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Q&A Can a successful book series let the bad guy win?

Yes. A sterling example is the "Parker" series of books by Donald Westlake, written under the pen name Ricard Stark. Parker is a "bad guy" but the protagonist of the series, and always wins in the...

posted 5y ago by Wastrel‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T12:19:27Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/46314
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Wastrel‭ · 2019-12-08T12:19:27Z (almost 5 years ago)
Yes.

A sterling example is the "Parker" series of books by Donald Westlake, written under the pen name Ricard Stark. Parker is a "bad guy" but the protagonist of the series, and always wins in the end, usually against the odds. These books challenge the notion of what a "bad guy" is, which is what you must do in your books if your bad guy is going to win.

> A ruthless career criminal, Parker has almost no traditional redeeming qualities, aside from efficiency and professionalism. Parker is callous, meticulous, and perfectly willing to commit murder if he deems it necessary. (wikipedia)

See [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parker\_(Stark\_novels\_character)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parker_(Stark_novels_character)) or even better, read a couple of these books.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-06-27T14:53:03Z (over 5 years ago)
Original score: 0