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They didn't. I think it predates the series.
The book is similar but not identical to the first series. The series drew from the book and followed most of the arc of the story. But there were important elements in the book that woudn't have worked so well on the tv. So much of it is to do with Dexter's internal landscape, and the effect events have on that landscape. I am being careful not to say too much because I found even having watched the show, I wasn't entirely certain where the book was going to take things. I wouldn't want to spoil that for you. It is different enough to throw in surprises and twists you won't be expecting.
The characters are for the most part very similar. But again there are important differences. Mostly this is because the book takes them to different places and leaves a very different emotional legacy for the characters to pick up in the next book.
The tv show, to an extent tones down Dexter's darker side. The books go into much more detail about his rituals and killing methods. The tv show hints at some of it, but misses out stuff that might have risked making the character harder to sympathise with. Probably a good decision, because we don't have so much of Dex's internal world to fall back on in the show. Even where Dex is doing things and rationalising things in an entirely unsympathetic manner, the fact that we are viewing things entirely from his perspective counters that.
The guy who narrates the book is wonderful. I now have two very clear and very similar Dexter's in my mind. They're different but they merge. It threw me for the first minute or so, but the man has such a beautiful voice and he acts the reading so well, revels in the wordplay just as Dexter's character does. There are passages in it that are completely haunting, then there will be a witty, clever little line that raises a wicked smile.
It's one of the best audiobooks I've listened to. That and Paul McGann's reading of 'Vurt' are my top two audiobooks. Alas I only have Vurt on an old cassette (ask your parents what they are Ibby:P) and it goes a little shaky half way through. Whoever I bought that off on Ebay must have listened to that section a lot.
I don't think it was ever released as a cd...but if it is and you can find it it's a fabulous listen. Vurt's a wonderful book. I read it years ago, long before the audio. By a Manchester author called Jeff Noon. A very strange surreal Manchester is the setting of his books. Has an amazing way with words. It's almost poetry. And Paul McGann's voice. Woof!
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