1-Palmer Eldritch from Philip K. Dick's Three Stigmatas Of Palmer Eldritch: The achievement of Palmer Eldritch as a villain is to get under your skin and make you do nightmares, even if the story around him is completely over the top and drug fueled. You will never appreciate Lewis Carroll as much after reading this novel.
2-Anton Chigurh from Cormac McCarthy's No Country For Old Men: Perhaps the fact that he's so scary lies in that he's the idea of evil, more than an evil character himself. He doesn't even seem real in the story. He's like a vengeful ghost.
3-Melanie Holland from Jonathan Franzen's Strong Motion:I have rarely felt that irritated reading a novel. Mrs. Holland also wins the prize of literature's worse mother. And like the perfect vilain, it's not totally her fault.
4-Edward Hyde from Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde:Do I really have to justify myself here?
5-Perry Smith from Truman Capote's In Cold Blood: I will pull the James Frey card and say Smith is a character because Capote wrote him. There's nothing more disturbing than a bad guy you can't really hate.
6-Stebbins from Stephen King's Long Walk: King makes you develop an obsession about him at the same pace his character Ray Garraty does. Stebbins is like that kind in elementary school who thinks he does things better than everybody else.
7-Patrick Bateman in Brett Easton Ellis' American Psycho: I'm not completely in love with that book, but Bateman is so hollow he will resonate within you. That's quite the accomplishment.
8-HAL-9000 from Arthur C. Clarke's 2001:A Space Odyssey: Those who saw the movie will know what I'm talking about. A talking computer is cute. A talking computer who plots to kill you in deep space is another ball game.
9-Judge Holden from Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian: Apparently, McCarthy has a terrific knack for villains. This one is as terrifying as Chigurh but he's so over-the-top that it's hard to lend him as much credibility.
10-Tom Buchanan from F. Scott Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby: He's the definition of a manipulator. I think that reading The Great Gatsby is the first time I yelled out loud "Ah! FUCK THAT GUY"
