The Quiet Tenant

Although Clémence Michallon does not explicitly state the name of the town in which Aidan’s new house is located, the majority of the novel is set in a town designed to emulate Rhinebeck, New York, where Michallon’s in-laws live; it was in this place that she originally had the idea to write the novel in 2020. As Michallon told CrimeReads staff writer Kate Brody, “The town is lovely—it has a bit of a Gilmore Girls vibe—but the surroundings are spooky” (Brody, Kate. “Clémence Michallon on the Ethics of Writing Violence and the Banality of Serial Killers.” CrimeReads, 21 June 2023). The decision to keep the novel’s setting ambiguous is a master stroke in creating an unarticulated sense of tension and emphasizing The Omnipresent Threat of Danger. By refusing to pinpoint a precise location for Aidan’s crimes, the author effectively implies that such atrocities might happen anywhere. The banal, nameless town perpetuates the idea that a cold, calm, deliberate killer such as Aidan could easily be masquerading as one’s respectable neighbor next door, or “the quiet tenant” just down the hall.

Significantly, although Aidan’s abusive habits and murderous impulses are the impetus for every action or reaction that occurs in the novel, Michallon never grants her fictional monster the opportunity to present his own perspective. Instead, she creates a patchwork impression of him from the multilayered perceptions of the various women in his orbit, from his daughter and his early victims to his current captive (“Rachel”) and the new potential victim (Emily) within his grasp. And just as no one person has a holistic view of this man’s true self, each subjective section of the novel betrays a different angle on his behavior patterns and psychological footprint, thereby emphasizing the ongoing theme of Hiding Key Personality Traits. By compartmentalizing his own personality traits depending on who he is interacting with at any given time, Aidan is able to keep the darkest of his impulses under wraps while engaging with mainstream settings and traditional relationships, such as his dynamic with his unsuspecting daughter, Cecilia. “Rachel” is the only one still alive who has had the disadvantage of experiencing his most brutal moments, and thus, her perspective remains the most informed. As the full story of Aidan’s many crimes unfolds through the various impressions that the female characters provide, his more sinister “hunting” patterns are gradually revealed.

Although Aidan is operating in the early 21st century and is at a forensic and technological disadvantage in comparison to his more prolific late 20th-century counterparts, he has still been able to evade capture in the same way as many serial killers have: by choosing victims with no connection to himself. In the initial chapters of the novel, for example, Aidan is very meticulous about the rules he has set for himself and for “Rachel,” and he adheres strictly to this arbitrary schedule. He has also mastered the art of integrating his surreptitious nightly visits to the shed into his usual routine, so that his wife and daughter do not suspect that anything is out of the ordinary. In a further attempt to emphasize Aidan’s ability to craft a veneer of respectability, Michallon has confirmed that certain stylistic decisions, such as making Aidan the cook in the household, were designed to project an illusion of success, as well as to solve some of the more pragmatic storytelling considerations (“Chapters & Chat: QUIET TENANT with Clemence Michallon.” YouTube, uploaded by Kelly Hook Reads Books, 20 July 2023). Aidan’s interest in cooking ostensibly explains his ability to sneak so much food out of the home without his wife and daughter noticing; this behavioral quirk also indicates the extent to which he prefers to remain in control of his own environment. Thus, his every action is designed for Hiding Key Personality Traits from his family, who ultimately serve as props in his ongoing masquerade of normalcy. The presence of his wife and daughter completes his persona of an upstanding family man, and when his living situation abruptly shifts after his wife’s death, it is clear that his compulsion to maintain this illusion of normalcy must now extend to “Rachel” herself. With his wife gone, “Rachel’s” presence in the house appeals to Aidan on multiple levels, for not only can he continue to indulge in torturing, raping, and abusing her, but he can also force her to embody a role that supports the version of himself that he projects to the world at large. Maintaining this illusion thus becomes a necessary part of “Rachel’s” fight for survival, given that the slightest slip-up might give him an iron-clad reason to murder her as he has so many others.

Michallon was also intentional in her decision not to depict “Rachel’s” repeated sexual assaults, her frequent beatings, or the murders of Aidan’s other victims in graphic detail. By leaving certain descriptions vague, Michallon gives herself the latitude to explore the deeply damaging impact of these acts without subjecting readers to an indigestible onslaught of brutal imagery that ultimately distracts from the nuances of the characters’ experiences and intentions. In this way, the author leaves herself free to delve more deeply into the subtler moments that nonetheless go much farther to define the essence of the characters. For example, the moment that “Rachel” sees her reflection in the mirror in Aidan’s home upsets her deeply because even though she can finally see herself (her true self) for the first time in years, she must also come to grips with how profoundly her ordeal has changed and damaged her. When “Rachel” discovers how gaunt she is and beholds the scars that cover her body and the aged appearance of her face, she realizes that her physical attributes are now a testament to her years of trauma. In addition to the brutal assaults that she regularly suffers, she has also been grossly underfed and neglected and has likely accrued an array of secondary complications that simply cannot be determined until she succeeds in escaping Aidan’s grasp.