Ceecee's Reviews > The Quiet Tenant

4-5 stars

The woman, ‘Rachel’, has been chained in a shed for five years, no one seems to be looking for her, has she been forgotten? She has stayed alive when maybe others haven’t by appeasing, agreeing and apologising. Who is her captor? He is a recent widower, Aidan Thomas, who in his town is regarded as a truly wonderful man, prepared to help anyone and everyone. He’s polite, kind and a good father to twelve year old Cecilia. Aidan has to move house and it is agreed that ‘Rachel’ will move with him, come out of the shed and become his tenant, an exceptionally quiet one so that Cece is neither aware or suspicious that she is chained much of the day and night in her room. The story is told by Rachel, Cecilia and by Emily who becomes attracted to and obsessed with Aidan.

This novel seems to have divided readers into two camps, those who didn’t finish it and those at the opposite end of the spectrum who think it’s brilliant. I’m in the latter camp! I become hooked, drawn in and immersed right from the beginning. Rachel’s perspective is disturbing, haunting and at times brutal. At the start of the book the sentences are short, sharp, suspenseful and chock full of tension conveying her desire to stay alive, her stillness and lack of fight. As time goes on this subtly changes once she is the tenant and interacting with Cece, at times the tone is almost, but not quite, relaxed as weaknesses are sought to exploit. Cecilia is a really lovely child and she helps to relieve the intensity and whilst Emily drives me mad she is absolutely integral to the outcome. What of Aidan? He’s an enigmatic chameleon that’s for sure but I imagine most psychopaths are.

The novel is extremely well written, it’s hard to put down especially when it becomes as twisty as. The danger builds, calms, builds again and the ending is good and I’m so glad it doesn’t go on and on allowing you to make your own assumptions. I guess parts of this seem unlikely but this is good fiction and when you look at what some people do then maybe it’s not beyond the realms. I’d like to congratulate Clémence Michallon for writing such a high quality debut in English which is not her first language - that’s quite a feat.

I really like this character driven novel because it’s a bit different from the usual in this genre, it’s a cracking read and a most impressive debut.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Little Brown Book Group for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.