Books vs. Television

Sinfonia

Wondering how many viewers 'round here have read any of the books?

I read the first two:

The first is essentially the same as the first season, with obviously some extra detail, and a couple of character differences, the primary one I remember is:

LaGuerta catches Dexter at the shipyard, not Doakes. I don't believe she says "Surprise motha****a" either : P

The second is completely different to the second season; I saw/read an interview with the show writers who said they didn't even read beyond the first book because they didn't want to be at all influenced by the storylines.
If a TV series were to be made of the second book, I'm not even sure it would be aired, as the finale (so to speak) of the book is horrendously gruesome (but awesome).

I've briefly read somewhere that further in the series of books, supernatural aspects are also introduced, which seems so foreign to the rest of the world of Dexter (as I know it).

I'd be interested to hear if people have read the books and how they feel Lindsay's story concepts stack up against those of the show's writers..

gnfnrhead

Personally, I think the books are better.

For example (spoilers!!!!!!!):

Astor and Cody are the same as Dexter, he's helping them live with it.
Doakes is still alive, albeit missing several limbs.
Brian is still alive (I think) and not just a figment of Dexter's imagination for one episode.
LeGuerta is dead.

Once you start one you cant put it down, they are brilliant.

Mr E

The first two were OK, but I couldn't get past the 3rd book - complete and utter muck. I hear they got better after that, but the 3rd book really put me off.

FortuneChip

Mr E wrote: »

The first two were OK, but I couldn't get past the 3rd book - complete and utter muck. I hear they got better after that, but the 3rd book really put me off.

Agreed!

I loved the first two. Read them before I watched the show, if I had read the third before watching the show I might have passed up on it altogether
The third book was tripe, Temple Of Doom stuff just didn't work for Dex at all, and the ending was "ugh".

Luckily the split happened in Season 2, Dr Danco was great, but may not have worked so well on TV. They made the right choice in just going after the Bay Harbour Butcher, although everyone would agree that Lila was slightly irritating.

grames_bond

I've read them all - Get past book 3 and you are laughing, althoug hthe Dex-Daddy astuff in "Dexter is Delicious" (5th book) can get a bit tedius! I am looking forward to "dexter's debut" the 7th book Next year!