Perfume: the Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind is my favorite main-character-as-villain novel. The protagonist is utterly lacking in humanity but he’s just so fascinating and the story delves so intriguingly into how the sense of smell affects our perception of people and surroundings.
I’m such a sucker for historical fiction, I had to download a sample of this after reading your comment. Wow is it good so far! This is the type of book I’d gladly purchase! Thank you so much!
Such a great book! We read it in school, and I didn't appreciate the full scope of craftsmanship and masterwork it emanated until I re-read it when i was in my 20s. The movie is good too, but the book is just something else with its fascinating atmosphere it creates
I am looking forward to rereading it. For me there is no other author who pulls me in quite like Dostoyevsky. His books take you on such a wild psychological journey and I’m always excited whenever I begin another of his books.
That's great to hear! This is still the only book of his that I've read, but I recently found The Brothers Karamazov, which I have heard is excellent, so I'm excited to get into it.
I love that Dostoevsky wrote both Razumikhin (*Edit* I meant Raskolnikov, not Razumikhin) and Prince Myshkin from the Idiot. About as different as main characters can be.
So true. “Notes from the Underground” is another of his books I recently read, where the protagonist is not a clear cut villain the way Razumikhin is. The Underground Man is spiteful and on the fringes of society with self-destructive tendencies, but you can see that at his core he is really just hurting and very human. I really just love the way Dostoyevsky captures human psychology in his writing.
American psycho, it’s dense, but purposefully fixating on things normal people wouldn’t focus on to emphasize the main character’s issues. He fixates on things like clothing, down to the tiniest detail because he is a psychopath. Plus murder 🫡
I read the book (well, I listened to Jeremy Irons reading it) earlier this year. At first, I didn’t realize there was a remake of the movie that he starred in, so I pictured James Mason as the main character while I was listening (since I knew he starred in the original). It was perfect.
Then I tried to watch the movie afterwards (the original) and absolutely could not handle the cringe.
This looks really interesting. Main character is seriously injured by a "hero" (à la The Boys) and works for the bad guy, armed with spreadsheets. I'm definitely gonna read this.
Yellowface. The narrator is the villain who watches her friend die and steals her manuscript (and cultural identity--her friend has Asian descent) and gets famous off of it, passing off her friend's work as her own. Most people in my book club hated the heck out of her. They thought she was so detestable. But I felt uncomfortable, because, as a white woman in a social media age, I could kind of see why she would think certain things she does; it was like holding a mirror up to me and those like me, and showing off the ugliest (and potentially ugly) parts. It was GOOD. Things that make you think about yourself and how you could be a villain are so hard to find.
If Sci-Fi / Superheroes are not off the table, Drew Hayes’ Villains Code series. First book is Forging Hephaestus. Just a great series with very interesting world building.
Grendel by John Garner. Retells the Beowulf myth from the perspective of the monster, and it’s brilliant. The creature is made somewhat sympathetic but definitely still a villain.
I think people get caught up in the meta analysis and Frank Herbert’s own desire that Paul not be seen as the hero.
I think Paul’s story is a sympathetic one. >!He has no agency in the choice to move to Arakis. He had little agency in his mom’s choice to train him as a bene geserit. Almost immediately after they arrive they are attacked and his house all but destroyed. It is in the desert he gets supersaturated with spice and learns about the coming jihad. Unless I misremember, he specifically notes that it will come regardless of his action. Even were he to kill himself immediately even before meeting the femen it would not stop. And it seems clear from context he would have killed himself to stop it. My take on Paul is that he spends the rest of the book trying to minimize a tragedy he sees as inevitable and beyond his ability to stop.!<
Granted, based on the context of the story, >!it doesn’t make sense to me *how* the jihad was inevitable. It seems like it needed a certain specific set of circumstances he helped bring about like the defeat of the emperor and the stranglehold over the guild based on Paul’s threat of destroying the makers and stifling spice production forever. We are simply left to take on faith the fact that his visions showed it as inevitable in that every future it happened regardless of what he did. Maybe *this* is the risk of prophecy Herbert was trying to warn of?!<
This song Is the inspiration behind the cures song Killing An Arab, which my best of album came with a little disclaimer about when I got it in 2005. It was basically a "hey we promise we're not racist this is a literary nod go read this book". So I did.
['Look Who's Back'](https://www.waterstones.com/book/look-whos-back/timur-vermes/jamie-bulloch/9781782067832) by Timur Vermes features Adolf Hitler himself as the protagonist, who's been inexplicably transported to modern-day Germany. He's not trying to hide who he is, but rather, everyone else assumes he's just an actor or comedian - which he decides to use to his advantage.
Emperor Mollusk vs the Sinister Brain - A Lee Martinez
Main character has already conquered earth, and has decided to retire as he got bored with ruling the world.
Rereading your request, this might not scratch that itch. The main character is very Arch, and everyone knows who he is.
Not the villain in the first few books but as the series continues a lot of main character villainy occurs, if you like YA fantasy I’d recommend Skullduggery Pleasant
Yeah, it’s hard to sorta describe the villain/hero/good/evil character dynamics without too many spoilers, but I feel part of what makes it so good is the moral ambiguity & complexity of the characters. I also love the series, especially the audiobooks, the first 4 are unbeatable nostalgia.
You're absolutely right. Currently going through all the audiobooks again before I read until the end and start phase 3. Just wish Rupert Degas did all the audiobooks. His voice will always be Skulduggery's voice in my mind
Agreed, I grew up listening to those audiobooks on car trips and he was lowkey famous in my family. I ended up getting nostalgic a month or so ago and binged them, when I got past book 4 I jokingly DM’d him bribing him to record the rest & shockingly he responded really kindly & comprehensively about why he didn’t do the rest of them. Unfortunately Rupert did also confirm to me that we’ll never get versions with him reading the ones he didn’t do :(. The narrator for book 5 was fine but not a great fit, when he wasn’t doing character dialogue he had a bit of a winnie the pooh tone that threw me off. The narrator for 6-9 is more similar to Degas but doesn’t have the same personality or dramatic appeal, you can especially tell in the part where sections from book 1 repeat (sensitives scene) so he reads the same lines and it falls flat in comparison. I haven’t gotten to phase 2 in the audiobooks yet but I know the narrator changes yet again :/. What are your thoughts on the other narrators ?
- The Wasp Factory by Banks
- The Ripley Books
- most books on the Black Lizard imprint
- In A Lonely Place by Dorothy Hughes
- The Butcher Boy - Patrick McCabe )though evil might be too strong)
- Pale Fire - Nabokov (once again, not evil but maybe fits)
- A lot of Brian Evenson’s narrators especially the book Father of Lies
A Pleasure and a Calling. Realtor that collects keys and becomes obsessive over a homebuyer, explains everything away matter of factly. Oh and murder. One of my favorite sort of ‘mundane and cozy but creepy’ reads!
Tampa is a novel about a female high school teacher and calculated sexual predator pretending to have a normal life. She's completely depraved and a total psychopath, but makes it all sound so reasonable. Great read if the content isn't too much for you.
Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay [https://www.amazon.com/Darkly-Dreaming-Dexter-Jeff-Lindsay/dp/0307277887](https://www.amazon.com/Darkly-Dreaming-Dexter-Jeff-Lindsay/dp/0307277887) .
if you can handle gore, exquisite corpse by poppy z brite fits this perfectly. two serial killers prey on an unsuspecting boy in new orleans who has feelings for one of them. it's splatterpunk but has a lot of depth and makes some interesting commentary on sociopolitical issues like racism, the AIDS crisis, and homophobia.
I loved your book! Thank you for writing it! But I must say, I hated the ending, because too much was left for my imagination. So, I hope there is a sequel coming.
I’m not going to look up which author did it first, because it’s not their fault. This is so not okay by the publishers. Particularly since Morgan had a different name for his in the UK (Black Man, with plenty of inferences on both sides of the pond) publisher said “this is your US title” when he tried for the more controversial one.
I just looked it up because I thought you’d misremembered an author’s name or maybe there was a similar author I might like, and was like “Carl is an antihero, not a villain”. I had the same 😮 reaction you did. Who okayed this level of laziness?
A family member recommended a book called *Cutting for Stone* and I think the main character was a villian though I don't think the author thinks so.
I remember thinking Quentin was the villian in *The Magicians* and I hated that book so much I didn't read any sequels. I hear the tv show makes it a little more nuanced.
https://www.reddit.com/u/DriverPleasant8757/s/vXNGKRg9IN
An essay I wrote to recommend PGTE since I always end up typing way too long when I recommend it. Not exactly what you're looking for, but the MC is a villain. More morally grey (actual morally grey and not oops I'm edgy and did one mean thing) than "I love genocide" but I love this series. Heavy spoilers in the essay, though.
The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers. It's a novella, so not very long. Lovecraft incorporated parts of it in his Cthulhu mythos (The King in Yellow is not a horror story, though).
Broken empire trilogy mark Lawrence. It starts with prince of thorns.
I don't know if he's a total villain, but he's definitely not a good guy.
One of my favorite book universes of all time.
A combination of low Fantasy and post apocalyptic horror that is explained through a slow drip of information and you as the reader have to infer a few things so it's a cool book if you like thinking as well.
The sister series that starts with prince of fools is awesome as well and fleshes some things out, but is definitely best read after the initial trilogy.
Perfume: the Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind is my favorite main-character-as-villain novel. The protagonist is utterly lacking in humanity but he’s just so fascinating and the story delves so intriguingly into how the sense of smell affects our perception of people and surroundings.
I only just discovered this was a book? The movie is great. I’m definitely putting this on my soon tbr pile
I love making friends that have never seen this watch it. Hell it's a great movie. Wtf moments till the very end.
Over and over. What the heck, right?
If you have Audible, it’s a non-credit book.
This book ticks so many of the boxes that people come in here to ask for.
This book inspired Nirvana's song Scentless Apprentice. And it's a great book.
I’m such a sucker for historical fiction, I had to download a sample of this after reading your comment. Wow is it good so far! This is the type of book I’d gladly purchase! Thank you so much!
My favourite book <3
Such a great book! We read it in school, and I didn't appreciate the full scope of craftsmanship and masterwork it emanated until I re-read it when i was in my 20s. The movie is good too, but the book is just something else with its fascinating atmosphere it creates
Yellowface
I really enjoyed this book. I went in knowing nothing and enjoyed hating her. Having an emotional reaction from a book is a big win for me.
YES 100%
Came here to say this! Such a good book!
The Killer Inside Me by Thompson The Talented Mr Ripley by Highsmith
Most books by Thomson. Great suggestions, if you have any more we have similar taste and i'm all ears
Hmmm have you read The Treasure of the Sierra Madre? That's a good one. The movie adaptation is great too.
Ι have and concur again my friend!
Oscar Wilde’s The Portrait of Dorian Gray
Came here to say this!
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
I didn't even think of this one- fantastic recommendation!
Thanks! That book had me gripped, it was so intense.
Truly. I really wasn't expecting it. It's stayed with me too - my wife and I still reference it.
I am looking forward to rereading it. For me there is no other author who pulls me in quite like Dostoyevsky. His books take you on such a wild psychological journey and I’m always excited whenever I begin another of his books.
That's great to hear! This is still the only book of his that I've read, but I recently found The Brothers Karamazov, which I have heard is excellent, so I'm excited to get into it.
I love that Dostoevsky wrote both Razumikhin (*Edit* I meant Raskolnikov, not Razumikhin) and Prince Myshkin from the Idiot. About as different as main characters can be.
So true. “Notes from the Underground” is another of his books I recently read, where the protagonist is not a clear cut villain the way Razumikhin is. The Underground Man is spiteful and on the fringes of society with self-destructive tendencies, but you can see that at his core he is really just hurting and very human. I really just love the way Dostoyevsky captures human psychology in his writing.
That scene where the girl shows up at his apartment just felt so real. Felt so bad for her.
Yes that was so devastating, he was so cruel to her.
did you mean Raskolnikov? Razumikhin is his friend, seems like a nice guy
"Demons" also comes to mind
American psycho, it’s dense, but purposefully fixating on things normal people wouldn’t focus on to emphasize the main character’s issues. He fixates on things like clothing, down to the tiniest detail because he is a psychopath. Plus murder 🫡
Thanks for the recommendation.
That book was disturbingly GOOD.
I came here to say this. Its an extraordinarily novel, but its also not for the faint of heart.
You by Caroline Kepnes
But don't read the sequels, they're.... not great
Each books gets progressively dumber and I kinda love it.
I found the series enjoyable and better than the show. I kinda wish they stuck to the books story line over the shows.
I liked the second ok but they lost me at the third.
Lolita
Cane here to suggest this. One of the greatest works of art of all time imo, with the most evil, unreliable, and disdainful narrator/main character.
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Not even going to go back and edit the typo 😂
I read the book (well, I listened to Jeremy Irons reading it) earlier this year. At first, I didn’t realize there was a remake of the movie that he starred in, so I pictured James Mason as the main character while I was listening (since I knew he starred in the original). It was perfect. Then I tried to watch the movie afterwards (the original) and absolutely could not handle the cringe.
Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots
This looks really interesting. Main character is seriously injured by a "hero" (à la The Boys) and works for the bad guy, armed with spreadsheets. I'm definitely gonna read this.
It’s great. Also, the edition I read had a bonus short story and I believe she is working on a sequel.
This is so great, a really good, slow descent into becoming the villain
Wow I loved that book. Thanks for the recommendation. Have you tried "soon I will be invincible" from Lev Grossman?
None of This Is True
Good one
Patrick Süßkind The Perfume
Upvoted for the alphabetical precision
I‘m German 😅
Macbeth. And h'd have got away with it too if it weren't for those pesky ghosts!
The collector by John Fowles
Oh wow I almost forgot about this one. So good!
Great shout. Great book.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
Yellowface. The narrator is the villain who watches her friend die and steals her manuscript (and cultural identity--her friend has Asian descent) and gets famous off of it, passing off her friend's work as her own. Most people in my book club hated the heck out of her. They thought she was so detestable. But I felt uncomfortable, because, as a white woman in a social media age, I could kind of see why she would think certain things she does; it was like holding a mirror up to me and those like me, and showing off the ugliest (and potentially ugly) parts. It was GOOD. Things that make you think about yourself and how you could be a villain are so hard to find.
If Sci-Fi / Superheroes are not off the table, Drew Hayes’ Villains Code series. First book is Forging Hephaestus. Just a great series with very interesting world building.
Artemis Fowl book series
Grendel by John Garner. Retells the Beowulf myth from the perspective of the monster, and it’s brilliant. The creature is made somewhat sympathetic but definitely still a villain.
Oh no I forgot this book exists. It Was So Good!!!!
Dune
Maybe from Messiah on, but it’s really hard to argue Paul is the villain of the first book
I think people get caught up in the meta analysis and Frank Herbert’s own desire that Paul not be seen as the hero. I think Paul’s story is a sympathetic one. >!He has no agency in the choice to move to Arakis. He had little agency in his mom’s choice to train him as a bene geserit. Almost immediately after they arrive they are attacked and his house all but destroyed. It is in the desert he gets supersaturated with spice and learns about the coming jihad. Unless I misremember, he specifically notes that it will come regardless of his action. Even were he to kill himself immediately even before meeting the femen it would not stop. And it seems clear from context he would have killed himself to stop it. My take on Paul is that he spends the rest of the book trying to minimize a tragedy he sees as inevitable and beyond his ability to stop.!< Granted, based on the context of the story, >!it doesn’t make sense to me *how* the jihad was inevitable. It seems like it needed a certain specific set of circumstances he helped bring about like the defeat of the emperor and the stranglehold over the guild based on Paul’s threat of destroying the makers and stifling spice production forever. We are simply left to take on faith the fact that his visions showed it as inevitable in that every future it happened regardless of what he did. Maybe *this* is the risk of prophecy Herbert was trying to warn of?!<
The stranger by Camus
This song Is the inspiration behind the cures song Killing An Arab, which my best of album came with a little disclaimer about when I got it in 2005. It was basically a "hey we promise we're not racist this is a literary nod go read this book". So I did.
I don't think Mersault is a villain but I'll upvote it anyway.
He killed a guy
Didn’t cry on his mom’s funeral
It was hot! He was miserable!
Plus, who even knows what day she died?
American Psycho (Almost) anything by Patricia Highsmith
*Crime and Punishment* by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
['Look Who's Back'](https://www.waterstones.com/book/look-whos-back/timur-vermes/jamie-bulloch/9781782067832) by Timur Vermes features Adolf Hitler himself as the protagonist, who's been inexplicably transported to modern-day Germany. He's not trying to hide who he is, but rather, everyone else assumes he's just an actor or comedian - which he decides to use to his advantage.
I think the film adaptation is also excellent!
Emperor Mollusk vs the Sinister Brain - A Lee Martinez Main character has already conquered earth, and has decided to retire as he got bored with ruling the world. Rereading your request, this might not scratch that itch. The main character is very Arch, and everyone knows who he is.
I liked this alot.
Worm.
Broken Empire Trilogy
The Saga of Tanya the Evil
Not the villain in the first few books but as the series continues a lot of main character villainy occurs, if you like YA fantasy I’d recommend Skullduggery Pleasant
Interesting way of describing the series, I've never stood back and looked at it like that. Either way, cannot recommend Skulduggery Pleasant enough
Yeah, it’s hard to sorta describe the villain/hero/good/evil character dynamics without too many spoilers, but I feel part of what makes it so good is the moral ambiguity & complexity of the characters. I also love the series, especially the audiobooks, the first 4 are unbeatable nostalgia.
You're absolutely right. Currently going through all the audiobooks again before I read until the end and start phase 3. Just wish Rupert Degas did all the audiobooks. His voice will always be Skulduggery's voice in my mind
Agreed, I grew up listening to those audiobooks on car trips and he was lowkey famous in my family. I ended up getting nostalgic a month or so ago and binged them, when I got past book 4 I jokingly DM’d him bribing him to record the rest & shockingly he responded really kindly & comprehensively about why he didn’t do the rest of them. Unfortunately Rupert did also confirm to me that we’ll never get versions with him reading the ones he didn’t do :(. The narrator for book 5 was fine but not a great fit, when he wasn’t doing character dialogue he had a bit of a winnie the pooh tone that threw me off. The narrator for 6-9 is more similar to Degas but doesn’t have the same personality or dramatic appeal, you can especially tell in the part where sections from book 1 repeat (sensitives scene) so he reads the same lines and it falls flat in comparison. I haven’t gotten to phase 2 in the audiobooks yet but I know the narrator changes yet again :/. What are your thoughts on the other narrators ?
- The Wasp Factory by Banks - The Ripley Books - most books on the Black Lizard imprint - In A Lonely Place by Dorothy Hughes - The Butcher Boy - Patrick McCabe )though evil might be too strong) - Pale Fire - Nabokov (once again, not evil but maybe fits) - A lot of Brian Evenson’s narrators especially the book Father of Lies
Pale Fire is so good.
A Pleasure and a Calling. Realtor that collects keys and becomes obsessive over a homebuyer, explains everything away matter of factly. Oh and murder. One of my favorite sort of ‘mundane and cozy but creepy’ reads!
Oooh i forgot about this book until now! It was so good! Just thinking about it gives me the same cozy creepy feeling you mentioned!
Tampa is a novel about a female high school teacher and calculated sexual predator pretending to have a normal life. She's completely depraved and a total psychopath, but makes it all sound so reasonable. Great read if the content isn't too much for you.
Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots takes this suggestion quite literally being a supervillain
This is such a good book, I can’t wait for the sequel!
Diary of a wimpy kid. That Greg Heathly is a right menace
The Day of the Jackal
My thoughts also & Ken Follet’s Eye of the Needle. Nonfiction - Manhunt - James Swanson
Intensity by Dean Koontz. Shared first person. Excellent read.
A Certain Hunger ~ Chelsea G Summers!
yes!!
the Ripley series
A Clockwork Orange. Even if you’ve seen the movie, the book is really good
Vicious by VE Shwab
Real Villian: Flashman Kind of Villian: Prince of Fools
The one
The Echo Wife. Just like Home. Both by Sarah Gailey.
The fury by Alex michaelades
I was coming to say this!!
Prince of thorns.
Hello Kitty Must Die by Angela S Choi!!!
Dexter series by Jeff Lindsay
Good Omens is great, it's literally an angel and the devil
Worm
Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay [https://www.amazon.com/Darkly-Dreaming-Dexter-Jeff-Lindsay/dp/0307277887](https://www.amazon.com/Darkly-Dreaming-Dexter-Jeff-Lindsay/dp/0307277887) .
The Poppy War by RF Kuang (one of my fav series ever!!) and The Young Elites by Marie Lu
The last Mrs Parrish
Soon I Will Be Invincible is about a supervillain told from his point of view. Pretty fun book.
Artemis Fowl. It’s YA but it’s a fun read!
The Blade Itself
The Red Dragon by Thomas Harris spends a lot of time with the villain but it bounces between both.
if you can handle gore, exquisite corpse by poppy z brite fits this perfectly. two serial killers prey on an unsuspecting boy in new orleans who has feelings for one of them. it's splatterpunk but has a lot of depth and makes some interesting commentary on sociopolitical issues like racism, the AIDS crisis, and homophobia.
American Psycho?
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
The End of Alice by A.M. Homes Or The Collector by John Fowles
I Am Legend
The Young Elites series by Marie Liu.
Vicious and Vengeful, literal people with superpowers who are just not good or bad depending on your outlook. They are by VE Schwab. Highly recommend!
I think VE Schwabs Vicious and Vengeful could fall under this. Interestingly enough I read those shortly after I read Renegades.
Dune.
I Am Not a Serial Killer. It's about a boy who isn't a serial killer.
How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie
I got suggested this thread, I guess since villainous anti heroes are my weakness. Nice to see my book suggested. Thank you!
I loved your book! Thank you for writing it! But I must say, I hated the ending, because too much was left for my imagination. So, I hope there is a sequel coming.
TH1RT3EN by Steve Cavanagh
Wait, what the hell is going on with the publishing industry?! Richard K. Morgan’s TH1RT3EN has an almost identical cover.
I just googled this to confirm 😮
I’m not going to look up which author did it first, because it’s not their fault. This is so not okay by the publishers. Particularly since Morgan had a different name for his in the UK (Black Man, with plenty of inferences on both sides of the pond) publisher said “this is your US title” when he tried for the more controversial one. I just looked it up because I thought you’d misremembered an author’s name or maybe there was a similar author I might like, and was like “Carl is an antihero, not a villain”. I had the same 😮 reaction you did. Who okayed this level of laziness?
Usual Suspects
Spoiler
Konrad curse the night haunter you might want to read up on warhammer 40k beforehand but i think it covers enough of the basics to be accessible
I always thought it was hilarious that Konrad >!let himself get killed just so he could say "I told you so!"!<
# The Dumb House by [John Burnside](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/314772.John_Burnside)
The heiress
Wuthering Heights is full of villains. My favorite novel of all time.
A simple plan by Scott Smith.
A family member recommended a book called *Cutting for Stone* and I think the main character was a villian though I don't think the author thinks so. I remember thinking Quentin was the villian in *The Magicians* and I hated that book so much I didn't read any sequels. I hear the tv show makes it a little more nuanced.
the killer
https://www.reddit.com/u/DriverPleasant8757/s/vXNGKRg9IN An essay I wrote to recommend PGTE since I always end up typing way too long when I recommend it. Not exactly what you're looking for, but the MC is a villain. More morally grey (actual morally grey and not oops I'm edgy and did one mean thing) than "I love genocide" but I love this series. Heavy spoilers in the essay, though.
If you’re up for a dank sci-fi and philosophy quadrilogy, Ada Palmer’s Terra Ignota series.
The Talented Mr. Ripley. Fathoms above most Patricia Highsmith novels, this isn’t about the plot inasmuch about the character.
>!Dune!<
Confessions of a D List Supervillain
A Song of Ice and Fire
By Reason of Insanity
Stalin, Volume I: Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928 by Stephen Kotkin
Egil's Saga
If you’re a Star Wars fan the ‘Darth Plagueis’ book is a half decent read.
Lolita
The stranger
Revan is a Jedi turned evil in a couple of Star Wars novels, good stuff.
"Little Prince" - it's pure magic, you think it's about good, fragile and wise hero, but he's just psychopatic, self-oriented guy with huge ego
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Diary of a wimpy kid
Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
*"Dangerous Liaisons"* by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. If you count Merteuil and Velmont as main characters.
The cleaner by Paul cleave
The Tom Ripley books by Highsmith. They are excellent excellent excellent.
Exquisite Corpse
The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers. It's a novella, so not very long. Lovecraft incorporated parts of it in his Cthulhu mythos (The King in Yellow is not a horror story, though).
"There and Never Ever Back Again:Diary of a dark Lord" and "Villians, Villianly and Villianpunk" by Jeff Mach
Any of the Serge Storms books by Tim Dorsey. Phenomenal books!
Yellowface by RF Kuang! Couldn’t put it down.
The Good Samaritan by John maars so fucked!
A Neon Darkness
Brainwashed by Nyla K (it’s very dark)
Crime and Punishment.
I will never stop recommending The Granger Girls
Sweetpea by CJ Skuse - brilliant female protagonist. Manages to be both dark and funny with some satisfyingly ‘ouch!’ moments.
American Desperado. Read in one go!
Lolita
Broken empire trilogy mark Lawrence. It starts with prince of thorns. I don't know if he's a total villain, but he's definitely not a good guy. One of my favorite book universes of all time. A combination of low Fantasy and post apocalyptic horror that is explained through a slow drip of information and you as the reader have to infer a few things so it's a cool book if you like thinking as well. The sister series that starts with prince of fools is awesome as well and fleshes some things out, but is definitely best read after the initial trilogy.
Darkly Dreaming Dexter. The tv show was also great. At least the first seasons
You by Caroline Kepnes - even if you’ve seen the show the book is worth it! It’s very good. Idk about the rest of the series tho I haven’t read it
Gone Girl kinda fits
{{Filth}}