A pulse-pounding psychological thriller about a serial killer hiding in plain sight, narrated by the women in his life: his 13-year-old daughter, his girlfriend—and the one victim he has spared.
About The Quiet Tenant
Aidan Thomas is a hard-working family man and a respected member of his community. He’s also a kidnapper and serial killer who has murdered eight women. And there’s a ninth he has earmarked for death, a woman he’s renamed Rachel, imprisoned in a backyard shed fearing for her life.
When Aidan’s wife dies, he and his 13-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. After five years of captivity, surely Rachel is too brainwashed 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 tenuous connection with Cecilia. And when Emily, a local restaurant owner, develops a crush on the handsome widower, she finds herself drawn into Rachel and Cecilia’s orbit, too. Told through the perspectives of Rachel, Cecilia, and Emily, The Quiet Tenant explores the psychological impact of Aidan’s crimes on the women in his life–and the bonds between those women that give them the strength to fight back.
Buy Links
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop | Penguin Random House
What I thought about The Quiet Tenant
I'm always on the lookout for a good thriller I could sink into and the synopsis for this one was very intriguing. The whole idea of living a secret life is an interesting one and then there's the endless question of how they get away with it and what eventually trips them up.
The Quiet Tenant is told from the point of view of the victims in the story and how their relationship with the serial-killer-hiding-in-plain-sight molds and shapes them and their actions. There is no happy ending here for anyone, although there is hope, which I was thankful for.
The three pov's in this story are a victim that the killer keeps around, the killer's daughter and a women he's involved with. While I didn't always like the "voice" of the writing, I did like the choice of these three woman in telling the story. They have three unique perspectives and they each bring a piece of the story to the reader. Emily, the girlfriend is particularly interesting in the way that she needs Aidan.
I'm not about to give any spoilers, although I didn't experience any surprises in this story. It's not about suspense or mystery or solving a crime. What I liked most was that the author created a certain atmosphere here that evoked a number of tension-filled emotions, and that was good.
Overall, I did enjoy this psychological thriller and will be looking for more from this author in the future.
About Clémence Michallon
Author photo credit: Gabrielle Malewski
I'm an author and an award-nominated journalist at The Independent, based in New York.
My debut thriller THE QUIET TENANT will be published in 2023 by Knopf
in the US and Little, Brown in the UK. Rights have sold in 30
territories. You can find out more about the book here.
I also wrote a novel in French, which was published in 2020.
It's about a female bodybuilder tasked with managing her sister's
bakery. Really, it's about bodies and the ways in which we try to
feel at home in them. You can find out more about it here.
I studied political science and journalism at Sciences Po in Paris,
as well as journalism at City, University of London, and I have an MS
degree from Columbia Journalism School.
I'm an author and an award-nominated journalist at The Independent, based in New York.
My debut thriller THE QUIET TENANT will be published in 2023 by Knopf in the US and Little, Brown in the UK. Rights have sold in 30 territories. You can find out more about the book here.
I also wrote a novel in French, which was published in 2020. It's about a female bodybuilder tasked with managing her sister's bakery. Really, it's about bodies and the ways in which we try to feel at home in them. You can find out more about it here.
I studied political science and journalism at Sciences Po in Paris, as well as journalism at City, University of London, and I have an MS degree from Columbia Journalism School.
No comments:
Post a Comment