Resident Evil: The Book

The earliest Resident Evil novel was a novella titled Biohazard: The Beginning by Hiroyuki Ariga. It was published in 1997 as a portion of the book The True Story of Biohazard, which was given away as a pre-order bonus with the Saturn version of Biohazard. The story serves as a prelude to the events of the original Resident Evil, in which Chris Redfield investigates the disappearance of a missing friend.