10 Shocking Differences Between the Dexter Books and Show

10 Shocking Differences Between the Dexter Books and Show

It's been nine years since the book series, 3 years since the New Blood series, and 11 years since the original TV series, so there will be some spoilers in the 10 Shocking Differences Between the Dexter Books and Show. Buckle up your seatbelts. Here we go.

10. Dexter and Deb Aren't The Brightest

Dexter and Debra are a little different in the books. Deb is nowhere near the cop she is in the TV series. She's competent, but most of the time, she curses at Dexter until he does her job for her. Dexter in the TV series seems more skilled and quick on his feet. Dexter is often too in his head and spacey in the book series. In the show, Dexter bases his moves on his experience and general knowledge over the years. In the books, Dexter is more intuitive and instinctive.

9. Rita Still Dies But...

It's nowhere near the epic exit of the TV show. Rita is a very different character in the books. In the TV show, Rita is used to explore whatever human parts of TV Dexter exist. TV Rita challenges Dexter and shows him he could be a good man and that there is hope for him. TV Dexter grows into actually caring about Rita. Book Dexter treats Rita as a true beard. She is just a cover. To Book Dexter, her words are a whirl of scatterbrained sentences and nerotic thoughts. The only thing he truly appreciates is her cooking.

Rita ends up being killed, but it's not by Trinity, who doesn't exist in the books. Instead, Rita is accidentally killed as collateral damage in one of Dexter's deadly battles with a foreign Dark Passenger. Dexter isn't happy about Rita's death, but it doesn't really mean anything to him. Sadly, Book Rita died as she lived, as an afterthought.

8. Debra Has a Baby

Book Debra actually has her own kid named Nicholas. In the books, there is no Lundy or Quinn. There is, instead, Kyle Chutsky, who is likely from whom Lundy and Quinn are derived. Kyle is in his 40's. Still older than Deb but not a senior citizen. He's black-ops, and unlike Quinn, he's got an air of danger about him without being a jerk. Kyle even becomes somewhat of a friend to Dexter. Deb's best romantic relationship is with Kyle, and they have a baby together. However, due to some complicated trauma, Kyle & Deb never make it to the alter.

7. Lilas Lost

If you read book two, Dearly Devoted Dexter, you won't find Lila. There is nothing like Lila in the Dexter Books series. Book Dexter never explores his dark side with another woman filled with the same darkness he has. However, book two does have one of the most sinister killers of either series. Dr. Danco is a sick man. He plays a deadly game of hangman with his victims using their limbs to spell out words, and every wrong letter is a limb. He cuts many nonessential parts of the body off until his victim is a horribly disfigured stump who has no tongue or limbs, among other things. One of his victims was even given a mercy killing to stop the pain of their existence. Before Danco could be stopped, he left a few book characters with permanent reminders of what he had done to them.

6. Debra Knows

One of the most shocking differences between the book and the show is that Deb finds out Dexter is a serial killer in book one. Initially, Deb just accepts her brother is a serial killer taught by their father. It's not even that big a deal in the books. Deb and Dexter don't reckon with the situation until three books later.

5. The Kids Are Not Alright

The book children are not the innocent children that the TV series portrays. In the book, the trauma of their father's abuse causes them to have the same darkness in them that Dexter has. Dexter tries to do for them what Harry did for Dexter. Both Astor and Cody kill people in the book series. Harrison, on the other hand, doesn't exist. Rita and Dexter have a child named Lily Anne, who is a girl. The child is too young for her possible darkness to unveil itself in the series. Although, it would have been more interesting and challenging for Dexter to have Lily Anne in Dexter New Blood.

4. Dexter Dies

TV Dexter infamously takes his boat into a hurricane to kill himself after the death of his sister instead of fleeing to South America with Hannah and Harrison. Book Dexter also gets on a boat, but his ride goes a lot differently, and he does not survive his last psychopath. Also, in the Book Universe, Deb lives.

3. Brian Lives

Unlike the show, Dexter does not kill Brian. Instead, Dexter fakes Brian's death, and Brian stays with Dexter for years. Brian meets the family and acts as a brother to Dexter. Brian is a very interesting character. He is as dark as Dexter but lacks the education or moral code installed in Dexter. Dexter and Brian even take on the cult of cannibals together. The way that Brian is kept in the book series is a little nonsensical, but the long-term impact is worthwhile. It would have been nice to see TV Dexter & Brian get some bonding time over the years.

2.No Hannah Or Lumen

Unlike the TV series, the book series is much less interested in exploring romantic relationships with Dexter. As far as Lumen goes, the closest thing to her is a missing teenager Dexter ends up being intimate with, but that is a very different story that could hardly be called romantic. There isn't a Hannah counterpart in the books, but there is a beautiful woman who comes later in the series and becomes Dexter's true love. Jackie Forest is a movie star but a regular woman psychologically. However. she brings feelings out of the Book Dexter that he doesn't even understand. It's clear that Jackie is his one true love rather than his second great love, like Hannah.

1. Miami Metro

The gang you grew to love in the TV series is very different. LaGuerta isn't a book series regular. She ends up dying very early on. Angel Bautista, or how he is repeatedly dubbed in the show Angel No Relation, is a one-note side character who barely even shows up. Doakes doesn't die. However, he does get so severely dismembered that he can only talk through a machine and move with the assistance of medical technology. However, Doakes fights through to remain looking over Dexter's shoulder for years.

Detective Anderson is also very different in the books. He doesn't listen to Deb at all because she is a woman. Deb did not bring Book Anderson in like she did on the TV show. Also, TV Anderson admires Dexter's abilities, but Book Anderson hates Dexter and even tries to frame him. However, Book Anderson gets the best piece of karma in the books. Because there is no Quinn, Deb has a bunch of partners who meet untimely ends. Masuka is actually better in the books. Dexter considers Masuoka a friend because he also fakes some human interactions. Masuoka even stands up for Dexter in his time of need when Book Dexter, unlike the TV Dexter, goes to jail.