Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly linkup of book bloggers hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl! This week is actually a villain freebie, so I decided to make a list of the best heroes-of-the-book that are actually the villains (which to be honest, usually means they’re more interesting).
Becky Sharp (Vanity Fair): Becky is an unapologetic relentless social climber who thinks nothing of manipulating wealthy men to get their affection and is about a billion times more compelling than her sweet-natured friend Amelia.
Amy Dunne (Gone Girl): She and her husband Nick are both awful people, but honestly I’m always glad that Amy gets away with it.
Jaime Lannister (A Storm of Swords): Jaime was a fairly straightforward villain in the first two books, but when we start getting his perspective in the third one…he’s still terrible but he’s much more sympathetic.
Nick Naylor (Thank You For Smoking): The gleeful amorality with which this tobacco lobbyist/spokeman plies his trade is delightful.
Humbert Humbert (Lolita): He preys on a child and actively seeks to isolate her so he can continue to take advantage of her. But there’s something captivating about him, a testament to Nabokov’s skill as a writer.
Hannibal Lector (The Silence of the Lambs): He’s suave and sophisticated and totally brilliant and eats people. Shame about the last.
Lisbeth Salander (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo): Lisbeth is violent and doesn’t care about most people. She’s amazing and terrifying and enthralling.
Thomas Cromwell (Wolf Hall): He’s basically the male version of Becky Sharp in his eagerness to throw morality aside to climb the ladder and then stay at the top, except he’s real and since he’s a dude he doesn’t have to play the marriage game to get power.
Henry Winter (The Secret History): He’s rich, obscenely smart, and dynamic, and it’s easy to see him through Richard’s enchanted eyes and forget that he killed a person accidentally and then killed his own friend when he thought he might have to face consequences for the first death.
Alex DeLarge (A Clockwork Orange): Alex so enjoys his life of rampaging around fulfilling every cruel urge he has that you almost feel a little sad when he’s brainwashed into being unable to do it anymore.