How Is Showtime's Dexter Different From The Novel?

Dexter is a series of novels that were written by author Jeff Lindsay. So far the book series contains the Dexter novels titled including Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Dearly Devoted Dexter, Dexter in the Dark and Dexter by Design. The television series was primarily created from the first novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter. After that the show changed many plot lines and is almost a stand alone from the books.

When reading the novels and watching the television series, it is quickly apparent that the two differ from each in many situations. From the beginning of both, Dexter is chasing a new serial killer but while he is names the "Ice Truck Killer in the series, he was nicknamed "Tamiami Butcher" in the novels.

The TV show also beefs up the roles of minor characters and gives them their own voice and problems. For instance, Angel Batista was a fellow lab geek in the novel but he is a police officer who is going through problems with his wife in the Dexter series.

The show may not have removed many things but they did add new characters. Season one saw the addition of Paul Bennett, the abusive husband of Dexter's girlfriend Rita. This means that every scene that included Paul, up to his death and subsequent relating problems for Dexter does not exist in the novels.

The Tamiami Butcher/Ice Truck Killer brought about some of the biggest changes between the two story tellers. In the novel, you almost begin to believe that Dexter is the Tamiami Butcher. He has strange dreams and is unsure if he committed the crimes while he was sleeping. A blurry photo shows that the killer could be Dexter; the man in the pictures seems very familiar and has a creepy resemblance.

The killer kidnaps Deborah and Dexter has to find them both. However, Dexter is unaware that LaGuerta has followed him. Upon confrontation it is revealed that the Tamimi Butcher almost looks like Dexter's twin brother.

The two are almost identical. Dexter learns that the man is Brian Moser, his birth brother who witnessed the murder of their mother along with Dexter. LaGuerta is killed at the end of the first novel during a scuffle, Debra learns that Dexter is a serial killer and Dexter helps his brother escape.

In the television series, the serial killer is known as the Ice Truck Killer and he first appears on scene as Rudy Cooper. He begins to date Deborah and she soon finds that she is in love with him and eager to marry him. Rudy/Brian does kidnap Deborah but throughout the confrontation between Dexter and his brother, she is left unconscious and never discovers that Dexter is a killer. LaGuerta is absent from the scene until all the police converge on Brian's hideout. She is not killed in the first two seasons of the series.

The actor who plays the brother of Dexter is also a major difference of the novel. Realistically, it can be hard to find two actors who look similar enough to call them twins. The only way to have a twin like brother would be to have the actor Michael C. Hall who plays the character Dexter, to also play his long lost brother. That would have been fine if the plot was the same as the novel, but it would not have worked in the series. Dexter's sister would have noticed that Brian Moser was a carbon copy of her brother.