The Novelizations

Dirty Harry by Phillip Rock

Harry Callahan-
A cop playing dirty on the trail of a sniper who kills by the stars!

 

Comments:
Astrology plays a larger role here than it did in the film, and we see more from Scorpio's point of view as he uses astrology to make decisions.   He even seeks refuge among the stars in one scene, when he goes to skywatch before being inspired to abduct Ann Mary Deacon.

Harry is working on a murder case involving a mugger before he is assigned to Scorpio.  He works on it throughout the story, although it receives very little attention.

The "Bank Job" scene is different, and unfolds during a rainstorm.  In addition to the tailpipe smoke, Harry notices that though people continue to enter, no one is exiting the bank.  The biggest difference in the scene, though, is Harry's alternate "Do I feel lucky" speech:

"You been counting?  Well, was it five or was it six?  Regulations say five...hammer down on the empty...only not all of us go by the book.  What you have to do is think about it.  I mean this is a forty-four magnum and it'll turn your head into hash.  Now, do you think I fired five or six?  And if five, do I keep a live one under the hammer?  It's all up to you.  Are you feeling lucky, Punk?"

Among the noticeably absent: the suicide jumper scene is omitted, and Harry does not throw away his badge at the end.

Magnum Force by Mel Valley

The Deserving Dead
Gangsters at their country estates.   Pimps in their El Dorados.  Drug czars ringed by bodyguards.  A vigilante with a deadly aim is gunning them down.  He's cleaning up San Francisco, and no one can say his victims don't deserve to die...

But who is this executioner?  Who will be his next target?  When will he stop killing?  Dirty Harry's itching to track him down, and if no one gives him the job- he'll take it!

 

Comments:
Valley follows the working script closely, and includes several scenes that didn't make the final cut.  He also introduces a few character traits that differ from the film.  The most notable ones being that Harry smokes throughout the story, and that he is separated- not widowed.   Early Smith is depicted as having more of a Southern background, and less camaraderie with Harry than we see in the film.  A slightly different ending has Harry meeting the chief at the shipyard after his scene with Briggs.

Plot

The Enforcer by Wesley Morgan

 

Comments:
Morgan does an admirable job of attempting to flesh out the script, although most of the additions end up as little more than internal dialogues.   (ie.  the depot security guard thinking about his wife; Bressler and Harry making small talk about Bressler's daughter; Miki's thoughts as she waits for the truck, etc.)  He also devotes more time to DiGeorgio's death, giving us insight into Harry's thoughts on the matter.

Plot

Sudden Impact by Joseph C. Stinson

This murder will be only the beginning.  And Dirty Harry finds himself smack in the middle of revenge on a grand scale as he tracks the woman who is tracking the rape gang.

 

Comments:
Stinson wrote the novel from his own screenplay, and it is very much like reading an earlier draft of the finished film.  It includes several scenes that did not make the film, as well as things such as Harry returning to Ginley's Bar and Ray Parker's house after his initial visits.  It also includes a few extra scenes of confrontation, as when Harry finds Mick at Ray's house, and receives several punishing kicks during an extended fight sequence.  One of the oddest moments of rage, however, occurs when Chief Jannings physically attacks Harry outside of the murdered Tyrone's home.

Another concept suggested here is that the Beatles' song, "The Long and Winding Road" was playing during Jennifer's rape.  This is a recurring idea visited early in the novel, acting as a trigger to remind Jennifer of the event.  It was no doubt left out of the film due to the contractual barriers.

Oh, and Meathead's original name was Pissface.