The Quiet Tenant
By Cle`mence Michallon
Reviewed by Jessica Colleran
I would like to start out this review by thanking NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for the advanced copy of this book. The official release date of this title is June 20, 2023. I was very excited to be given the opportunity to read a book that hasn't been on bookshelves yet! This is also the debut novel for author, Cle`mence Michallon. This title has been on my to-read list for quite a while as the description sounded very intriguing to me. A man well-known and loved by his community is actually a serial killer and keeps one of his victims in the shed behind his house. The story itself was interesting, but the style of writing left much to be desired. Most of the book was written in second person and I, personally, was just not a fan of that at all.
Summary
Aidan Thomas is an average small-town man living with his daughter Cecelia and recently lost his wife to illness. He is a respected member of the community and is always willing to lend a helping hand. Aidan is, however, hiding a huge secret right in his backyard. While this man may be a "normal" member of his community by day, at night he becomes a vicious serial killer and has been keeping one of his victims in the shed behind his house for the past five years. Rachel (as he has named her) is starting to forget what her life was like outside of the shed. It's been five years of the same routine day in and day out: she is chained to the wall, Aidan comes to give her one meal a day after his daughter falls asleep, and then proceeds to have sex with her. She must always do exactly what he says, not speak unless spoken to, and be the perfect "victim" so that she can live to see another day. Since Aidan's wife has recently passed away, he is forced to move with his daughter and somehow Rachel convinces him that he must take her with him. He finally agrees, and for the first time in five years, Rachel is allowed to live inside and have more than one meal a day. She is still handcuffed to the radiator in her room, and only gets to come out for meals, but compared to how she has been living, this seems like a dream come true. The story continues with Rachel trying to figure out a way to escape while a local woman named, Emily, is slowly starting to fall in love with Aidan. Little does she know the monster that she is falling for wants her to be his next victim.
What I Liked/Didn't Like
The storyline for this book had good potential. There were elements that kept me guessing, and I consistently wondered if Rachel would ever figure out a way to escape. However, the style of writing every chapter that was from Rachel's perspective in second person made reading this book extremely frustrating. I understand that the author was trying to give the reader the experience of living through Rachel's eyes, but I felt writing in this style was not the way to achieve that. I also got a bit frustrated at all the opportunities that Rachel had to escape and chose not to. I did like the chapters that were from Emily's perspective because they were not written in second person, and it gave the reader a glimpse into how charming Aidan could be when he wasn't being a serial killer behind closed doors. The story did have some build, and the last few chapters tied everything together nicely for the reader which I appreciated.
Rating ⭐⭐⭐
I must admit that I had higher hopes for this book until I read it. I still loved the storyline, but the style of writing is what I could not handle in this book. From my limited research, it's not common at all for a fictional novel to be written in second person. Typically, this style of writing is saved for instruction manuals, self-help books, and business writing. I just felt that this made for a choppy story and made me want to get through the sections told from Rachel's perspective quickly because the writing style was so frustrating during those chapters. If it weren't for writing the majority of the book this way, I would have given a much higher rating. Maybe some readers will think the way this story was told to be unique, but for me I just felt like I was left wanting more from a debut crime novel.
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