Hello and Happy Halloween from the Killer Reads team. In the spirit of today’s festivities (and also the release of the new Bond movie), my question to the KR team this morning was “Who’s your favourite bad guy?” Read on for their brilliant answers and your chance to win a special treat…
Sarah Hodgson: Blofeld remains the all-time classic supervillain. As well as vast wealth and far-reaching influence, he also has a very cool cat.
Kate Stephenson: Best villain (not sure it’s correct to say my favourite, because I hated this guy with the passion of a thousand suns): Col. Hans Landa as played by Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds. That apple strudel scene with Shosanna – so incredibly unsettling. Actually, just all the scenes with him in them. Such a talented actor.
Laura Deacon: My favourite bad guy (if favourite is the right word!) would have to be Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men, excellently played by Javier Bardem. A hitman extraordinaire and one of the most chilling faces I’ve ever seen in film. This is a killer who will keep you awake at night!
Katie Sadler: My favourite bad guys are both from Game of Thrones. Number one is Joffrey. NEVER have I ever wanted to kill off a character so badly. He is evil down to his very core. Number two is Ramsay Bolton, the bastard son of Dreadfort. Terrifying character who hunts people in the forests outside his castle. I would not like to come across him a dark alleyway. Or anywhere else, really!
Francesca Eames: Ratigan’s sidekick Fidget from Basil the Great Mouse Detective has haunted my dreams since I was a child. He has always been the epitome of evil in my eyes and no bad guy has yet come close to the terror that Fidget has instilled in me from the age of 6. It’s hard for me to say he’s my favourite but he is 
by far the most terrifying fictional evil character I have ever encountered.
Amy Winchester: It’s got to be Heathcliff, right?! So, so disturbed and yet so, so attractive…
Natasha Hughes: My favourite bad guy has to be Lucifer in Milton’s Paradise Lost, is it rather worrying to say that he is a man after my own heart? I too would want to overthrow God, would be banished from heaven, and then spend the rest of my life lamenting/being jealous…this just got a little too deep, so I’d like to throw in the Sanderson sisters from Hocus Pocus.
Emad Akhtar: Well, I thought long and hard about this. Weirdly I found very few bad guys I’m actually scared of, and many, many more who I relate to. Most of the time (Tuesdays–Sundays) I’m not a particularly bloodthirsty person, so I don’t want to see anyone get their violent, fatal come-uppance. OK, maybe some of the cast of Made in Chelsea, but that’s my fault for accidentally watching it whenever it’s on. This might be a curveball but I’m going to have to go with Godzilla, my favourite thing bar none as a child. Tyrannical, destructive, misunderstood, reptilian – story of my life…
Helen Bolton: As of Friday, I have a new favourite baddie: Raoul Silver from the new Bond film, Skyfall. He’s swinging off his hinges that one, and there’s no telling what he’ll do next. Plus, anyone who thinks it’s ok to remove all their teeth in public is always going to give you the creeps. Unless it’s your grandma.
And finally, with the giving of treats so commonly associated with this day of wickedness and witchery we want to hear who your favourite bad guy is and why. So send through your answers to our Killer Reads Facebook page or email us at killerreads@harpercollins.co.uk. The best 4 will receive a signed copy of The Key by Simon Toyne.
