Clémence Michallon

A PULSE-POUNDING PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER ABOUT A SERIAL KILLER NARRATED BY THOSE CLOSEST TO HIM: HIS 13-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER, HIS GIRLFRIEND—AND THE ONE VICTIM HE HAS SPARED.

Aidan Thomas is a hard-working family man and a somewhat beloved figure in the small upstate town where he lives. He’s the kind of man who always lends a hand and has a good word for everyone. But Aidan has a dark secret he’s been keeping from everyone in town and those closest to him. He’s a kidnapper and serial killer. Aidan has murdered eight women and there’s a ninth he has earmarked for death: Rachel, imprisoned in a backyard shed, fearing for her life. 

When Aidan’s wife dies, he and his thirteen-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. Aidan is betting on Rachel, after five years of captivity, being too brainwashed and fearful 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, coming dangerously close to discovering Aidan’s secret.

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. Both a searing thriller and an astute study of trauma, survival, and the dynamics of power, THE QUIET TENANT is an electrifying debut by a major talent.

The Quiet Tenant

Lindsay

In the hierarchy of your body, you are the tenant and he is the landlord.

I pinch my temples between two fingers, try to fend off the dread. Maybe it’s the weather— it’s the first week of October, still early fall, but the days are getting shorter, the air colder. Maybe it’s something else. But tonight, every failure feels especially mine.

You learn to hate the sound of your own voice at an early age, when you’re a girl.

You try not to worry, because worrying gets in the way of staying alive.

Around the two- month mark, you think about ending it. Instead, you let yourself fall in love.

You never realized until now how much energy it takes to stay alive. How tired you are from clinging to your beating heart, your breathing lungs, when the elements keep conspiring against you.

Paige Tatum

"You are ready for someone to see who you really are. You are ready for someone to love the true you." 

The Quiet Tenant quotes

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