Top 5 Tuesday || Creepy Characters

Halloween is just around the corner, so let’s up the spooky factor, shall we?

For Top 5 Tuesday this month, most of the prompts Meeghan @ Meeghan Reads has set have been the open, wholesome sort! Today, though? Today, we’re diving into creepy characters, the ones that send a shiver down your spine and haunt you through the night. I wouldn’t want to meet any of these characters in a dark alley (or at all), and yet I’ve made a list of them all front and center!

This doesn’t work like urban legends, does it? Won’t summon them, will it? Because I’m a coward and a chicken and I am not equipped to handle anything scarier than someone shouting BOO from around the corner, you know? 😬

Naughty John from The Diviners by Libba Bray

Naughty John, Naughty John, does his work with his apron on…

Whether it’s because Naughty John is a ghost, a murdering ghost, or a murdering ghost with a creepy little rhyming ditty to accompany him, he’s one of my top creepy characters. Even though I’ve reread The Diviners often enough to remember where the story is going and what happens with Naughty John, he never fails to make me uneasy.

A success in the spooky department, that’s for sure!

 

Osaron from A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab

I’m not sure if creepy is the right word for Osaron, or if unsettling is better, but either way, A Conjuring of Light has one of the most disturbing antagonists ever, and I love him. He’s not creepy in the way Naughty John is, since his creepy factor comes more from his inevitable nature. And maybe that’s more terrifying than a murder ghost in the end. 😳

 

Clancy Gray from the Darkest Minds Series by Alexandra Bracken

I both want to stay very, very far away from Clancy Gray, and I want to dropkick him to the moon and watch him suffer. He’s such a sleazy character, and hides it under such a polished veneer that you extra hate him once you see his full depths. And sure, there’s a couple things you could take pity on him for, but at the end of the day? He likes getting in people’s heads (literally) and messing with their minds (also literally!), which makes him an easy contender for Creep of the Year.

 

The Demon King from the Girls of Paper and Fire Series by Natasha Ngan

The Demon King has spent years abusing his power and abusing the human girls he brings to his palace in Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan. He’s a rapist and a creep without a doubt, and his violent and controlling ways place him on this list permanently.

Here’s hoping he gets what’s coming for him at the end of the series, because a creep like him deserves the worst ending possible, and I’m eager to see Lei and Wren deliver that justice themselves!

 

Vera Nielsen from Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power

Listen, I can’t get into things about Burn Our Bodies Down without maybe venturing into spoilers, but this one? Oh man, if you know, you know. And it’s about twelve kinds of messed up and creepy.

Which seems to be what Rory Power’s career is built on, and I absolutely hope she does more of it! I’ll just…read her books in the daytime. 😰

 

Have I picked some creepy characters, or are these just Baby’s First Spooky Experiences? You tell me if there are other creepy characters I should be watching over my shoulder for! 😱