This week’s topic is ‘Who is your favourite antagonist/bad guy/villain in your books and why? What makes him/her tick?
My ‘bad’ guy is Ric from ‘The Daughter-in-law Syndrome‘, a Readers’ Favorite 5-star read.
I’d better not say what makes Ric Deane tick in ‘The Daughter-in-law Syndrome‘, as I would be giving away a spoiler, but suffice to say his wife Arla is at her wits’ end. Ric will never say anything to his mother Edna that she would not want to hear, and after 30 years of it, Arla wants to find out why Ric is seemingly frightened of his mother. She suggests counselling, but Ric would rather cut off his penis with a rusty breadknife than open up to a stranger about his marriage problems. However, to save their relationship he reluctantly lets Arla drag him along for marriage guidance therapy.
Edna is coming between Ric and Arla in a big way, interfering, picking her favourite grandchild from their children, and running roughshod over Arla’s feelings and ideas of child rearing. Arla complains to Ric, but he is not listening, and will not have a bad word said against his mother.
Just why Ric is so dense when it comes to Arla’s mother-in-law issues becomes clearer as scenes from his childhood are interwoven into the story.
Let’s see who the villains are in other blog-hoppers’ books by clicking the blue button below. You can even join in and tell us about your own:
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Interesting. Ric seems more like a pawn than a bad guy. I am intrigued by the monther-in-law, who seems to be manipulative and spiteful. Like, what is her deal?
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Jealousy mainly. Thanks for the re-blog, by the way.
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Reblogged this on Lyndell Williams.
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Thank you.
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Reblogged this on DSM Publications and commented:
Check out this open book blog hop with details in this post from Stevie Turner’s blog.
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Thanks Don.
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You’re welcome.
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Stevie, I’m not sure I would have pegged Ric as the bad guy. I think I might have picked Edna.
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True. The pair of them were not in Arla’s good books, so I chose one!
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Hmm, this might have to be the next book to read of yours. I think I have at least 3 more of your books on my Kindle now. 🙂
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Reblogged this on aurorawatcherak and commented:
Ric doesn’t sound like a villain at all, but like a man being torn apart by a battle between the two women he loves.Those are my sorts of “villain” … pitted against difficult circumstances and doing wrong things but not necessarily from evil intent.
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Thanks for the re-blog. It was difficult for me to choose a ‘villain’ as all my bad guys have similar problems to Ric – doing wrong things but not intentionally. There’s Edwin in A House Without Windows of course, but he is mentally ill – he has no idea he’s a bad guy.
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Yeah, I have a mentally ill character in Transformation Project series who was started as a bad guy, but he keeps surprising me, so I think he probably won’t go down as a villain … at least until his meds run out ….
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Relationships can definitely get out of hand! Can’t wait to read your book in the future!
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Thanks. I can put it up for review in the group for September/October if you like?
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That would be great, thanks!
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Reblogged this on anita dawes and jaye marie.
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Thanks for re-blogging!
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