Written in perfectly deadpan, Mulderish style, Chris Carter's X-Files: Fight the Future movie novelization (adapted by noted SF author Elizabeth Hand) is a faithful reproduction of the film, with the addition of a couple of cutting-room-floor sequences to make it worth an X-phile's while. X-Files neophytes will probably be confused by the appearance of unexplained characters and in-jokes, but the story is like a really good episode of the show, and if you can be hooked, you will be. A few purely visual things don't translate well in the novelization. For instance, dialogue between the Cigarette-Smoking Man and the Well-Manicured Man, both referred to by their complete "titles" throughout, becomes an exercise in ridiculousness. But that could hardly have been helped, and otherwise the book accurately adapts the action and fast pace of the movie. A nice color-photo spread completes the package.