Book Review - The Quiet Tenant by Clémence Michallon

Title: The Quiet Tenant
Series: -
Author: Clémence Michallon
 
Description: Aidan Thomas is a hard-working family man and a somewhat beloved figure in the small upstate New York town where he lives. He’s the kind of man who always ends a hand and has a good word for everyone. But Aidan has a dark secret he’s been keeping from everyone in town and those closest to him. He’s a kidnapper and serial killer. Aidan has murdered eight women and there’s a ninth he has earmarked for death: Rachel, imprisoned in a backyard shed, fearing for her life.
 
When Aidan’s wife dies, he and his thirteen-year-old daughter Cecilia are forced to move. Aidan has no choice but to bring Rachel along, introducing her to Cecilia as a “family friend” who needs a place to stay. Aidan is betting on Rachel, after five years of captivity, being too brainwashed and fearful to attempt to escape. But Rachel is a fighter and survivor, and recognizes Cecilia might just be the lifeline she has waited for all these years. As Rachel tests the boundaries of her new living situation, she begins to form a renuous connection with Cecilia. And when Emily, a local restaurant owner, develops a crush on the handsome widower, she finds herself drawn into Rachel and Ceceilia’s orbit, coming dangerously close to discovering Aidan’s secret.
 
Review: “The Quiet Tenant” took the reading community by storm. I’ve been seeing this book everywhere and I was super intrigued. I gets raving reviews and I had very high expectations. Dangerous, always. But fortunately it did not disappoint.
 
While story itself is not super original, the way it is told is. The trapped woman is no longer herself. To survive, she has to leave her own identity behind and sort of stepped outside of herself. This is why we read the story from the you-perspective. She is talking to herself because she is no longer herself: she is Rachel.
 
The start of the story is also very well done. Thrillers regularly have a set structure, but author Clémence Michallon does something different here. We step into the middle of a situation that has been going on for some time. We get very little clarity and the situation remains a mystery for a long time. Only small bits of information are given, just as Rachel remains in the dark for a long time. The tension she feels is unavoidable as a reader. She must survive. We are sucked into the brainwashing that has taken place and experience, to the point of frustration, how this man was able to destroy a woman. This manipulative man playing a psychological game while managing to disguise himself as the perfect father, husband and citizen.
 
“The Quiet Tenant” is intense and hard to put down. A hyped thriller that really lives up to the expectations I had. Would recommend.
 
Rating: 4, 5/ 5