The Quiet Tenant

Clémence Michallon

4 stars

Format: Hardcover

This is one of those books you can pick apart for days after finishing. Small details suddenly become big details, information is given to the reader slowly, like the steam hissing out of a pressure cooker. You’re uneasy at every turn of the page until the climax, when you must race to the finish to see how it all plays out.

Rachel is a woman. She is a woman held in a backyard shed with one leg chained to the floor. The man who took her is brutal. And it’s been five years in captivity. Rachel is not the woman’s real name. The man, Aidan Thomas, has given her that name. He lives a normal life with his daughter, and he is revered by the people in his town. Aidan always helps out when needed. Aidan is a wonderful father and recent widower. Aidan is also a serial killer.

After Aidan reveals to Rachel that he and his daughter are moving from their home after the death of his wife, Rachel convinces him to keep her in the new house with them. Nothing will change, she assures him. But her wheels are turning and she knows what is set in motion will not stop. 

The Quiet Tenant is thrilling. Rachel is the prisoner of a man who has stripped her of her identity, her autonomy, and who starves her and violates her. But while the book is about his actions, he’s not the focus. The story is narrated by Rachel, Aiden’s thirteen-year-old daughter, Cecelia, and his new girlfriend, Emily. All different perspectives of the same man, all different experiences with the same man. We hear the deepest thoughts of these women and it is their thoughts that matter. This feels intentional. Clémence Michallon does not give Aidan his own voice. Too often in real life are horrific men given the attention or the spotlight, but not here. I loved it. We don’t get to find out why he has murdered eight women or why he kidnapped Rachel. His “whys” are never answered which may feel frustrating at times, since the reader wants to collect as much information as they possibly can, but to give him reasons or any validation would give him power.

One detail I found to be especially powerful was Michallon’s use of points of view. Rachel’s narrative is in the second person. Cecelia and Emily’s narratives are in the first person. Is this a survival tactic for Rachel? Rachel is not her real name, after all, so is she distancing herself from this identity, the identity of a stolen woman with a false name? She gives herself power by not losing herself in the only way she can.

Emily’s character was a different story. She came across as desperate and a little obsessed. Emily owned and operated a successful restaurant at a young age, and yet she was falling over herself trying to get close to Aidan. I would understand a romantic connection and Emily seeking him out, but the lengths she went to to get close to him was unnerving. Perhaps that was intentional as well? 

Overall, The Quiet Tenant was unique, chilling, and a good read. I’d be interested in reading more of Michallon’s work in the future.