Suffering from friggatriskaidekaphobia or paraskevidekatriaphobia (otherwise known as fear of Friday the 13th or yesterday)? I personally do not, but I also didn’t publish this list because it somehow seemed wrong to wish ill luck on others on what was otherwise a good day (it had nothing to do with being lazy enjoying my day off). This list, in no particular order, is comprised of ten heartless/cruel/deranged/psychotic/generally vile literary characters who (as many readers may agree?) could use a healthy dose of misfortune. Not a believer in the fickleness of Friday the 13th? Not to worry, in many of their respective stories, the characters meet a satisfying, entirely deserving fate.
- Patrick Bateman in American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
- Skunk from Edge of Dark Water by Joe R. Lansdale
- Max Devore in Bag of Bones by Stephen King
- Lee Tourneau in Horns by Joe Hill
- John Reed in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
- Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
- Peter Knox in A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
- Cruella de Vil in The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith
- Randall Flagg in The Stand by Stephen King
- Carl and Sandy Henderson in The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollack
This is by no means a definitive list of true literary villains. It is a list, strictly in the name of entertainment, of characters that have stuck in my mind as being in desperate need of karmic retribution. Enjoy and feel free to add a few!
Photo: goodreads.com
flannel and folklore 