Darkly Dreaming Dexter (the book)

Cafe Society
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Obviously, if you haven’t read the book, there will be spoilers; I’ll try to spoilerbox anything really major.

I watched and greatly enjoyed the first season of Dexter on Showtime, and finally got around to getting the book Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay. I enjoyed the book, though not as much as the series. Some of the story elements from the series seem like they might be part of the second Dexter book, Dearly Devoted Dexter or possibly even the third book, Dexter in the Dark, although I can’t say for sure, as I haven’t read them. My reasons for thinking this:

For one thing, Paul is nowhere to be found and the Rita storyline is almost a non-factor. Also, Deb doesn’t have any dating life in this book, with or without serial killers.

Some of the characterizations are much different, and characters like Angel and LaGuerta are much more developed in the Showtime series, This is partly because the books are narrated entirely from Dexter’s point of view, so there are no scenes of Angel and his ex or political battles between Captain Matthews and LaGuerta. In the series, LaGuerta is portrayed as a tough but compassionate cop who is maybe a bit too headstrong at times; in the book, she’s an incompetent bungler who couldn’t solve a crime to save her life. LaGuerta also doesn’t survive the first book, being killed by Brian. Doakes is constantly creeped out by Dexter (much like the series) though there are no physical confrontations between them and Dexter senses that Doakes has his own “Dark Passenger” hidden beneath the surface. There is no “Rudy” persona for Brian; he doesn’t appear until the final showdown and reveal. Makes me wonder if Deb does end up dating the bad guy in the second book…

The final showdown is handled much differently as well; While the series ends with an almost poetic dispatching of Brian by Dexter and has Deb under the impression that Dexter saved her life, snapping awake at the very moment that Dexter stops Brian from stabbing her, in the book Dexter finds Deb strapped down and Brian’s there and very nearly convinces Dexter to kill Deb. Dexter ends up struggling mightily between his attachment to Deb and his desire to kill, and he very nearly does stab her, and she’s awake the entire time. She actually has to talk him out of killing her, and in the end it’s only Harry’s words, “choose what or who you kill” that snap him out of it. Brian ends up killing LaGuerta and then escaping. Not nearly as satisfying or plausible as the series, IMO.
Dexter has far fewer kills in the book, as well, though it’s made much clearer that Dexter really is a monster, that it’s only Harry’s code that keeps him from killing at random and without regret.

Overall, I’d rate the Showtime series 8 or 9 and the book (the first book anyway) a 6. Enjoyable, but not up to the level of the series, in other words.

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I too enjoyed the Showtime series more than the books. You are correct that some of the things that have happened in the series are foreshadowing or conflating things that take place in the second book.

I don’t know what to hope for in the second season of Dexter…I didn’t much care for the story arc of the second book.

The end of season 1 with Doakes staking out Dexter is definitely a set up for the story arc of the second book, where Dex ends up spending way too much time with Rita to try to bore Doakes into leaving him alone so that Dexter can go out and play.

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Also, the books dwell far more on Dexter’s inner Dark Passenger; the thing that goads and nags him to kill and that he fights against in some ways to make sure that his kills are “clean”–the Dark Passenger doesn’t seem to care to much if Dex gets in trouble.

The books also do a much better job of explaining why Harry feels compelled to instill the code in Dexter and the importance of fitting in.

I’ve noticed several people in other threads don’t think that Dexter is a sociopath based on the show. The books do a better job of showing that he is just going through the motions of what he thinks people do and that he rarely understands why people act the way they act. The books also offer the possiblity that the more Dex “acts” like a “normal” person, the more he seems to “feel”.

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(emphasis mine)

As one of the people you are referring to, I wanted to say:

I don’t doubt that Dexter has little understanding of “human nature” (for lack of a better term), but that’s not “real” sociopathy.

IIRC, true sociopaths are inherently incapable of “feeling” towards other people. If Dexter’s “acting” leads to him “feeling”, then it’s not an irrevocable part of his nature; it’s just a broken part of him that is healing through living Harry’s Code.
In my opinion, a true sociopath would just go through the motions in order to protect themselves (which is what Dexter claims to be doing), but not go out of their way more than is necessary to serve their own interests.
Dexter oftenengages with other people more than would be strictly necessary to cover himself. I think that’s the little tiny grain in him that is capable of redeeming him; his need to connect with other people is buried deep, but goads him to reach out anyway.

It’s what makes him an interesting character and not just a clever killing machine.

All of that said, though, with the caveat that if I see evidence otherwise in season two, I will graciously concede that I was wrong.