The Tenant
When Blake Porter is abruptly fired, he's desperate to keep the mortgage on his Manhattan brownstone. His fiance Krista suggests taking in a tenant-enter Whitney Cross: charming, composed, too perfect. But as strange noises echo through the house and unsettling secrets emerge, Blake begins to question: Who is Whitney really, and how far will she go to destroy his life?
- Blake - Protagonist
- Krista - Blake's (live-in) girlfriend
- Whitney - The tenant
- Whitney quickly proves to be a nightmare roommate-stealing food, attracting bugs, and deliberately trying to drive Blake crazy.
- Krista discovers Blake cheated on her with a coworker, Stacie, before he was fired.
- Blake digs into Whitney's past and learns disturbing rumors: in high school, Whitney pushed her ex-boyfriend off a roof after he dumped her, then vanished before facing consequences for the murder.
- Twist: When Blake meets Whitney's mother, he sees a photo of Krista in her house. The mom identifies her as her daughter Whitney-meaning Krista is actually the missing girl who killed her boyfriend years ago.
- The "Whitney" living with them is revealed to actually be Amanda. She changed her name while hiding from dangerous people she owed money to.
- At first, Amanda claims she borrowed money for her mother's chemo, but later it's revealed the debts came from gambling.
- Krista has been orchestrating the chaos all along-sabotaging things to make it look like Amanda was tormenting Blake. She wanted revenge on Blake for cheating, and on Amanda for stealing her name.
- Krista murders Stacie for sleeping with Blake.
- She then tries to kill both Blake and Amanda, but Amanda stabs and kills Krista instead.
- Epilogue: Blake moves back home to Cleveland.
- Final Twist: A month before Krista's death, Amanda had been approached by the uncle of the boyfriend Krista killed. He offered to erase her debts if she killed Krista.
- Blake - Alive - Moving back to Cleveland to take over his father's hardware store
- Krista (real name Whitney) - Dead - Stabbed to death by Amanda
- Whitney (real name Amanda) - Alive - No information given on future plans after saying goodbye to Blake
- Stacie - Dead - Drugged and killed by Krista
- Mr. Zimmerly - Dead - Bludgeoned by Krista to frame Blake for the murder
- Murder
- Gaslighting
- Infidelity
- Violence
- Suicide
- Cancer
- Death of parent
Twist
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
ISBN: 9781464227318
Publication Date: May 6, 2025
Note: Details are for the original edition. Other formats, editions, and audiobook versions may be available.