Slashers and Sociopaths: 7 Compelling Books Like Dexter

From the New York Times-bestselling king of horror Stephen Graham Jones, comes this searing tale of a series of murders, told from the killer’s point of view.

Set in the small town of Lamesa, Texas in the year 1989, this book follows Tolly, an average 17-year-old boy.

Told in the voice of an older Tolly, reflecting on the fateful summer of murders, this is a coming-of-age story that will have readers feeling sympathy and sadness for the main character, again, a serial killer. 

This novel, the inspiration for another hit TV show, asks the question, “What would you do for love?”

When Joe Goldberg first meets Guinevere Beck he is instantly smitten with the smart, beautiful, and cunning woman.

His desire to be with her begins a downward spiral of obsession, stalking, and murder as Joe inserts himself into Beck’s life and positions himself to appear as the perfect man for her. 

In this unusual horror book, teenager John Wayne Cleaver is trying his best not to become a serial killer. John is obsessed with serial killers and helps with the dead bodies at his family’s mortuary.

John knows he is a sociopath and exactly how dangerous he could be, if he gave in to his real desires.

Instead, John follows a strict set of self imposed rules, designed to keep him acting and appearing as a normal person.

But when danger rolls into his town, John might be the only one able to save the people closest to him. 

Ignatius Perrish wakes up one morning, after a night of especially heavy drinking, with a raging hangover, a pounding headache… and a pair of horns growing out of his forehead.

Months earlier, Ig lost everything when his beloved Merrin was raped and murdered.

Although his connected parents were able to keep Ig from being tried for the crime, everyone in his town still believes he did it.

Ig is a man ruined by grief and anger, whose new horns bring new curses that lead him into further darkness.

Archie Sheridan, a Portland police detective, spent 10 years trying to catch a beautiful serial killer named Gretchen Lowell. In the end, it was she who caught him.

Gretchen kidnapped Archie and tortured him for 10 days, before turning herself in for her crimes.

While Gretchen is locked in prison, Archie remains locked in the jail of his mind, addicted to pain pills, unable to move on from those 10 days, and endlessly drawn to Gretchen.

When a new killer starts kidnapping the teenage girls of Portland, Archie finds himself stuck in a deadly game with an overeager reporter, the murderer, and the object of his obsession, Gretchen.

Jack Lago is just another intern in corporate America. He works 80-hour weeks at a powerful Manhattan law firm, brewing coffee, answering phones, and not getting paid.

The only difference is that Jack isn’t trying to climb the corporate ladder. 

At age 25, he’s already the most successful hitman in New York. Hired by an elite assassins-for-hire agency,

Jack must use his invisible status as a low-level intern to gain the information and access to kill his target, one of the high-profile partners of the firm—all while outwitting the sexy FBI agent tasked with taking down the same executive.

This wild ride of a road trip through Florida is filled with a completely untamed mix of murder, drugs, humor, and general wackiness. The protagonist, Serge A. Storms, is an insane Florida history buff and killer. His partner, Coleman, loves cartoons, alcohol, and pretty much every drug.

And Sharon Rhodes, a hot stripper, loves cocaine and using dead men’s money. They are all on a search across the state for a suitcase full of five million dollars of stolen insurance money.