I think readers are either going to like this book or hate it. It's very dark. It's very disturbing. It's scary in that you never really know the people in your town. I enjoyed a lot but didn't love it due to the dark material.

Aidan Thomas is someone everyone loves when they see him. He is a family man and a dad. Seems perfect, except he has a dark secret. He is a serial killer that has murdered women (not giving anything away, that's in the synopsis of the book). His life gets turned upside down when his wife dies. He and his child must move out of their house, the only problem is who he has hidden away in the shed behind his house.

'Rachel' was kidnapped 5 years ago by Aidan. For some reason, he has kept her alive. Now that they have to move will he keep her alive?

As I said, this is a disturbing book. I enjoyed the character development of 'Rachel'. How she changes throughout the book. That was about the only character development I noticed. Everyone else pretty much stayed the same.

Beware that there are trigger warnings: kidnapping, abuse (emotional, physical, and sexual), rape and murder.

Tentative Publication Date: June 20, 2023

Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf for the E-ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

🙂 Happy Reading 🙃

#netgalley
#knopfpantheonvintageandanchor
#ClemenceMichallon
#TheQuietTenant

I read a LOT of horror and thriller novels. This psychological thriller had my pulse racing! I was completely invested in the characters and couldn't wait to see how it all turned out in the end. I was not disappointed. If you're looking for a character driven journey with lots of obstacles and "how are they going to deal with this" moments, this is the book for you!

This is a great read! If you only read one thriller - let it be this one!!

Great plot, interesting read through the perspective of the 4 main characters. It kept me turning the page all the way through! Heart pounding final chapters.

Everything a thriller needs to be!

🔑🔑🔑🔑🔑 / 5

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

I think this is my favorite read of 2023 thus far. I truly loved everything about this story and couldn’t put it down! The author is such a skilled writer, but she also perfectly incorporated so many important themes that I appreciated. As a young female, this story made me feel validated and heard because it’s about a serial killer, but he’s never given a voice. Instead, the story is told from the POVs of the women in his life. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, and I held my breath for the last 10% of the book. I can’t believe this was her debut thriller, and I’m so excited for her next one!

This is quite a page-turner, very creepy and disturbing. I felt a bit traumatized by the end. Fans of darker stories should really like this one. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I saw some absolute rave reviews of this novel on bookstagram, so I decided to request it on Netgalley and was lucky to be approved. I was interested enough at the beginning, although I didn't like the 2nd person writing. It did feel a bit repetitive, but I was in the mood for a good thriller.

By 16% though, I still don't care about the characters and feel like I know what's going to happen, so I'm DNFing. I know the man the different characters are describing are all the same man - the serial killer. This doesn't feel like an original plot line. Thanks anyway for the ARC - I'm glad others are enjoying it but it's clearly not for me.

If you like super slow burn thrillers, and I use that word loosely here because I never got true thriller vibes, with a unique premise this may be for you. There was so much here that I liked, the authors style was really quiet and the way the story was told was powerful. It’s fun to get the viewpoint of a killer in thrillers but there is something really interesting about getting the POV of the women in the serial killers life that gave me chills and definitely grabbed my attention. I was into this one for the majority of the time, the alternating perspectives, the sense of dread and the subtle writing was good for me. The slow burn aspect was ok, I have no patience lol but I was still hanging in but ultimately it was truly a character study that somehow still left me wanting to know more about the characters in the end? Just sort of an odd experience for me overall but I do think this will find the right audience and it will probably be people who enjoy slow burn literary dramas with light suspense.

Lets get my blood pressure back to normal first.

I am not someone who typically picks up a thriller but this idea sparked my interest and I was properly terrified.

“Rachel” is taken and held captive for years. Usually in the shack, but family man (serial killer!) Aidan is forced to move him, and daughter and decides to bring captive-Rachel along. I was holding my breath the entire book.

This book is told from the POV of Rachel, his daughter Cecelia and his possible girlfriend/next victim. I can’t believe this is her debut novel - bravo.

This is the story of a serial killer, told from 3 different perspectives: his daughter, his girlfriend and a victim. The different views converge to paint a picture of a frightening, cold, evil man. The pacing is more of a slow burn than a propulsive thriller, though the ending had me on the edge of my seat and very stressed out. I liked hearing from the women in Aidan's life vs hearing from him, especially his daughter and his victim. Emily, his "girlfriend" was the weakest viewpoint and I found it difficult to connect with her and her decisions. I would have appreciated a little more insight into why Aidan was the way he was, but overall it was a solid read. 3.75 stars, rounded up to 4. Thank you to Knopf and NetGalley for an advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very interesting book. It dealt with some very dark themes, but didn't dwell on the horrifying aspects of crime and instead focused on the will of one woman to survive.
This is the story of a woman who has been held captive by a man for years. When he tells her he must move, she fears he will finally kill her and so convinces him to bring her with him to his new home. She is forced to act as though she is just renting a room from her captor in order to deceive the man's daughter. The reader also sees the action unfold from the point-of-view of Emily, a restaurant owner who would love to pursue a relationship with Aidan, a man who comes to her restaurant once a week. Will the kidnapping victim escape? Will the man's daughter discover the truth about her father? And will Emily discover the truth about Aidan?
This book is slow but compelling. I was completely drawn into the story and found myself nervous for our heroine multiple times. I also found myself incredibly annoyed with Emily multiple times!
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a thought-provoking thriller.

This was such a fun psychological thriller! I loved the concept, and it really kept me interested the entire time. I liked how we got so many different perspectives, although the second person POV was a bit jarring until I got used to it. The ending was a bit too wrapped up for me, but if you’re looking for a quick thriller I would definitely recommend this one! On a side note, I actually can’t believe this is a debut novel from someone whose first language isn’t English; it was very well done!! I will definitely look forward to more by this author!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for the opportunity to read before pub day on June 20th!

I’ve been in a reading slump for a few months now and THE QUIET TENANT was just what I needed to get myself out of it. It’s a slow-burning thriller, but somehow the pacing still made me fly through the book. If I didn’t have responsibilities, I’m fairly certain I would have finished it in one sitting.

The story is told from multiple points of view, which I sometimes take issue with. However, Michallon handled it perfectly and each point of view really lended a different angle to the story. Having Rachel’s POV told in second person was also a unique take that, in my opinion, makes the story even more immersive as it puts you in her shoes.

It’s hard to say much about this book without giving spoilers, but I will say that if you enjoy a slow-burning plot without a lot of violence or gore, I would definitely recommend picking this one up! Personally, I wasn’t ready for it to end and will definitely be picking up future novels from Clémence Michallon.

Special thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions my own.

Story opens with a blurb from the woman in the shed….definitely peaked my interest and kept me wanting to read. I mean normal ppl don’t keep a woman in the shed…..The next chapter is from Emily’s perspective, at first i found her to be interesting, further along in the story she’s a bit annoying and you just want to knock her in the head and say pay attention!!!!
So several perspectives are throughout the story, the woman in the shed, Emily, Aidan’s daughter—Cecelia. I mean i see some of the complaints written on the second perspective point of view from the storyline. I reviewed mainly off the story kept my interest, I wanted to keep reading and enjoyed the story throughout!!

Thanks to Netgalley for my electronic advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: 4.5
Pub Date: 6/20/23

[potential spoilers ahead]

“Rachel” has been held captive for the last five years in a shed by a nameless man. They have a frequent routine, which is thrown off by the death of the man’s wife. The man & his 13-year-old daughter is having to move, & “Rachel” is going with them as a “friend of a friend” who is “subletting a room.” She starts to become close to the man’s daughter & forms a plan for both of them to escape.

Cecilia is grieving the loss of her mother & the loss of her childhood home, & now a strange woman is moving in with her & her dad. She starts to warm up to Rachel & begins to see her as an ally, especially when she doesn’t have any friends or any opportunity to leave the house. Her dad loves her & does nice things for people, so she does what she can to make things easier for him.

Emily looks forward to Tuesdays & Thursdays at the restaurant bar, because Aiden Thomas always comes in for a Cherry Coke. She’s had a crush on him since she was a teenager & knows his reputation as a wholesome family man & the town’s handyman. They’ve had this silent routine down, but things get spicy between them after he randomly takes one of the bar's coasters.

The Quiet Tenant was ultimately about survival with a new take on the serial killer narrative. Through these main POVs, the author creates an amazing juxtaposition of the same man & does a great job of using second person in Rachel’s chapters to show her dissociation.
Though the synopsis mentions “bonds between those women that give them the strength to fight back,” I didn’t feel like that was the driving force for any of the characters’ actions, especially for Emily, who was clueless the entire time. I was honestly annoyed at how obsessed Emily was with Aiden, & the lengths she went to to become “closer” to him. I understand & appreciate that we needed to see his appeal in the “real world,” but Emily’s infatuation went a bit too far for me.

I do wish there would have been more of a focus on the aftermath from Rachel's perspective, rather than Emily's, as we were along for more of Rachel's journey than Emily's, & it was a bit more compelling & traumatic.

I LOVED the short chapters, & I was constantly on the edge of my seat. It was unputdownable, fresh, dark, & disturbing.

“Everyone has had an aid in Thomas story “mine happened at 13” this is the one of the first things the bartender Emily says when her POV starts. She is in love with Eathan but Eathan has a secret. He has a woman who he’s forced to call herself Rachel and her name is accompanied with the speech saying that he found her he saved her life ET see. He also has a daughter Cecelia it’s to be honest I found her POB‘s pointless. That wasn’t the only thing I didn’t like about this book I found the writing was over the top like the example I gave at the beginning of this review also more than once the kidnapped “Rachel“ could’ve got away but chose not to. This sounded like it was going to be an awesome read but unfortunately with the over the top writing the 13-year-old Emily having a crush on a grown man who fixed her dad‘s freezer seemed a bit much in the fact that the only happiness she got was the two times he came in to the restaurant to get a cherry Coke and she was the owner of the spaghetti restaurant and the bartender… I mean I guess stranger things have happened but if your restaurant is doing that good why can’t you hire a bartender I don’t know that it’s just a minor point but something that irritated me and add it to the “Are you serious” vibe of the book. We also get POBs from his victims that didn’t get to liv in his house for years I just think it could’ve been so much better andit really makes me sad that this book turned out to be a disappointment as it was one of my most anticipated books of the summer but you win some you lose some and it wasn’t all bad because I didn’t finish it but could’ve been so much better. I received this book from NetGalley please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

The Quiet Tenant was a slow burn that never really had a major climax or twist but that didn’t stop me from thoroughly enjoying it. There were moments of perfect tension throughout and I thought the multiple POV were done well. I enjoyed hearing, albeit briefly, from the other victims of the serial killer, I thought that was pretty clever. The audio was so well done, each character done by someone different which added to the overall effect and the ending was also really satisfactory so I can’t help but recommend this one if you don’t mind a slow burn.

The Quiet Tenant is a book that follows a serial killer from different points of view. You get the point of view of the woman he is holding hostage, a woman that is falling in love with him (without knowing about his crimes), his daughter, and all the other women he has killed in his life. The killer is an upstanding citizen, a friendly neighbor, and a single dad (his wife died of cancer) who everyone admires. The town does not suspect him at all. The story unfolds as the woman being held hostage is trying to figure out how to escape and expose the killer.
This story was very chilling and emotional, especially the parts told from the woman being held hostage. It was heartbreaking hearing her story and everything she went through. You definitely root for her to escape. It is also very interesting to get the point of view of the woman falling in love with him. She has no idea the evil he is capable of. The dichotomy between the two points of view was very interesting to the story and a great choice. It shows that you never really know people. I also really liked the other point of views sprinkled in. The story was told in a very personal and unique way. The writing was beautiful, and I really enjoyed this book! This book was a lot more emotional than other serial killer thrillers. Parts of it were hard to read due to the different points of view. You really feel bad for all the women that the killer has tortured. This was beautifully written and a great read!
I will say that I gave this 4.5 stars instead of 5 because the writing did seem a bit too lyrical at parts for my taste. It also was a slower read and I typically enjoy my thrillers a little more fast paced. However, it was still a great read, and it didn’t take away too much from the reading experience. If that is more your taste, you will love this book.
Thank you to Netgalley and Knopf for the arc!

I quite literally could not put this book down. It was so incredibly well paced and provoking. I loved that it was told from multiple POVs and the POVs chosen were perfect. I don’t want to go in to too much detail because I feel it would spoil some things. All I can say is, if you are a thriller lover this one is for you. Gripping, dark, sinister, and completely binge able. It reads in the 3rd person narrative, similar to Emma Donoghue’s Room. I thought this book was brilliant and can’t recommend enough.
Thank you to @netgalley and @aaknopf for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.
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Congratulations @clemencemichallon wishing you all the success on your new release. This book is available June 20th. Add it to your TBR.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC! I really enjoyed reading The Quiet Tennant. You think you know someone- you never know what people are up to in their free time! The multiple view points worked well throughout the story, and kept things interesting. The viewpoints are separated by chapters which made it easy to keep track of. If I had to pick something to add or change about the book I do wish there was more from Aidan’s daughter, and some chapters from Aidan’s point of view would have been interesting. Overall this is a great fast paced, psychological, serial killer thriller

3.5-4 stars.

A thriller operating under the "less is more" characterization. As some others have described it, a "slow burn thriller." Who knew that such a thing could exist? The author slowly feeds you pieces of what's happening as you put together the scene of the crime...a crime that's been happening to "Rachel" for 5 years.

There is no gratuitous violence so the reader never knows how Aidan has killed his other victims. It's honestly the one thing that kind of bugged me the most because how a serial killer kills is usually a big insight to their personality. I don't need it gory, but a simple indication of what he did (strangle, gun shot, stabbed, whatever.) Rachel always assumed strangulation and that made sense to me except that's typically a crime of passion and Aidan didn't not come off as that type.

Told in multiple POV's with the main victim's POV as the majority, the most chilling were those of his victims (7 others I think?) His 13 yr old daughter and his current "girlfriend" round out the list of POV's. We never get an Aidan POV and I think if we had one of those right at that end, wow, that would have packed a punch!

Aidan has the whole town fooled with his charming, always willing to help personality, a widower raising a 13 yr old daughter. It's this persona that allows him to start to become reckless with the "one he didn't kill." You know serial killers, there is the desire for control and power and as they continue to get away with it that control and power grows, typical egomaniacs.

It does read slow, but I kept turning the pages anyways, because I was intrigued about where this was going, why did he let her live and would Emily be his next victim or the key to Rachel's escape? "Rachel's" POV was sometimes very repetitive, as she reminisced about her life before but I always gleaned something important from the storyline every time she talked, a little foreshadowing if you would. Her POV seemed to try and humanize her to the reader, but I didn't feel like we ever needed that.

Decent thriller, kept me turning the pages till the very end, where I was let down just slightly by the ending as it was just sort of over. Again, less is more, but that's one area where I really could have used a little more. Overall enjoyed it.