Top Five Favourite Villains

[snowynight]

•  Deaf Man in Ed McBain's 87th Precinct Series. The Deaf Man is a modern police procedural version of Moriarty and Riddler. He is a cold-blooded and calculating crime mastermind with meticulously planned crimes but still may  fail because of chance. Ed McBain manages to sell him as a convincing but fallible threat to the titular precinct. 
• Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter: In the sense of "love to hate". I think her kind of evil is sadly so common in our world that it makes her one of the scariest villains in Harry Potter. 
• Seven of Spades in Seven of Spades series by Cordelia Kingsbridge: Seven of Spades is self titled vigilante and serial killer that haunts Las Vegas. They seem to target those who can escape the punishment of law and have a special connection with the main character, Detective Levi. It's incredible how they manage to be a credible threat with a surprising yet convincing identity reveal 
• Hannibal in Hannibal: Smart, manipulative and cold hearted serial killer. Very influential to later crime fiction. 
• Tom Ripley from The Talented Mr. Ripley: amoral but charming con artist and killer. He's a monster, but it's easy to want him to get away with it 

Comments

[garonne]

Oh, I love the 87th Precinct Series! And completely agree about the Deaf Man.

The only villain I am not familiar with here is Seven of Spades, but your description makes me want to check it out.

[snowynight]

Happy to see a fellow 87th precinct fan!

Seven of Spades is an original m/m series with good mystery plot. I really enjoy it,but Levi's lover has there a gambling addiction relapse plotline in book 3 and 4, which is realistic but heavy to me.