Getting away with murder: literature's most annoyingly unpunished characters

Nobody wants to see the baddie win, however much sense it makes to the story. Which of the villains in books do you wish retribution on?

From cunning spies who evade discovery to baddies who literally get away with murder (and worse), novels that leave villains unpunished can be nail-bitingly frustrating. Even if you don’t believe in karma, something still feels wrong about seeing the bad guys triumph. Here are some great fictional evildoers that I really wanted to face justice:

1. Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey

‘What worries me, Billy,’ she said. ‘Is how your poor mother is going to take this.’ Billy flinched and put his hand to his cheek like he’d been burned with acid. ‘Nuh! Nuh!’ His mouth was working. He shook his head, begging her … ‘No!’ he cried. We watched Billy folding into the floor, head going back, knees coming forward. He was shaking his head in panic like a kid that’s been promised a whipping just as soon as a willow is cut.

He straightened out his leg and reached into his pocket and drew out a few coins and took one and held it up. He turned it. For her to see the justice of it. He held it between his thumb and forefinger and weighed it and then flipped it spinning in the air and caught it and slapped it down on his wrist. Call it, he said.

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