Who was the most compelling VILLAIN you've ever come across and why

[Jill H.]

I think it has to be Hannibal Lecter from The Silence of the Lambs. Charming and deadly.....a perfect combination.

[Donna, Co-Moderator]

What a good question. I thought of Hannibal Lecter too even though I haven't read the book. He does have quite a reputation.

I'll have to think more on this.

[Toni]

Wyatt Dixon, from James Lee Burke's novels BITTERROOT and IN THE MOON OF RED PONIES.

Dixon is a former rodeo clown who made me understand why some people are afraid of clowns. He has a wide smile and false-friendly wit and characters who cross him don't often live to regret it.

And yet, the reader never knows what to expect from him. He's been known to do a good deed. He buried alive one character and then saved her life in another book.

You find yourself wanting to trust him, and fearing to look away, and always intrigued.

[stan]

Good Morning
Great question have to give some thought!
Be back soon

[Mark]

Good morning. I am thinking "Fisi" in the contemporary Kenya-set thriller "East of Eden," by Nicholas Profitt. Came out about 20 years ago... a really bloody villain who stays in reader memory. Don't now what became of the author, who churned out some good ones a few decades back. Mark

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Looking at Goodreads, Nicholas Proffitt's book was Edge of Eden. And then a Google found Proffitt's obit:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/17/boo...

[Chris]

This is a great question. I have to say for me it is James Moriarty from Sherlock Holmes, and the Watchmaker from Jeffery Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme series. I choose Moriarty because for a Character who really is only in one story of the Holmes series his presence has stood the test of time as Sherlock's equal when it comes to intelligence.

I choose the Watchmaker from the Lincoln Rhyme series because he is the only villain who has gotten away from Rhyme. For anyone who has read any of the Lincoln Rhyme novels they would know how difficult a feat that truly is.

[Toni]

Chris wrote: "This is a great question. I have to say for me it is James Moriarty from Sherlock Holmes, and the Watchmaker from Jeffery Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme series. I choose Moriarty because for a Character wh..."

Oh yeah, agree about the Watchmaker!

[Victor]

If we were to judge by the amount of hate that character provoked, I would have to say Big Jim Rennie, from Stephen King's Under the Dome.

[Melki]

Man, I would have loved to gut Big Jim like a fish! What a monster!
I don't know if he's "compelling" or not, but my favorite villain of all time is Carl Hiaasen's Chemo.
What a character!

[Karendenice]

Chris, the Watchmaker was really scary for me too.

[Joe]

I think that in No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy, Anton Sugar was probably the best villain for me. The way he was totally calm all the time but you knew a storm was brewing and how he'd ask the victim how much they had ever wagered on a coin toss. He was great and scary.

[Sharon]

For me it was Clara Rinker in the two Prey mysteries by John Sandford.

[Karendenice]

Sharon, that was a good evil woman.

[Sharon]

For me, a memorable evil character, like Clara Rinker, has to be a 'real' person ... not just a cardboard cutout of *evil*. There has to be some kind of connection.

Another that meets this criteria for me is the Butcher's Boy ... from Thomas Perry's book of that name. He is, like Clara Rinker, a killer for hire, with no qualms about what he does, just his job. But at the same time, the author has managed to make him a real person that the reader hopes will get away in the end.

There aren't many authors that can manage this kind of tightrope walk.

[Joe]

Joyce Carol Oates wrote a book called Zombie that had a really disturbing character called Quentin. He tried to find the best mate for him...a zombie. He tried making his own by using a ice pick through the nose and failed a couple of times. I couldn't believe that someone like her wrote the most disturbing book I have ever read.

[Melki]

I gotta check that one out. Every J.C. Oates book I ever read was about a dysfunctional family. (Though this guy sounds plenty dysfunctional to me...)

[Kaye]

Hi, I'm new here, but this great topic caught my eye. I'll cast a vote for Dexter. He's not technically a villain, but he's a killer, so he kinda is. And he's certainly compelling.

[Deanne]

Lovelace from Clarissa, the man is relentless in his ambition to have Clarissa at any cost. He's a rake, he's charming, handsome, rich and completely without scruples. Even when she thinks she's escaped it's only a trap to entangle her further. At the same time as the reader you're aware of how his mind works through his letters.
Another villain is Count Fosco, the man behind the plot in Wilkie Collins Woman in White, the man is totally evil.

[Carmen]

I have to go with Hannibal Lector, I love everything about him, I always wanted someone to come up with a female half as good (or maybe I should say bad) as him.
I also like Kyle Craig from Patterson. Of course the King villains from Misery, The Shining and Needful Things.

[Ken]

If my memory serves me right, in the movies the girl who took over Starling's place from Jody Foster ended up with Hannibal Lector somewhere in South America. Could be in one of Thomas Harris's sequel's. Read them all and the movies so I don't know what's what anymore. All I know is she was as gruesome as Hannibal in the end.

[[deleted user]]

I gotta answer this one...for me it was a true to life villain
TED BUNDY
I read several books on him during my "true crime period" but it hit me personally since I went to Florida State [tho 10 years before he was there], often visited the Chi Omega house where I had several friends [but could picture the scene], knew the neighbor hood his apartment was in, in Tallahassee, and when he was panicked in Jacksonville he abducted a young girl who lived 2 doors from my parents [a neighbor we knew] but her brother pulled her from his car. He was such a scary villain...no manufactured one could be worse!

[aprilla]

Alexis wrote: "I gotta answer this one...for me it was a true to life villain
TED BUNDY
I read several books on him during my "true crime period" but it hit me personally since I went to Florida State [tho 10 yea..."

Totally agree! For me no fiction villians match the true stories. I think that's why I like the fiction books, I can read em and leave em! The non-fiction will stay and bother the mind.

[Rick]

I found Red Dragon scarier than Silence of the Lambs!

[paul]

to me the craftiest, meanest hombre was ...the Blind Man.....who made people die in dastardly ways and confounded the police of the 87th precinct a long time.......from the pen of ed mcbain/

[Diane S ☔]

Gretchen in the Chelsea Cain novels was pretty frightening.

[paul]

Hugh wrote: "I'd have to say The Deaf Man--the recurring criminal mastermind with a sadistic, arrogant streak in The Heckler, Fuzz, Let's Hear It for the Deaf Man, [boo..."

excuse my faulty memory..i meant the Deaf Man in my message. makes 2 of us.

[Crafty4life]

Dexter!!! You really fall for him completely as a professional and family man. You really feel for his character and actually hope for him to not get caught, yet there is this little problem of his evil dark side...

[Karendenice]

I really loved the first "Dexter" book. I'm trying really hard to find time to read the rest of this series.

[Patrick]

Joe wrote: "I think that in No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy, Anton Sugar was probably the best villain for me...."

I've gotta agree with Joe - Anton Sugar. The quiet and calm way he goes about his task is perfect.

I could go with Lecter, too, but I have to say that I liked him best as the supporting character in Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs. When he was put all the way out front in Hannibal, his own quiet and calm way kind of disappeared.

[Pamela]

I'm going to go a little against the grain. While all the ones mentioned are great, there are to that I can't quite get out of my mind. Ripley in The Talented Mr. Ripley and Lady Lucy Angkatel in The Hollow. (Yeah, I know. An Agatha Christie seems a bit odd, doesn't it?)

What these two characters have in common is that they don't for one moment see themselves as bad--nor do people around them. They are charming and personable, the type of person everyone seems drawn to.

And that's what really gives me creeps about them--you want to be around them.

[Rachel]

I agree with Diane, the first villain to come to mind for me was Gretchen Lowell from Chelsea Cain.

[Abbey]

My favorite villain/most terrifying is also a Christie - the completely evil Mrs. Boynton from APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH - the screwed family dynamics in that novel are incredible! And she's so vicious, brrrrr!!!!

I beg to differ about Lucy Angkatell, though - she wasn't the villain in THE HOLLOW, she was quite peculiar, yes, but she wasn't the murderer, just a social manipulator. I've always *liked* her immensely but wouldn't have wanted to be around her ever - her spacey behavior patterns would have driven me *nuts*! I sometimes find that behavior fun/entertaining in novels but Christie takes it to the Nth degree and makes it extremely annoying.

[Keri]

I like Kyle Craig from the Cross series. You never know what he will do and how he manages to stay alive!

[Diane S ☔]

My new favorite (well not new but) is Preacher Jack from . He is a psychopath with his own code of honor. He is scary because he seems to have no problem getting whoever he needs to.

[Pete]

I'm throwing a wild card. Since the question was not limited to the genre:

The most "compelling villain" I have met in fiction is Inspector Javert in Victor Hugo's Les Miserables.

[Chris]

For me it's Hannibal Lecter. The only time I've locked all windows and doors when reading a book! There were parts of Silence of the Lambs that made me terrified to turn the next page. Totally ruthless! The film was mot a patch on the horrors that went on in my head

[Gatorman]

Rachel wrote: "I agree with Diane, the first villain to come to mind for me was Gretchen Lowell from Chelsea Cain."

For me, Gretchen was too over the top to be scary. And she is a rip-off of the most compelling villian to me, Hannibal Lecter.

[Georgia]

Javert is has the law on his side so I don't know if
he can really be classed as a villain. We all love and our tender hearts bleed for Jean Val Jean; however, Javert feels he is doing his job in dogging Jean. Dexter is a clever villain, we love him because he KILLS
all those bad guys out there just like Jack Reacher but in a totally different way, don't you think. I LOVE it when Crime Does Not Pay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Georgia]

I guess I will have to look into Preacher Jack. Is this Jack Reacher in almost reverse? If I am to vote for the worst villain, I would agree it would be scary
Hannibal Lector.

[Keri]

I would say Hobie from Lee's Tripwire, for some reason he was just an unforgettable bad guy. I have others, but I need to think on it some more.

[Lobstergirl]

Netta from Hangover Square. It's not really a mystery/thriller, it's more literary fiction, but she is just vicious. I highly recommend the book.

[Ruth]

Interesting - I can't imagine remaining interested if the criminal keeps getting away and reappearing in multiple books.

Hugh wrote: "I'd have to say The Deaf Man--the recurring criminal mastermind with a sadistic, arrogant streak in The Heckler, Fuzz, Let's Hear It for the Deaf Man, [boo..."

[Anita]

I love a good villain. I have to say my favorite villain is one of my own. Tristol, from my Scottish paranormal is just a great villain. And we haven't even seen all he can do yet.

[Anita]

And Hannibal Lecter is a magnificent villain.

[Terry]

Some good ones mentioned and some I hadn't thought of in a while, like Clara Rinker, but I think Lord Voldemort should probably be mentioned even if the Harry Potter books aren't exactly thrillers per se.

[Afsana]

Keri wrote: "I would say Hobie from Lee's Tripwire, for some reason he was just an unforgettable bad guy. I have others, but I need to think on it some more."

I have just read that and he is a scary villian

lecter is good as well and with dexter who thinks that it is ok to kill esp as keeps it to villians- what I find weird is his adoptive father who recognises this in him and diverts his talents (he who is a cop)

[Jim]

Compelling villain? How 'bout Blue Duck?

[Kathleen]

Jim wrote: "Compelling villain? How 'bout Blue Duck?"

Yes! Absolutely the most ruthless villain I have encountered in my reading.

[Renee]

Cujo. I may have been too young to read Stephen King at the time. Cujo's the one that has stayed with me. My dog was safe enough. But my Uncle's Saint Bernard--a sweet-tempered old thing named Moose--was a terror to me ever after.