One more set of notes about the FD novelization (chapters 11 - 13):
There's a brief moment where Clear regrets her decision to tell the FBI agents where Alex is because she has no way to warn him. Of course, all that worry gets derailed by Death going after her moments later, but still.
First the dude fantasizes about his partner's wife, now he's bitching about how nature sucks? Agent Weine's a piece of work, man.
Alex is genuinely haunted by his inability to save Ms. Lewton from her death. The author even made it a point to have him see flashes of her in her final moments as he's trying to rescue Clear.
So this chapter ends with Alex sacrificing himself to save Clear, but it's made explicit that his heart stopped beating. I know this was written before the 'New Life' loophole from FD2, but...well, the next chapter is the trip to Paris. This doesn't exactly bode well for the novelization timeline.
Alex's final thought before he flatlines? He hopes Carter doesn't hit on Clear at his funeral. Try telling that to the shippers, Alex. I'm sure someone out there ships Carter and Clear without you involved. (It's not me, I promise; IMO, Carter is an honorary uncle for Clear's kid at best.)
...Carter. I'm pretty sure you're 18 by this point. You don't need to smuggle alcohol to Paris. Drinking is legal in Paris if you're 18. Please don't bean the old lady in the head with your bag of booze, Carter.
The book ends the same as the movie, but with the added 'bonus' of 'Alex flatlined before this happened'. Again, this was written before FD2 came out, but in my personal opinion, this means one of two things for this particular timeline: either Chapter 13 is someone's nightmare (probably Alex's; he had a nightmare about Death after visiting Bludworth earlier in the book), and he, Clear, and Carter are alive and well; or in the novels, Death doesn't give a damn about 'New Life'. It will keep coming after its victims until they are a bloody smear on the ground because they didn't die when they were supposed to. Me personally, I'm sticking to the nightmare theory because otherwise, Kimberly and Burke are inevitably doomed. I mean, Alex, Clear, and Carter are still doomed since the FD2 novelization is bound to follow the movie closely, but still...bah, this particular hiccup is making my head hurt a bit.
That was fun. I'm gonna try to dive into the FD2 novelization sometime soon, but definitely not tonight. I've got work in the morning.
