystery of who is doing the crimes disappear almost instantly. I feel like the main part of what makes crime and thriller books so good is by dropping clues and making you try to figure out who it is, but this book rushed it and exposed the killer too early .
Another thing I didn't like was Dexter's personality. I thought it was off a little bit from his typical dark funny self. In this book, I thought he was a little more serious and less entertaining. Also some of his inner thoughts and dialogue didn't sound as clever and funny which made him feel almost like a completely different character. I believe Dexter's personality is the reason why he's so popular so seeing it lag a little in this book was disappointing.
The final thing I didn't like about it was the length. Although I did like how quick and entertaining it was to read I thought the story just moved too fast and it didn't give the story enough time to develop. Certain moments felt extremely rushed like the reality of the villain, when they took the villain down, and also when they released all the caged up people. I think if the story was a little longer, maybe 50 pages they could have developed a more meaningful and suspenseful story.
Even with these minor flaws, I still really enjoyed this book and it was one of my favorite Dexter books I've ever read. The graphic novel format, and unique storyline really made it stand out compared to the normal chapter book series. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone and I think anyone should give this book a try.
I chose to read Dexter Down Under #1 because I wanted to read a book that brought back memories of when I was younger. I was looking through my teacher's extraordinary library in her room and I randomly stumbled upon the graphic novel section. Seeing all the books with pictures warmed my heart and reminded me of when my grandparents from England and I would read a British book series called Mr. Men. I started looking through her collection of graphic novels and I saw the name Dexter. I already knew the character Dexter from the chapter books I've read and the show, so I knew that this would be the perfect book for me.
SUMMARY
Dexter Down Under #1 follows Dexter Morgan as he is invited to Australia to help investigate a gut wrenching series of murders connected to human trafficking and illegal immigration. Even though people believe that he is just an expert forensic scientist, he has a secret dark side called the Dark Passenger. Once he is in Australia and examines the crime scene, he realizes that this case is more disturbing than he thought, but he also feels his urge to kill spiking.
In the beginning of the book, Dexter is introduced to his partner in crime Shawna who is extremely determined to get to the bottom of this case. At the crime scene Dexter gets to work right away examining every inch of the bodies for clues. Shawna tells him there's been 19 bodies just like the ones he's looking at and they have no leads. Dexter starts thinking about all the possibilities of why someone would kill all these immigrants, especially Asians. Without wasting anytime he comes to the conclusion that the killer must be insecure. Or in other words threatened by Asians. They begin investigating possible suspects and quickly land on a man named Grigsby. Shawna tells Dexter he hates immigrants and runs a group called CWA, which stands for Citizens For A White Australia. They both believe it's him but unfortunately they have no proof. However, Dexter's Dark Passenger starts to come out and it is illustrated in the book by him seeing an evil aura around bad people.
In the middle of the book, Dexter discovers that all the killings are around Grigsby's properties, which leads him to finding his website. Dexter finds Grigsby has a robot which you can pay for and hunt endangered animals just by the click of a mouse. But Dexter found that very suspicious so he hacks the website and they see that the robot is being used to kill innocent immigrants. Shawna recognizes where the video takes place so they go there to investigate in the hopes of taking him down. When they arrive at his murky building they realize the place was built like a fortress, it clearly doesn't want anyone coming in or out. They disregard any warnings and sneak into the area and as they peep through a window they see an immense amount of people trapped in cages. Just as they think they are in the clear and finally have enough evidence to convict Grigsby he arrives out of nowhere like a bat out of hell and shoots both of them.
When they wake up they are in the middle of nowhere in a smoking hot dessert and Grigsby greets them. He exclaims, “You have a one hour head start” before his killer robot machine kills them. After being on the run for hours Grigsby has other plans. He thinks the robot is taking too long so he sends one of his prisoners after them with a knife. Dexter then springs into action and murders him, almost revealing his true dark side to Shawna. The both realize they will never outrun the robot so they devise a plan. As they're running Dexter suddenly collapses and is presumably seen as dead so Shawna carries on running. Eventually Shawna is cornered and Grigsby attacks her with a knife and we think all hope is lost until Dexter appears out of thin air with Grigsby's shotgun and they take him down. They have him just where they want him and could take him into the police station and have him arrested but Dexter has other plans. Instead he fully lets his Dark Passenger out and murders him with no remorse. They return back to the building with the enslaved people and free them and Dexter's job is finished.
WHAT WORKS
I gave this book a 4 out of 5 stars so obviously I think a lot of things work but my overall favorite part of the book was the art work. Since this was the first time in a while reading a graphic novel, I really enjoyed how the pictures helped enhance the story and just overall made it easier to understand. My favorite part about the pictures is when Dexter would see the dark cloud of evil aura behind bad people or whenever his Dark Passenger was kicking in. It also helped me feel the emotions of the book a lot more than regular chapter books because I could really see what they were feeling. This made the book so much more fun and engaging and really made me want to read more.
Another thing that works well is how relevant the story feels to similar issues happening today. The book focuses on illegal immigration and human trafficking, which are major topics being discussed right now in the real world. I think this just makes the book more relatable and has more of a true meaning instead of Dexter's usual stories that only focus on violence.
Lastly, I liked how different and unique this book was compared to other Dexter pieces of literature I have read. Dexter is usually in Miami dealing with normal serial killers, but in this one he is in Australia dealing with a weird crime. It did not feel repetitive at all and was refreshing to see something different about Dexter than just what he normally does.
WHAT DOESN’T WORK
There are not a lot of issues with this book but the main issue I had with the book is that the main villain is introduced way too quickly. The story reveals the villain after only 16 pages which makes the mystery of who is doing the crimes disappear almost instantly. I feel like the main part of what makes crime and thriller books so good is by dropping clues and making you try to figure out who it is, but this book rushed it and exposed the killer too early .
Another thing I didn't like was Dexter's personality. I thought it was off a little bit from his typical dark funny self. In this book, I thought he was a little more serious and less entertaining. Also some of his inner thoughts and dialogue didn't sound as clever and funny which made him feel almost like a completely different character. I believe Dexter's personality is the reason why he's so popular so seeing it lag a little in this book was disappointing.
The final thing I didn't like about it was the length. Although I did like how quick and entertaining it was to read I thought the story just moved too fast and it didn't give the story enough time to develop. Certain moments felt extremely rushed like the reality of the villain, when they took the villain down, and also when they released all the caged up people. I think if the story was a little longer, maybe 50 pages they could have developed a more meaningful and suspenseful story.
Even with these minor flaws, I still really enjoyed this book and it was one of my favorite Dexter books I've ever read. The graphic novel format, and unique storyline really made it stand out compared to the normal chapter book series. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone and I think anyone should give this book a try.
June 1, 2015
I watched the television show Dexter and I have read most of the books in the Dexter series by Jeff Lindsay, so I thought I would complete my Jeff Lindsay / Dexter marathon by reading these Dexter Down Under comic books. This is a very quick read. It is only 23 pages. This story basically serves as an introduction to the case that Dexter and the Australian police are trying to solve. Nothing is resolved in this one. While reading this, I found myself hearing all of Dexter's parts in Michael C. Hall's (the guy who plays Dexter on the tv show) voice, which was kind of funny. I will definitely be reading the rest of the comics in this series.
January 14, 2026
As an avid Dexter fan, I’ve been meaning to read this for years. It was…fine. It had the essence of Dexter, and the storyline could have been ok, but wow, the dialogue was horrible. It was barely an episode’s worth of material and took about the same amount of time to read. I may or may not read the rest of the series.
September 19, 2014
It was a good read. I'm not really a graphic novel reader. The regular novels are better.
October 9, 2014
Enjoyed the read. I really needed a new Dexter storyline to read since its been a while since the last novel came out and it's been over a year since the show ended. Different but enjoyable.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews