Did Noah’s father really die 5 years before the Flood?

In John K. Reed's book The Coming Wrath, Noah's father and grandfather both die shortly before the Flood. Lamech dies 5 years beforehand, and Methuselah less than a year. Is this just fiction, to make for a good story?

In the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, in chapter 5, we are given a detailed list of Adam and all his descendants, all the way up to Noah. We are told how long each lived, and how old they were when their sons were born. Genesis 11 continues with Noah and all of his descendants, up until Terah, the father of Abraham.

If you turn this into graphical form, you will get a graph like this:

Yes, Lamech and Methuselah were real men. According to the true testimony of the Bible, Lamech died 5 years before the Flood, and Methuselah one year beforehand. In his work of historical fiction, John K. Reed is faithful to this.

The Bible does not tell us how they died. Could it have happened the way it is portrayed in The Coming Wrath? You be the judge.

(For historical fiction that touches on this topic, see Chapter 23: Death Dream of The Coming Wrath)

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For more info, see Bodie Hodge, Ancient Patriarchs in Genesis, Answers in Genesis, January 20, 2009.