The Quiet Tenant

The Quiet Tenant

by Clémence Michallon

Blurb:

Aidan Thomas is a hard-working family man and a somewhat beloved figure in the small upstate New York 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 thriller by a major talent.

My Reaction:

(DNF at over 50%.  I listened to the audiobook version.)

This was a disappointment.  I feel that I gave it a fair shot.  The first time, I struggled and stopped at probably around 25% through.  Months passed.  I read and listened to other books... And then I saw it, had nothing else to listen to, and decided I'd give it one more chance.  I picked back up where I'd left off, but unfortunately, all the problems I'd had with it the first time only intensified with the next quarter of the book.  

How did this annoy me?

First, it somehow manages to be terribly boring.  Very repetitive.

Second, I can't stand the way the narrator for Rachel voices Aidan (to the point I wanted to inflict physical pain on him for that alone, leaving aside all his crimes and abusiveness).  

Third, the whole story just made me angry.  If I feel worse every time I read or listen to a book, the story had better be fascinating to make up for the daily dose of negativity.  This wasn't all that fascinating, I'm afraid. 

Fourth, some of the characters' choices and behaviors just don't ring true to me.  Based on reviews I skimmed, you never get even an attempt at an explanation for why some characters are the way they are, either. 

Once a certain something happened (spoiler below), I just lost all interest.  I still gave it a bit longer, but when I realized I was only halfway through, I decided to spare myself the suffering and move on to something else.  Life's too short to push through books you dislike reading. No-one's handing out awards for finishing annoying books, these days.  I read a synopsis and a few reviews, and it doesn't feel like I've missed much by stopping where I did. 

**SPOILERS**

What was the "certain something" that made me stop caring?  I am beyond frustrated when characters who are held captive (or in some other dire position) don't at least try to escape when the opportunity presents itself.  Yes, I read this character's reasoning and I understand why she might not have acted—and maybe we're even supposed to think that she made the right call—but the fact remains that I loathe that trope.  

Don't ask me to care what happens to a character who won't even try to save herself/himself.  It's demoralizing to read, and I just don't need that in my life.  Then she ruined a second opportunity to run and was nearly killed as a result of her own stupidity.  (Argh!!)  

It felt clear that this book wasn't going to be a satisfying read for me, so why slog through another 150 pages (however many hours that would've been of listening) of torture?  Better to call it a DNF and be done!