I've been keeping up with Dexter ever since the tv show began, but since I've always been a book nut, I always need to pull up the authors who started it. It's never a chicken or the egg question, but in this instance, I did start with the tv show first, and after a few seasons, needed my fix and so started the books. 
 I personally love how I can get a completely different story out of Dexter in an alternate universe kind of way between the two. If I didn't like how things happened in one, then I could always rely on the other. I have always enjoyed the bona fide supernatural aspect of the dark passenger in the books, and really loved how he was grooming his stepchildren along his path. I can only assume that we will come back to that in the next novel, because as a character, Dexter has slid from those ways in this novel. As a set-up for a cliffhanger, this novel did wonderfully, timed wonderfully with the end of the tv series, and it has the appearance of stopping Dexter in his tracks. 
 As a reader, I wanted a little more of a conclusion, but I'm just going to have to wait and see if the next book comes out soon, because if it doesn't, I might be very very angry. Kinda like I was with the ending of the tv series. I want to love the book very much, because not only the writing is good, but I've grown to love the characters so much. There's the caveat, tho. I want to love it, but something drastic is going to have to happen or I might stop. It's kinda a big cliffhanger, after all. If we wait six months and a new one comes out, then everything is fine with the world. My faith is restored and I can go on enjoying Dexter for years to come. :)