The different POVs helped brought in more perspective to the story. This was suspenseful and captivating. This books covers topics of serial killers, grief, loss of a loved one, stockholm syndrome, and a kidnapping.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Aiden is the guy around town that everyone loves, but he's holding a dark secret... he's a serial killer who's left one victim alive and locked in his shed. When "Rachel" convinces him to move her to his new house with a cover story, she meets his daughter, and finds the strength to plan her escape. Told in alternating viewpoints from the victim, the daughter, and Aiden's girlfriend and possible next victim, this story will keep you at the edge of your seat.

If you are looking for a fast-paced thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat, add The Quiet Tenat to your summer reading list.

While I ultimately loved this book, it took me a little bit to get into the story. The first 30 pages or so were a little slow while the plot was being set up, however, it didn't take long for the story to really take off. The characters were well-developed, and I really liked how Michallon created this dark psychopathic character. This is a hard book not to spoil,

Let's just say, this book is a dark, suspenseful ride that will keep you guessing.

Thank you, AA Knopf and NetGalley for the eARC!

What a good thriller!!! I almost feel like I can’t call it that since we know who the bad guy is the entire time. Suspense? Slightly spine tingling women’s fiction? I’m not good at picking genres. Anywho…so we meet the woman in the shed and her kidnapper as their time together rounds its fifth anniversary. He’s being forced to move, and so this means one of two things. Woman in the shed is going to die, or she’s going to come with. He names her Rachel and forces her to pretend she’s his tenant so that she doesn’t tip off his 13 year old daughter Cecelia. And he believes that she’s just desperately brainwashed enough to do it.

Each night he handcuffs her to the bed, rapes her, and then forces her to eat meals with him and Cece. He tells her he has cameras throughout the house, and then he gives her a GPS tracker that she can’t cut off. He controls every aspect of her life. But all the while, she’s listening, watching, learning. And then he meets Emily. Emily thinks she’s found the jackpot with Aidan, handsome widower that she’s worshipped since she was a child. Only he’s acting very guarded, very hesitant. And then one day she decides to throw caution to the wind and go check on him at home. And she meets Rachel…who doesn’t seem to be right at all.

I couldn’t put this down today! It’s a quick read, one that I had fun with. As someone who has studied serial killers her whole life, I feel like I needed the reminder that these men exist. Likely in every city, in every state, active or inactive at any given point in time. It’s a reminder that I may have crossed paths with them. Once, twice, dozens of times. It’s the pastors, the mail men, the community leaders. The husbands and fathers, the Boy Scout elders…and while this is fiction, I can’t help but think about the thousands of victims that I’ve read about. The kidnapped children and women. The young men buried under John Wayne Gacy’s house. The faces on the news across the country. This was entertainment, but also a reminder to stay aware…and be a force instead of another picture.

The Quiet Tenant by Clemence Michallon is a thriller about Aidan Thomas, a very beloved member of his community. But, he's also a serial killer. And he's currently imprisoning a woman whom he plans to murder soon. This woman is a fighter, though. Aidan may have met his match with her. This was such a quick, well-written read, and I really enjoyed it. Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

Powerful, anxiety-inducing and completely immersive, The Quiet Tenant is an unforgettably haunting tale you experience deep in your core. An unfathomably traumatic and emotional story that will have you feeling angry and dejected while retaining a glimmer of hope for a satisfying conclusion.

Rachel is being held captive by a man who abducted her on the side of a country road 5 years ago. Her life has consisted of being chained inside a shed where she’s visited daily by the man who brings her food, a bucket to relieve herself in, and supplies to clean herself before he has his way with her. But things change when the man’s wife dies, and he’s forced to move with his 13-year-old daughter. He takes Rachel with him, locking her up in a room in their new house for most of the day and letting her out for dinner under the guise of a family friend going through a tough time. But this little taste of freedom gives Rachel strength and opportunities she hasn’t had before. As she tests the boundaries of her personal prison, she forms a connection with the daughter while also finding out that her tormentor is in a new relationship with a local woman, adding a sense of urgency to Rachel needing to do something before other women are victimized. Summoning the courage to act, Rachel will have to execute a perfect escape to finally bring justice to the man who has stolen her life…and the lives of many others.

On the surface, The Quiet Tenant is a thriller about a woman who’s been abducted and the man who retains power over her. But this novel is much deeper than that. It examines male/female power dynamics, how sometimes just surviving each day is a huge win, and how you can find strength and courage in the direst of situations. It also leads you question if you truly know your neighbors and what they are capable of. Is that beloved pillar of your community really as squeaky clean as they seem? Or do they have a deep dark secret that would rock your world if it ever came to light?

As such, The Quiet Tenant is multi-layered, thought-provoking and contains a lot of depth. But it’s also very well written, moves at a brisk pace and strings you along with just enough hope to compel you to keep reading and root for Rachel to find freedom. And as if the book isn’t compelling enough on its own, Clémence Michallon is a native French speaker who pulled off writing this amazing novel in her second language. An incredible feat that makes this book even more phenomenal. A brilliant debut thriller from someone new to watch in the genre.

Thanks to #NetGalley for the read and review of #TheQuietTennant by #ClemenceMichallon. It was a very good book and a great ending. Scary that this actually happens in this world.

Title: The Quiet Tenant
Author: Clemence Michallon
Genre: Thriller
On Sale: June 20, 2023

•Quick Deets•
Kidnapped
Girlfriend
Daughter

•Rating•
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 stars
I recommend this book!

•Similar Recommended Reads•
The Last Thing to Burn
In the Clearing
Room

In this thrilling debut from Clémence Michallon, the author bravely creates a structure of multiple tense POVs that paint a picture of the charming blue-eyed serial killer (Aidan): his 13 year old (now motherless) daughter (Cecilia); an almost-naive wannabe girlfriend (Emily); the woman in the shed (named Rachel by Aidan) who he neglected to kill after 5 years (another 8 have been successfully disposed of); and the disparate voices of previous victims. After his wife’s death, the killer must move residences and decides to install his captive as a “tenant” in the new home. Well, that’s a bizarre solution and we get to discover what happens next. Sometimes change is good — or not.

The structure is unusual — we only get to know Aidan from the viewpoints of Rachel, Cecilia, and Emily (plus the ghosts of his victims). Rachel’s story is told in a rarer second person tense, while the others are first person narratives. As such, Aidan can be a charming psychopath when his daughter and Emily have their interactions with him, while Rachel’s harrowing experience is desperately trying to counteract theirs. Yet, the story ratchets up tension evenly (there are some lags as Rachel reminisces about her past life) and this becomes a page-turner until the very end. Original and riveting — 5 stars!

Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): NO We only get to know that Aidan and his daughter have blue-gray eyes.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO The “woods” is the bad place, but we know nothing about the details.

I don’t think I’ve ever read a book in second person but wow. This was a chilling and fast read. I loved how everything played out. The suspense was perfect.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor, for this arc in exchange for a honest review.

This book presented well but it fell a little flat for me. I think it was all the jumping pov from "The Woman". The plot progressed but there was no real wrap or anything to bring it together. I didn't hate it but I didn't love it.

I recommend everyone read it as it did have have very intriguing parts to it.

Wow! This is a new twist on the domestic thriller and psychological thriller. I was amazed at the pace and tension in this debut novel. Excellent story telling and the description of the serial killer and the multiple dimensions of the killer's character is something unlike I have ever read before.

Fans of true crime podcasts/shows will gravitate to this book. I look forward to reading what is next from Clamence Mchallon. A worth while read!

This was a unique, fast-paced thriller that kept me quickly turning the pages. I loved the multiple points of view, and I can't wait to read more from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free e-copy.

Often when a serial killer is finally caught friends and neighbors express their shock saying "he seemed so nice, so normal." Indeed, it is their "normalness" that keeps them under the radar. As Rachel states in the early pages of The Quiet Tenant, her captor is good to his neighbors, takes out the garbage, does all the things "regular" people do. But Rachel (we learn her actual name much later in the story) is not a tenant-quiet or otherwise, and the man who abducted her seems so sweet and caring no one suspects he is a murderer. Aidan also hides behind the cloak of his wife's recent death to cancer, and is raising their teenage daughter alone. Who would ever believe the grieving widower is a psychopath? Rachel is unique in that Aidan does not kill her-instead holds her captive for years. During this time Aidan continues his murderous spree-the brief chapters on the last thoughts of his victims are truly heartbreaking. But The Quiet Tenant is Rachel's story-her fear and desperate attempts to stay alive fill the pages. Aidan does slip up in small ways-he can be reckless (his "sort of girlfriend" Emily has no idea how close so comes to dying), and he rents his house from a prominent local judge. While we thankfully cannot put ourselves in their shoes, the biggest mystery of The Quiet Tenant is how Aidan avoids being exposed for so long. Frustrating at times-as the novel progresses there are several opportunities for Rachel to escape that she does not take, turning The Quiet Tenant into a case study on "Stockholm syndrome," where victims actually bond with their abductors. The Quiet Tenant is a character driven story that will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. You'll root for Rachel even when you want to shake some sense into her. The pace is quiet and at times tentative, but builds to a spectacularly climatic ending.
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This book presents such a unique perspective of the serial killer genre! We learn about Aidan as a man, a father and a serial killer not from his perspective, but from Emily, the woman who’s falling in love with him, Cecilia, his daughter, ‘Rachel’, the woman who has been held captive for five years, and the nine victims who didn’t survive their encounters with him. His ability to blend in and hide in plain sight while a leading a normal life adds a level of overall creepiness to the story. This was an engrossing, well done debut!

Ms. Michallon has written quite the page turner here! Told from the point of view of his captive and his other victims as well, we find that Aidan is not all he appears to be…
To the community he is a recently widowed man with a daughter to raise, to his captive he is some to be very afraid of.
Suspenseful and relentless, this book will keep your attention. I highly recommend.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me this ARC.

Thanks to Knopf for the copy of this book!

I really enjoyed this thriller, told from multiple POVs of the tenant (in second parts on), the daughter, a woman in town, and the murder victims. Clémence Michallon’s writing was wonderful and I really appreciated her unique style in this story.

The Quiet Tenant stands out because it’s so creepy and realistic. Our serial killer is an upstanding citizen, beloved by his small town who is completely unaware that he’s holding a girl hostage or has a murder streak. The dynamic of scenes with him and his tenant versus him interacting with people in town are genius. This is really well done and a great read for thriller lovers!

This book was so good, I could not put it down. The ending was excellent and the lead up was perfect! Heart pounding and real life, The Quiet Tenant is an amazing read.

”Rule number one of staying alive in the shed: He always wins. For five years, you have made sure of it.”…”Rule number one of staying alive outside the shed: You don’t run unless you’re sure.”

I am….impressed. This is a story that hooks you from the very beginning. It’s a story that, while you’re reading it, you might question your own brain as to why you’re reading such a dark, twisted story. This is a DEBUT novel from Clémence Michallon with well balanced multiple POV and great writing, and that for me takes it from a 4 star to a 5.

A serial killer, who can keep a woman in his backyard shed, while living life with his wife and daughter in a normal town, beloved by neighbors? A seamless transition to bring that woman into his home and allow her to build a relationship with his daughter, while still wholly controlling her physically and psychologically? This is the type of character that really makes you question everyone you know….

This is a read you won’t want to miss this summer. Be aware, it’s a story that takes time to build and may not be a speed page turner or have a giant dramatic twist at the end, but you will FEEL the characters, and be absorbed in their thoughts. You’ll want them to get out…you’ll want them to be saved.

A special thank you to @netgalley and @aaknopf for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. If this is what came out of Clémence Michallon’s début, I can’t wait to see what she writes next!! Snag this one on June 20, 2023 (or maybe as early as June 13th, if we’re lucky!)

This book was very suspenseful and had me wondering how it would turn out in the end. This is the story of Rachel, Emily and Cecilia and their relationship with Aiden, a recently widowed man who, it turns out, is a serial killer. Only Rachel truly knows who he is. I liked that Rachel decided after 5 years to find a way to get free to save not only herself, but also Cecilia, Aiden’s daughter. In the midst of this, Emily, a restaurant owner, develops a romantic interest in Aiden, not knowing what she might be in for. The opportunities for Rachel to escape and her decisions about them leave the reader hoping for her eventual escape and when that might happen. I thought Emily’s character at first was weak, putting all her spare time into hoping that Aiden would like her and want a relationship her. Her curiosity about what might actually be going on in Aiden’s life and trying to figure it out changed my opinion of her by the end. Her need for closure about it all by visiting Rachel afterwards was interesting and a side to Emily’s character that I didn’t expect. This book is a thriller that will keep you in anticipation to the very end.