Final Destination 2 (novel)

Final Destination 2 (novel)
Author	Nancy A. Collins Natasha Rhodes
Publication date	January 31, 2006
Published by	Black Flame
ISBN	1844163180
Publication Order
Preceded by Final Destination	Followed by Final Destination 3

Final Destination 2 is Black Flame's novelization of the film of the same name, written by both Nancy A. Collins and Natasha Rhodes.

Official Summary

You can't cheat death twice...

Celebrating her spring break with a road trip to Florida, Kimberly and her friends are caught up in traffic on Route 23. After having a premonition of a horrific pile-up on the highway, she panics and blocks the on-ramp with her vehicle, holding up several cars. Kimberly tries to warn a police officer what is about to happen. As he looks at her in disbelief, the accident occurs, killing dozens but, against Death's wishes, others survive.

Later that same day, one of the survivors dies in a freak accident. Kimberly starts to wonder if the Flight 180 incident (from the original Final Destination) and the events that followed weren't just a coincidence. Her only hope lies in Clear Rivers, the sole survivor of Flight 180. Can she help them cheat Death one more time?

Main Characters

Kimberly Corman: A college student who foresaw the Route 23 pileup. She was inadvertently saved by Tod Waggner from a car jacking that took the life of her mother. The seventh and final survivor of Route 23 to die, she sacrificed herself to end Death's list by driving an ambulance into a lake, allowing her to drown and to be resuscitated.

Thomas Burke: A police officer who was inadvertently saved by Billy Hitchcock from a shootout that took the life of his partner. He was saved alongside Kimberly from Death's list when she drowned.

Clear Rivers: The last remaining survivor of Flight 180 who decides to help the Route 23 survivors. The seventh and last survivor of Flight 180 to die, she was incinerated in a oxygen explosion.

Eugene Hooper: A school teacher was initially skeptical about Death. He was inadvertently saved by Valerie Lewton from a school stabbing that took the life of the substitute teacher who was sent. The sixth survivor of Route 23 to die, he was impaled by the metal shrapnel sent from oxygen tanks during a oxygen explosion.

Rory Cunningham: A drug addict and former rock star. He was inadvertently saved from a theater collapse by Carter Horton. The fifth survivor of Route 23 to die, he bled to death after being trisected by a barbed wire fence launched in his direction by a van explosion.

Kat O'Brien: A businesswoman who was saving from a gas leak by Terry Chaney. The fourth survivor of Route 23 to die, she was impaled through the head by a metal pipe after her airbag was activated.

Nora Carpenter: A widowed mother who is very protective of her son Tim after her husband died of cancer. The third survivor of Route 23 to die, she was decapitated by an elevator.

Tim Carpenter: A fourteen-year old kid who is interested in horror. The second survivor of Route 23 to die, he had his neck snapped after being struck by a falling glass pane.

Evan Lewis: A lottery winner who was deemed one of the luckiest people alive. The first survivor of Route 23 to die, he was impaled through his right eye by a fire escape ladder.

Isabella Hudson: A florist who was mistakenly believed that her baby would be the key to saving the Route 23 survivors. After the birth of her child, she went on to have a relationship with Steve.

Steve Adams: A police officer who was inexperienced when it came to Isabella's situation. After the birth of Isabella's child, he went on to have a relationship with her.

Brian Gibbons: A fifteen year old who was narrowly saved by Rory from being hit by a news van. Months later, he was blown to pieces when his family's barbecue grill exploded.

Alex Browning: The one to foresee the crash of Flight 180. The sixth survivor of Flight 180 to die, he killed several months before the Route 23 pileup when his face was bashed in by a falling brick.

Differences from the film

• Some of the characters have altered names in the book: Shaina Gordon, Frankie Arnold, Dano Royale, Kat O'Brien, Rory Cunningham, and Eugene Hooper. In the movie, Shaina, Frankie, and Dano have unrevealed last names, Kat's last name is Jennings, Rory's is Peters, and Eugene's is Dix. (It should be noted that the Cunningham and Hooper were used in the fourth and fifth films (as Janet's and Candice's surnames), and both have something to do with horror movies.
• The book has a short prologue telling about a theory where if a butterfly flaps it wings in Brazil, it will cause a tornado in Texas.
  • ​This is commonly referred to as the "butterfly effect".
• In the novel, the fireman successfully manages to remove Kat's door. Mr. Gibbons is relieved as he sits on the hood of the car, bumping the bottom of it against the ground and hitting one of the sensitive areas, causing the airbag to deploy.
• In the book the hospital explosion scene is a bit different; the explosion kills Eugene, Clear, and a hospital orderly. Clear opens the door, just as an orderly walks by. He asks her to hold a birthday cake while he hands Eugene some crosswords. Clear smiles as she stands at the door holding the lit cake, and the whole room explodes. The oxygen tank explodes, sending shrapnel into Eugene, killing him instantly. Clear and the orderly's body are both blown down the hallway, charred and blackened. As well as this, Clear thinks "It's over. At least I can sleep now." as she dies.
  • Elements of this version of events were filmed for the movie but ultimately discarded.
    • The DVD extras include a deleted scene in which Eugene motions for a pen, and Trevor (the orderly) says that he will bring Eugene a pen and some crosswords.  As Trevor leaves the room, his irate supervisor reminds him that a family is waiting for him in the children's ward, to which Trevor responds, "Right, right, it's Gregory's birthday." 
    • The Fact Track on the DVD extras confirms that the fire was originally scripted to start by a birthday cake.
    • In the trailer, Trevor can be seen standing behind Clear with the cake as the room ignites. A close-up of the birthday candles is also shown.
    • In the behind-the-scenes documentary Bits and Pieces: Bringing Death to Life, dummies of Clear and Trevor's bodies are both blown down the hallway by the explosion.
    • In the final cut of the film, Trevor's body can be seen on the floor just behind Clear's body at 1:18:58.
• In Final Destination 3, one of the "Choose Their Fate" features reveals that Kimberly and Thomas are both killed by a malfunctioning wood-chipper, but the novel of Final Destination 3 does not say this, due to the fact that the third book was adapted from an earlier script.