You Can't Beat a Good Villain!

by Anna Sugden

I know. No matter how fabulous the villain, the hero always wins ... and wins the girl too.

But, you've got to admit, there are some villains who stick in your mind long after the book or film are finished, and the hero and heroine are enjoying their 'happy ever after'.

So, today, I thought I'd give some memorable villains their due.

I'll be the first to admit - I love bad boys. I also love good boys with a bad streak. Black hats and rebels seem to call out to the inner punk in me. And, let's face it, there are some really sexy villains out there.

Let's start with Harry Potter villains - Luscious Lucius (as I call him, fondly) and even Draco, now that he's all grown up, are rather delicious. I know Alan Rickman isn't his sexy best in these films, but that voice is enough to make up for it. *sigh*.

As yummy as Kurt and Val are in Tombstone (two more bad/good boys), there is something about Johnny Ringo that makes him stand out too. Val Kilmer (in his early days) was always a villain to love - who can forget him as Ice Man in Top Gun?

As for sexy villains in books, you can't beat Sammy aka Satan in Terri Garey's fabulous Nicki Styx books. Check out You're the One that I Haunt (For the record, Sammy is MINE!!!)

Several authors have capitalised on this by making the villain in one book, the hero of another. (Naturally, my brain can't think of a single specific example - but, I'm sure you all can!)

Then, there are the creepy villains. The ones that give you nightmares. Their evil is palpable, both on the page and on-screen. Tess Gerritsen's The Surgeon and The Mephisto Club will give you sleepless nights. As will Lisa Gardner's The Killing Hour and Karen Rose's Die For Me. And let's not forget Mordecai Jones from Maggie Shayne's trilogy (Colder Than Ice, Darker Than Midnight, Thicker than Water).

But, the ones that really stick in my mind are the evil villains for whom you feel an unwilling sense of empathy. The most clever of these is Mariah Stewart's Sheldon Woods in Forgotten. Another outstanding empathetic villain is Curtis Channing in Mariah's Dead Wrong. As is Allison Brennan's Aaron Doherty, from Tempting Evil. *shiver*.

What about you? Who is your favourite villain? Which villains do you find sexy? Which villains have given you sleepless nights or nightmares? Which villains have you felt an unwilling sense of empathy for?