October Novel Prep Challenge

I like the idea but admit that the only books I know in which this has been done successfully (eg. the perfume) have either done:
a) made the villain sympathetic by describing his actions as a result of some form of trauma, therefore turning him or her into a victim themselves.
or by
b) just as in Othello, making the protagonist the stronger characters but drawing the reader in through his or her attachment to the victims.

Which of the paths would you take?