About clémence
CLÉMENCE MICHALLON is an author and a journalist. Her debut thriller The Quiet Tenant was published in June 2023 and is an international bestseller. Blumhouse TV has acquired the adaptation rights.
She was a staff writer at The Independent for five years, and is now freelance. Her work has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, Time Magazine, Cosmopolitan UK, and more. Her essays and features have covered true-crime, celebrity culture, and literature.
Clémence graduated from Sciences Po in Paris. She studied journalism at City University of London and received a master’s in Journalism from Columbia University.
Born and raised near Paris, Clémence moved to New York City in 2014 and is a dual citizen of France and the US. She can be found on Instagram at @clemencemichallon.
The quiet tenant
“An expertly paced psychological thriller . . . with a white-knuckle climax.”
NATIONAL BEST SELLER • A NEW YORK TIMES BEST CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR • GMA BUZZ PICK
“A bravura feat of storytelling…daring and completely satisfying.” —James Patterson, #1 best-selling author
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.
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