Literary bad guys
I am in the process of packing up my books to move and came across a copy of Stephen King's 'IT', which I haven't read for years. I have to say that since reading this book (in my late teens, many moons ago) I have never been able to look at clowns the same way. They all seem sort of creepy somehow and I keep waiting for great disasters to befall people after they have appeared. I also tend to be wary of drain grates in the gutter - if you've read the first chapter, you'll know why. I won't mention the final revelation of the true nature of 'IT'. Mif has a bit of a thing about spiders and I don't want to freak her out. So, anyone else have a bad guy in a book who has haunted you?

Mif has a bit of a thing about spiders and I don't want to freak her out. Hey, I managed to watch Charlotte's Web yesterday, although I did keep a thong at my side the whole way through, in case she got ornery. Clowns are scary fullstop. Combine It with the true story of John Wayne Gacy (serial killer clown) and you'll never enjoy the circus again. I recently read Hannibal Rising. Now there's a bad guy. I didn't think much of the book, but it was interesting to see how Hannibal Lecter became such a cold-blooded killer. Inside Thomas Harris' head must be a scary place.

Yes, those distorted clown faces are more than a little off-putting. As for Hannibal, I saw Silence of the Lambs at the movies and was terrified (ended up scrunched up on my seat cuddling up to the rather startled young man sitting next to me :shock: ) Since I tend to find reading scary books even scarier than watching the movies, I think I will give Hannibal and those following a miss. I seem to have passed through my 'scary story' stage.

Never really liked scary books. I am too much of a wimp, but Hannibal was certainly scary. I think life is to short to scare yourself.

Yep. There are plenty of terrifying things in my everyday life (like the thought of getting roped into helping with canteen duty at school) without me looking for extra scary stuff. Personally, I have always viewed reading as escapism. Why escape to somewhere scary? Much better to escape to exotic or interesting locations or periods of history to spend time with fascinating people. You have to wonder what it's like inside Stephen King's head too. Can't be a nice place.

I love the scary stuff, although it has been a while since I read any. Suspense the same - anything that gets the old adrenalin pumping. It definitely depends what kind of mood I'm in though. Book villains - hmmm - fantasy books have the coolest bad guys. Voldemort (although I found Umbridge in the 5th book much scarier), Sauron, that dude in the Belgariad - was it Torak? They're like comic book bad guys, but that's all part of the fun. What about some more down-to-earth villains? Miss Bingley for example. Was she a real bad guy or just a stuck-up snob?

You're right. There is something scary about the more realistic 'bad guys' rather than the caricature ones of the sci-fi/fantasty genre or the 'evil incarnate' horror story villains. Miss Bingley? Hmm. Maybe just a product of her time and place in history. Single woman, educated in all the right ways for a woman of her social standing, shallow of character and limited in understanding. I actually found the Ukrainian bride in 'Short history of tractors in the Ukraine' rather disturbing. The low-level malice and self-serving instincts of this character, who manipulated and emotionally tortured an elderly man for her own gain, were rather disturbing. Even considering her background in Ukraine, I found her very difficult to like in any way.