# Books written solely from the villain's perspective **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 30, 2013, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-solely-from-the-villains-perspective/677461 "2013-12-30T05:06:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-solely-from-the-villains-perspective/677461/21 "2013-12-30T14:02:15Z")
Dostoyevsky’s _Notes From Underground_, although “villain” might be a bit strong to describe the character. Iain Banks’ _The Wasp Factory_ John Fowles’ _The Collector_ starts and ends from the villains point of view, but has a middle section from the point of view of the victim. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-solely-from-the-villains-perspective/677461/22 "2013-12-30T14:09:17Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > So, is a villain the same as an anti-hero? _Confessions of a D-List Super-villain_ is similar to _Soon I Will Be Invincible_, but I think of the protagonists as the latter. An excellent question. In the cases of the “my side” novels, like the Dracula and King Kong ones I list above, the character is clearly the villain in the original work. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-solely-from-the-villains-perspective/677461/23 "2013-12-30T14:27:41Z")
**American Psycho** by Bret Easton Ellis, although Bateman’s more an anti-hero. I know it’s not a book but I wonder if **Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog** would qualify? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-solely-from-the-villains-perspective/677461/24 "2013-12-30T14:33:25Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > So, is a villain the same as an anti-hero? _Confessions of a D-List Super-villain_ is similar to _Soon I Will Be Invincible_, but I think of the protagonists as the latter. > [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > You could argue that _Flashman_ is an antihero instead of a villain, but, yeah, no. > [@CalMeacham](#): > > An excellent question. In the cases of the “my side” novels, like the Dracula and King Kong ones I list above, the character is clearly the villain in the original work. > [@Gyrate](#): > > **American Psycho** by Bret Easton Ellis, although Bateman’s more an anti-hero. > > I know it’s not a book but I wonder if **Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog** would qualify? If we’re including anti-heroes, Andrew Vachss’s Burke series is told in first person by Burke, a very anti-hero character. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-solely-from-the-villains-perspective/677461/25 "2013-12-30T15:04:58Z")
“For Love of Evil”, the sixth book in Piers Anthony’s _Incarnations of Immortality_ series. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-solely-from-the-villains-perspective/677461/26 "2013-12-30T15:12:19Z")
Jean Rhys wrote the Wide Sargasso Sea which is a “prequel” to Jane Eyre from Rochester’s wife’s perspective. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-solely-from-the-villains-perspective/677461/27 "2013-12-30T15:20:34Z")
There’s always Jeff Lindsay’s **Dexter** series. The TV series was inspired by (heck, the first season absolutely paralleled) the first book, but the books and TV series seriously parted ways immediately thereafter. Dexter occasionally breaks some laws to do what he feels is the right thing. You know, laws like the one against cold-blooded murder. By the way, you might want to pretend that the third book in the series doesn’t exist. It’s a major misfire. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-solely-from-the-villains-perspective/677461/28 "2013-12-30T15:23:01Z")
I never read the book and it’s been a long time since I’ve seen the movie _and_ I assume this isn’t quite what the OP had in mind since it’s not like we’re going and following the villain as he commits his crimes, but how about _Dead Man Walking_. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-solely-from-the-villains-perspective/677461/29 "2013-12-30T15:52:42Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Jack Vance’s “Cugel the Clever” books – “The Eyes of the Overworld” and “Cugel’s Saga” – are written from the point of view of a nasty, greedy, cheating, stealing, rat-bastard of a rogue, a con-man, liar, snitch, and oathbreaker of the first water. If that counts, I’m culturally required to point both Lazarillo and El Buscón. [This Penguin edition](http://www.amazon.com/Two-Spanish-Picaresque-Novels-Lazarillo/dp/B000JZGK64/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1388418684&sr=8-3) gets you both together! ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-solely-from-the-villains-perspective/677461/30 "2013-12-30T15:56:42Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > If that counts, I’m culturally required to point both Lazarillo and El Buscón. [This Penguin edition](http://www.amazon.com/Two-Spanish-Picaresque-Novels-Lazarillo/dp/B000JZGK64/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1388418684&sr=8-3) gets you both together! I was going to mention El Lazarillo! 🙂 At least he occasionally gets punished, though. ---
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-solely-from-the-villains-perspective/677461/31 "2013-12-30T16:06:25Z")
Peter Watts short story “The Things” is a retelling of the ill fated arctic outpost from the monsters perspective. I think it’s in his newest collection, “Beyond the Rift” ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-solely-from-the-villains-perspective/677461/32 "2013-12-30T16:06:44Z")
How about [Wicked](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked:_The_Life_and_Times_of_the_Wicked_Witch_of_the_West)? ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-solely-from-the-villains-perspective/677461/33 "2013-12-30T16:09:29Z")
> [@Alba](#): > > **The Gentleman Bastard** series by **Scott Lynch**. > > It’s about thieves; they are trained to steal, do elaborate plans. Set in a fantasy world. I am currently greatly enjoying reading book 2. They’re certainly very naughty boys, but I don’t know as I’d call them “the villain.” It’s all a matter of perspective, and from theirs (and thus, the reader’s), they’re anything but. The Grey King is the villain in the first book; I’m sure they’ve got others in the latter books. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-solely-from-the-villains-perspective/677461/34 "2013-12-30T16:14:16Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > An excellent question. In the cases of the “my side” novels, like the Dracula and King Kong ones I list above, the character is clearly the villain in the original work. Technically, that also fits the aforementioned Flashman; he’s the bully who antagonizes our hero in _Tom Brown’s School Days_ before getting expelled for drunkenness, and the idea is that he’s now narrating his adventures for us – as an unrepentant coward who rapes and cheats his way through the novel while lacking even the decency to pay up once the offer of a bribe has already gotten the job done. ---
**Author:** ![Pixel\_Dent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@Pixel\_Dent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixel_Dent)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-solely-from-the-villains-perspective/677461/35 "2013-12-30T16:48:12Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > How about [Wicked](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked:_The_Life_and_Times_of_the_Wicked_Witch_of_the_West)? And the same author wrote “Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister” ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-solely-from-the-villains-perspective/677461/36 "2013-12-30T17:39:08Z")
Jesse Bullington’s _The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart_ has the titular brothers steal and murder their way across medieval Europe and the Middle East, always just a few steps ahead of a literal pack of demons called up in revenge by the survivors of their vile enterprises. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-solely-from-the-villains-perspective/677461/37 "2013-12-30T17:40:38Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > How about [Wicked](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked:_The_Life_and_Times_of_the_Wicked_Witch_of_the_West)? I don’t know, don’t you think Elphaba comes off too sympathetic to be a true villain in this story? ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-solely-from-the-villains-perspective/677461/38 "2013-12-30T17:42:47Z")
A while since I read them but the Bernie Rhodenbarr (Burglar series) books by Lawrence Block. ---
**Author:** ![Strassia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@Strassia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strassia)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-solely-from-the-villains-perspective/677461/39 "2013-12-30T18:03:09Z")
In the superhero deconstruction [From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain](http://www.amazon.com/Notebooks-Dr-Brain-Minister-Faust/dp/0345466373) the narrator is strongly implied to be an escaped supervillian with mind control powers. ---
**Author:** ![Gulo\_gulo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bcef8e/32.png) [@Gulo\_gulo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gulo_gulo)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-solely-from-the-villains-perspective/677461/40 "2013-12-30T19:02:13Z")
\*Banewreaker \*and _Godslayer_ by Jacqueline Carey. In my opinion, it’s basically LOTR told by the bad guy’s POV. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-solely-from-the-villains-perspective/677461.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-written-solely-from-the-villains-perspective/677461.md?page=3)