Heart pounding thriller that left me on the edge of my seat. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one. Definitely one of the best books this year.

I'm marking this book at three stars when it's a 3.5 for me. I felt this book was well-written with three points of view. Aiden's captive, Aiden's daughter and a new target, Emily. I had to reduce stars for personal feelings, so my review may not be representative of how you may feel. The majority of the book was written from Rachel's POV, the captive of five years. You of course can't imagine what it would be like to live through that and I'm very thankful there was no detail on his nightly visits because this book was bad enough with the creep and disgusting factors. While it was well-written, Aiden seemed to be a combination of conflicting psychoses which at the time you're reading the book you're just deep in that horrible world and it wasn't until aftering finishing the book that I realized this. He had to be a sociopath for most of what he did and a narcissist for other parts and a paranoid schizophrenic for others. In this respect, the book was not believable because if it's possible to be afflicted with all of these, there's no way he would be able to function in society, let alone juggle all of the balls of his sick and twisted choices while presenting his perfect persona to the town. I honestly felt like I needed a shower everytime I read more of the book. The author did well with the reveal and POV timelines, moving you closer and closer to the explosive ending.

Thank you to Knopf Publishing Group and Netgalley for providing an advance digital copy. All thoughts expressed are my honest opinion.

Mind blowing twisty thriller of the year! I was so surprised by this one and I loved every creepy second of it!! Aidan is dad of the year - a new widower and single dad. Everyone in town loves him. He’s the go to guy whenever you need help. What people don’t know is the issue, and he is precise in everything including what he shares with the people in town. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this gem of a thriller!

This is such a complex story and I really enjoyed listening to the audiobook. The characters and their motivations are fascinating. It's not a fast-paced thriller, but a mildly creepy psychological mind twister and it's going to stay with me. Give yourself time to let this one absorb and percolate.

The Quiet Tenant by Clemence Michallon

Characters: 5/5
Plot: 5/5
Pace: 5/5
Suspense: 5/5
Overall Enjoyment: 5/5

OMG! This is it! The book that has put all others on the back burner….so to speak. I was engrossed, intrigued, and so entertained to the point that I neglected everything and everyone until I finished the book. It is a 5 star psychological thriller that mystery readers wish they could read everyday. I had never heard of this author and so when I read this book, I did so blindly. Oh but it turned out to be the best book I have read period. It I digress, let’s get to the good stuff so enough about me…..

This is definitely pulse pounding as the blurb states. Told by multiple POV’s it tells the story of a serial killer. A serial killer that is not exactly what you, the reader would expect. Or maybe that is how the author wants to tell the story. Aiden is a great dad, husband, and well known in his community. Sadly though, his wife passes away and he is left to raise their daughter Cecilia. This puts things in motion and really starts to push the story forward. Aiden must move he and his daughter but there is one dark secret that he must figure out how to handle. What to do with the woman who has been imprisoned in his shed. Her name is Rachel, and he has kept her as a prisoner for almost 5 years. Aiden is betting on the fact that during those years, Rachel has been brainwashed not to leave and he feels sure she won’t try to escape. However, Rachel is tougher than he gives credit for. During her captivity, and after the move, she has seen Cecelia and thinks that she might just be her help to get away from Aiden. Then we meet Emily who developed a crush on Aiden and begins to enter his world but will she see the evil that Aiden possesses? Or will she fall victim to his conquests?

The characters alone are very interesting, well developed, realistic, and after finding out whomAiden really is…..creepy. The reader is told the story by alternating the different POV perspectives together. It is done so well that as you are reading you do not realize that the the change has occurred other than knowing it is either Cecilia, Emily or Aiden. The author is a very talented writer who has written a thriller that is very unique. There is tension that pulls you and twists and turns that guide you but overall it is the writing and the excitement to see how this will end is what keeps you. If you enjoy reading psychological thrillers with serial killers, kidnapping, great men with terrible secrets then this is a book you NEED to pick up. The is by far THE BEST BOOK I HAVE READ! And it most certainly will be the best book you have red also…….

Release Date June 20, 2023

Thank you to NetGalley but also to the author and publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my unbiased and honest review.



Alternating perspectives

A woman held captive, a beloved man in the community, a thirteen year old girl that has lost her mother, a restaurant owner on the cusp of a new romance. WOW! Michallon has us completely riveted with her brilliant, cleverly written debut. Pulse pounding, complex and bone-chilling, this book is slow building, nerve-wracking and will have you riveted until the very last word! Looking forward to MUCH MORE from Michallon. Thank you to Knopf and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

Excellent thriller! A game of cat and mouse where you aren’t quite sure what the end game looks like.

The book alternates POVs between a woman locked in a shed, and a bartender. But really, any book that begins with a woman locked in a shed in the thriller book world? Absolute yes from me.

This book did an amazing job of showing the grit and perseverance that women have, how easy it is to think everything is just fine, how commonly we let down our guard…and the deadly consequences that can result.

Must read if you haven’t already!

Aidan Thomas is beloved by his small upstate New York community because he is a great guy. Need your freezer fixed? Count on Aidan. Car trouble? Count on Aidan. Need a hand running with the local community charity event? Aidan is there. He is also a great family man and a pillar of the community. However, Aidan isn't who they think he is. But there is another side to Aidan which no one knows. He's a kidnapper and serial killer.

Rachel is the woman in the shed and Aidan's longest kept victim. Rachel's name is not Rachel.

Emily took over the local restaurant/bar when her father suddenly passed away. Aidan comes in every Tuesday and Thursday and orders the same drink. A cherry Coke. Emily has had a crush on Aidan since she was young. Emily does not know that she is Aidan's intended next victim.

Cecilia is Aidan's teenage daughter. She has recently lost her mother and she has no idea that her father is a monster. Aidan does a fantastic job of hiding that side of him from her and maintains a pretty normal family life with her.

I stayed up way too late for 2 days reading this book. It is a bit of a slow-burn but it is worth the wait much like Rachel's plan to escape. I liked that her character is very believable, real, smart, and not impulsive although there was a scene where I lost my patience with her.

The one point deduction was for Emily's character who rubbed me the wrong way. I'm not sure what I was supposed to feel for her but her behavior was creepy and obsessive. She's as much of a stalker as Aidan. I thought it was pretty funny that they were both stalking each other! Maybe they were actually perfect for one another. I also thought that the author was a little too verbose at times with her descriptions.

This is the author's debut novel and I recommend it if you are into psychological thrillers. It kept me on the edge of my seat and rooting for Rachel. I also liked that some attention was brought to other cases of missing women although they were not mentioned by names.

Thank you to Netgalley and Knopf Publishing Group for the advanced copy of this book!

The multiple POVs and the story as a whole worked so well. This book sucked me in and I couldn't stop reading it.

If this book isn't on your radar, it definitely should be!

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Knopf, Patheon, Vintage & Anchor for an advance copy!

Creepy and dark at the same time with hiw the author wrote it which made me enjoy it even more then I thought I would, because you have no idea who is one of the characters that is telling the story and makes you question everything from start to finish

This book hooked me pretty quick…..the need to know what will happen to Rachel. You find out Aiden the unassuming and loved by all the town is a rapist and a murderer. He has Rachel tied up in his shed, but when his wife dies and he moves what a guy to do. Well he’s makes the victim his “tenant “ so his twelve year old daughter doesn’t become suspicious…. This book is thrilling, dark twisty and I loved it.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy of this book!
I can’t believe how incredibly well this book captures a character as told by everyone around him. This book was excellent! Multiple points of view are written spectacularly, but most impressive is how the author tells us so much about a pivotal character through the words and experiences of other women in his life. This work is truly spectacular and has so much to teach writers and authors about character and plot.

Absolutely loved this thriller. It was unique, well written and riveting, easily holding my attention to the final page. This will make an excellent book club pick as there is much to discuss thanks to the author's perceptive storytelling, well developed characters and spot on pacing. An excellent read that I look forward to recommending to my patrons.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Aidan Thomas appears to be everyone's favorite community member, friend of everyone, single dad, and always willing to lend a hand. But he has a dark secret: not only is he a serial killer, but he has had a woman locked in his garden shed for 5 years. Alternating POVs between the imprisoned woman, Aidan's 13-year-old daughter, and a local young woman who has had a crush on Aidan for years, the story comes to a climax after Aidan and his daughter have to move homes, bringing the imprisoned woman with them, and Aidan's secret unravels. The story reminded me a lot of Emma Donoghue's blockbuster hit ROOM. The chapters told from the imprisoned woman's perspective were written in second person, which always leaves me unsettled as a reader, and I think that was the author's intention. Although there were a few minor plot holes, overall this book kept me turning pages and I read it in just two days.

The Quiet Tenant begins with an intriguing premise: three perspectives about a man named Aidan Thomas. The first perspective is told from a woman being held captive by Thomas, handcuffed in his backyard shed. The second perspective is a woman named Emily, a local woman who owns a restaurant and has a romantic interest in Thomas. Lastly is the perspective of Cecilia, Thomas' 13-year old daughter. To the town, Thomas is the all-around nice guy, always willing to lend a helping hand. He lives a quiet, private life and to outside eyes, he's a loving, protective father grieving the recent passing of his wife. The three perspectives show a very different man: a serial killer, a lover, a father. The way these perspectives connect will keep the reader turning pages until the very end.

I found this book to be cleverly written and intriguing. By the final chapters, I could not put the book down. What an intense ending!

There was one perspective that I would have appreciated at the end but was certainly not unsatisfied with the resolution of the book.

Overall, I would recommend this to anyone who likes a psychological thriller.

This story does a great job of getting inside the head of a woman abducted for five years. Things get interesting when the abductor needs to move and take her with him. Nice character development but obviously a bit sad...she's a survivor however! New author for me.

“Don't you recognize me? Can you really slip away from the world, like falling through the surface of a frozen lake, and no one even remembers to look for you?”

The Quiet Tenant is Clémence Michallon’s debut novel; and let me tell you, it was brilliant! Michallon mentions in her acknowledgments that it took her a decade to write this spectacular thriller, and boy am I glad she did!

Told by multiple POVs: Emily, a slightly bananas, restaurant owner, who has a crush on Adian; Rachel, the woman Adian has kidnapped and locked up in his backyard shed; and Cecilia, Adian’s thirteen-year-old daughter. Who is Adian? A lineman by day, a deranged, kidnapper and serial killer by night.

Y’all, if you can hang in there for the ride that this dark, spine-chilling, not for the faint of heart, thriller will take you on, I promise it will be worth it! Now, this will be a challenge; The Quiet Tenant is written differently than ANYTHING I have ever read! But once you get it, this novel will have you on the edge of your seat! Prepare to bite off every fingernail!

I will be haunted by The Quiet Tenant for the foreseeable future and will be recommending it to all the thriller fans! I can’t wait to see what Clémence Michallon’s does next!

⚠️ As always be mindful of trigger warnings

I feel like I’m a harsh critic when it comes to thrillers, but The Quiet Tenant worked for me. I loved Michallon’s framework for this story, how it begins with a serial killer who has one victim he’s kept alive for over five years, focusing the story on her captivity and not the actual capture. She is not named until the end and the lack of a backstory there ended up serving the storyline well. We also get the perspective of the killer’s daughter and girlfriend. The biggest thing that didn’t work for me was the actions of one of the characters in the latter half of the book felt a bit unbelievable, but still an enjoyable thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat.

4⭐️ Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC.

[Thank you to Netgalley & the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for my unbiased review]

You got multiple POV’s, you got a father living a double life, you got high stakes, and you got fantastic writing.

This is finally a thriller that has genuinely given me anxiety about how real the danger feels in this story. It’s a terrifying reminder that we are all capable of being the 3 women in this story, and yet I couldnt put it down.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 / 4.5 stars

I'm calling it. This book is going to be in my final top reads of the year. It's definitely topping my thriller list thus far.

I loved the author's use of multiple POVs:
- Serial Killer
- Captive
- Daughter
- Girlfriend

And then there's the previous victims recounting the last few moments of their lives, tucked in amongst the POVs intermittently.

All together it creates this really immersive experience and a truly impressive debut.

It's clever and spine chilling, the way this monster blends in to society so easily. It definitely raises the question of, how well can you really know someone?

If you like a great thriller that feels as real and plausible as a true crime with heart-pounding suspense, this one is a must read!

Many thanks to NetGalley, Knopf with Penguin Random House, and the author for this digital Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.