Die Hard With A Vengeance

Die Hard #3

by Deborah Chiel, Jonathan Hensleigh

Detective John McClane is forced to become a madman's puppet, when a department store in the heart of Manhattan is blown up by a powerful new explosive

Genres: Fiction

233 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1995

Reviews

[Richard Dominguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

A novelization of the movie which does a great job of bringing the movie to the book.

[Dave Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Everything* that was in the movie, and nothing that wasn't
This book is short. I did the audiobook and it's runtime was barely longer than the movie itself.
Movie: 2h 11m Audiobook: about ten minutes longer
I usually like something extra in my Novelization, especially insight into event and characters but considering the movie, paring this down to a lean mean fighting weight was the right choice.

*the sandwich board was edited to say "I hate everyone"

[Mikepottz · Rating 3 out of 5]

John McClane NYPD is going to have one bad fucking day at the office. He will be punched multiple times in the jaw, neary blown up, thrown around in cars, exploded out of a cargo ship but he will keep his sense of humour and form a strong bond with an unlikely partner. It differs from the movie at times and adds some more substance. Fast paced and loads of people will die hard.

[Stephen Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a huge fan of the films, but I was unsure how good a cash-in novelisation could be. Happy to say the answer was ‘very’. It does a great job of bringing the action to book form and the relationship between McClane and Zeus is just as well depicted, which is crucial as it’s such a highlight of the film.

[kesseljunkie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of those novelizations that struggles with the fact that the editing of the movie is really and truly what give it the energy.

The alternate ending is on this, though, which is neat. There are some additional character moments but Chiel doesn’t take proper advantage of them. The editing mistakes read to me as a rush to print, not giving her the proper chance to lean into it.

[Ciara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well I enjoyed it more than the more allegedly intellectual books I've read, and it feels like the first book in ages I was glad to get back to or sorry it ended.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast paced novelization of the movie. Absolutely fine in that way.

[Victor Orozco · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great read, even better than I hoped. I just couldn't put this down as I enjoyed reading this novelization.

Basically this is a word for word adaptation of an early draft of the movie with certain lines rearranged probably to make some room for each actor's own quirks. Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson are like that. Plus there is some great back story into each of the guys thoughts as well as their feelings.

The book points out the reason for Zeus' racism was because he was a crack-head who's older brother attempted to take him away from the crack-house that was ambushed in a police raid that ended up killing Zeus' brother by a white cop. It definitely explained that "guys who have guns and guys who sell drugs" speech that he gave to his nephews. They should have left that in the movie.

I also loved that Yippee-Kai-Yay MotherF###er that John says to Simon in that tunnel. Another thing they should have kept. I like a scene in which John remembered his time in Die-Hard with the ventilation shaft and of course that snow-mobile scene against Colonel Stuart in Die Harder. I wish these movies were all adapted into books.

Everything was so much better and faster when you read the book. But I do have a few complaints. I remember having bought the Blu-Ray to this film and saw the alternate ending which was included in the novel. Obviously this was intended as the ending but I felt it wasn't climactic enough. Apparently somebody in the Fox agreed and filmed that action scene in Canada.

Still a very good book, from a very good movie. B

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the movie, and the book is just as awesome. If you love the movie, read the book.

[Jonathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

At eleven years of age, I couldn't see the movie, so I read the book. I wonder if they made a book out of Transformers 2?--"And then everything blew up."