As his colleague Sergeant Doakes grows suspicious, Dexter is forced to lie low, slipping deep into domestic bliss. He says all the right things to his girfriend and plays Kick the Can with her two children, but Dexter can only hide his true self for so long. The fiend inside him is calling out, ready to be unleashed. When a new psychopath begins slashing his way through Miami, the temptation becomes too much to bear.

Is evil alive...? Dr Jerry Halpern is trying to find out, studying for his PhD on the subject. Dexter Morgan, meanwhile, has a few wicked things of his own to contend with--not least, planning his wedding to Rita to complete his nice-guy disguise. But when a student of Halpern's is found burnt, molested and headless--seemingly sacrificed to an ancient god--and Dex is brought in as forensic analyst to help investigate, he realises he could be dealing...