Clown in a Cornfield

Sheriff George Dunne is the central antagonist of the novel. Dunne is respected by the town’s adult population. During his first appearance in Chapter 4, the Eatery falls into a hush upon the sheriff’s arrival. Quinn observes that this reaction “didn’t seem like fear exactly, but the same kind of star power Cole had exhibited at school” (71). His popularity allows him to usurp social authority from the town mayor, Harlan Jaffers. The usurpation is symbolically represented when Harlan becomes the first victim of the Frendo killings.

Dunne is motivated by his ideological belief that the youth of Kettle Springs are morally corrupt. He compares them to a “blighted crop” of corn that needs to be culled in order to revive Kettle Springs. Dunne’s motivations fit into the pattern of stereotypical slasher villains, who moralize the actions of teenagers as justification for their deaths. To actualize his theory, Dunne manipulates the town’s adult population into accepting his ideology. He organizes the Kettle Springs Improvement Society to weaponize his peers’ resentment of the teenagers and open them to the idea of inciting violence. This strategy enables Dunne to recruit the industrialist Arthur Hill into his scheme, weaponizing his resentment against Cole for the death of his daughter, Victoria, and the destruction of the Baypen factory to support the Frendo killings. Ironically, Dunne’s ultimate plan is to frame Cole, Quinn, and Rust for the killings. His willingness to pin the massacre on them speaks to his awareness of the moral value of his actions.

Apart from his psychological characterization, Dunne is also defined by his imposing physical form. It is possible that he is the Frendo killer who attacks Tucker in his home, since this killer is described as being larger than Tucker himself. His ability to overcome Tucker in physical combat makes him impossible for the other teens to overcome. He is, nevertheless, killed by Quinn, having been weakened by his accumulated wounds over the night of the massacre.

Cole Hill is a secondary protagonist and a potential romantic interest for Quinn. He is a popular, handsome teenager who plays football at his school. Cesare strays away from the stereotype that this paints Cole into by giving him qualities that are characteristic of antiheroes.

The first time he appears in the prologue, he is a carefree and reckless teenager, breaking into a reservoir to throw a party that he livestreams on his YouTube channel. The accidental death of his sister catalyzes a stark shift in his behavior. When he reappears in Chapter 2, he is presented as a dark, brooding figure accused of arson. Cole feels remorse for his past actions, but he is also struggling to reconcile them against the town’s assertion that things used to be better in the past and that he should be repressed for his attempts to have fun. It is implied that Cole burned down his family’s corn syrup factory as a suicide attempt, though he asserts that he resented the factory for being a stale reminder of the town’s idealized past. When discussing the barn party in Chapter 3, Cole asserts that the party is an act of defiance against the town’s older generations.

Cole’s character flaw is his savior complex, which he developed after Victoria’s death. Whenever he finds himself in the position to save others’ lives, he acts without thinking about how he might be putting himself and others at risk. Because Matt and Ronnie are the ones who point out this character flaw, they are able to take advantage of it as minor antagonists.

Cole is vindicated when he realizes that the Frendo killings were planned to spite him. His father Arthur’s involvement in the killings, as well as Dunne’s exposition of his master plan, assures Cole that there is no real fault in his behavior and that the older generation is avoiding the responsibility for the current state of Kettle Springs. Once he survives the night of the massacre, he uses his inherited wealth to redevelop the town, proving that he can actually contribute to the well-being of its residents.

Ruston “Rust” Vance is an ally to Quinn and Cole. He is characterized as a loner who exists outside the milieu that Cole and his friends inhabit. He is coded as having conservative political beliefs, thanks to his position on gun ownership and hunting. His comfort around the topic of killing animals distances him from Quinn, even though they initially hit it off during their first meeting in Chapter 2. This complicates the possibility of Rust functioning as a potential romantic interest for Quinn, creating a love triangle between them and Cole.

Cesare uses the tension between Rust and Quinn to keep Rust’s moral affinities ambiguous until the climax of the novel. Rust and Cole were previously close as children, but when Cole started to play football at school, he and Rust started to grow apart. Given the late novel revelation that Rust has romantic feelings for Cole, it could be suggested that Rust retreated into his isolationist hobbies in order to repress the pain of their strained relationship. The first time Rust and Cole interact in the novel, they relitigate their past, teasing each other about the separate paths their lives have taken. At first, Rust and Cole appear to be rivals with one another. When Rust leaves his conversation with Quinn and Cole, he reminds Quinn to “stay safe,” a greeting that takes on an ominous mood in the context of the imminent attack.

Rust conveniently evades engagement with the Frendo killers, suggesting the possibility that he could be working with them. He claims that he was able to retrieve his guns from his truck, even after the killer broke into his truck and failed to see the weapons inside. Later, it is ambiguous whether he survived the explosion at the silo. The novel leaves Rust’s fate open until he returns during the climax to save Quinn and Cole from Dunne and Janet’s stepdad. Given his close brushes with death and the antagonism of the town elders, he feared would judge him, Rust figures that there is no longer any point in hiding his true feelings. He kisses Cole after saving him, and the two soon enter into a relationship.