What a wonderful book! I cannot believe this is a debut novel, the writing is so clever and tight.

The characterizations are brilliant, free of cliches and perfectly imperfect. I felt like I knew them.

I will be watching you, Joshua Moehling, keep doing great writing!

And There He Kept Her is very dark book, but I still finished the book and overall, I liked it. I always like a book that’s told by different characters perspectives. This is a well written, character driven story that I’m glad to have read. I found it to be suspenseful and I liked the character of Ben. Definitely read the trigger warnings on this one rather than going into this one unprepared. A solid debut novel by the author. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Two teens break into a lake house in search of drugs. What could go wrong? For a debut novel I was pleasantly surprised. It was dark/gory police procedural but also captivating. I connected to Officer Packard and enjoyed his character. I only rated it 3.5/5 stars because I found it a bit predictable but overall i enjoyed it.

This was a deliciously dark thriller. Creepy and disturbing but a totally great read. The characters were so well developed that I felt like I was right in the middle of the story.
Great debut novel, I will definitely be following Joshua Moehling. Highly recommend!
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

The cover I saw first had me clicking to see what this book was about. Then I read the blurb, and I knew it would be good. I will say I was not disappointed. Two kids break into someone's home, and they both pay dearly. However, when a missing person's report goes out, it seems that the newly appointed sheriff will uncover a whole lot more than missing kids. It seems crimes have been committed for a long time, and it is finally being exposed.
Emmett is a serial killer; we know this from the start of it, but he is old now. Which I have to say was something new for me. I mean, yes, I know people get old, but to read it in a story does make you wonder about those that are killers. What happens next is all up to Emmett; his choices will affect the girl who broke into his house. I really did love the scenes that were given to us. They were a bit disturbing, but I enjoy books that make you go "what the......" For this author's first book, he did pretty well. I can't wait to read more by him. Maybe more with Deputy Packard in them?

5 star
This is so much more than a mystery/thriller.
The characters are well developed, and diverse. The plot has more than just a single story line. The villain is a human with flaws not just a monster.

This was just a great read altogether.

Our first encounter is with two teenagers that are involved in a break-in that escalates into a sick, dark world the reader can’t  leave. Even though the reader is shocked an appalled by what occurs in the storyline, you cannot put it down.
There’s an interesting cast of characters. The sheriff, newly returned to the city because of interesting personal reasons, finds himself in charge of finding these two lost teens gone missing. The reason they are missing is because the house they robbed belongs to a serial killer, somewhat dormant, who just happens to have a pink room in the basement where he can “keep” his victims.
It all revs up from there: the sheriff faces his demons, the serial killer displays a soft side, the accomplice and his own level of evil, the past discoveries, the chase……….it’s a riveting story. I hope the author follows up with another book to showcase the sheriff, he’s a keeper!

I don't think I've enjoyed a book quite this much in a while.
I loved the twist and turns and all the characters were fantastic. I genuinely did not want to put this down
I kinda hope this becomes a series, I feel like Packard has so many more mysteries left to solve.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this ARC. I just finished reading it last night and was really disappointed to end it. I liked the main character, Ben Packard and the process of his acclimating to a small town, with all it's quirks. It's interesting how Moehling weaves the story so at one point I found myself actually rooting for the bad guy, at least one one of them! There are lot of other colorful characters in the book, which makes a reader more engaged if you actually feel something for them. I recommend this book if you enjoy a good mystery.

This is less of a who done it and more of will they get to her in time, which created a lot of tension in this police procedural novel. Small town, acting sheriff with a secret and a tragic history/mystery from his childhood, two villains, one more evil than the other. This novel had lots to keep my interest and set the stage for a follow up

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

There He Kept Her is a great thriller that makes you wonder who will get caught and who will die. Two teenagers break into the house of an old man to steal his drugs; however, when they get caught, the quick in and out turns deadly. That old man who looks like he could not hurt a fly has a secret. A secret he will kill for to keep it buried.

The new acting police chief, stepping in for the current chief undergoing cancer treatments, has a secret of his own. He is also in charge of the investigation into the two missing teenagers. Will his secrets get spilled while trying to find the missing teens?

I really enjoyed this book. Will the story continue so we can find out answers to the chief's secret???

Well. I wish I could say I loved this but I didn’t. I personally feel a thriller should have at least 1 twist and keep you guessing. This book did not. The villain is revealed in the first chapter and there are no twists or reveals at all. I was completely bored through the whole book. 90% of the book was small town gossip/background on every, single, character. None of which was relevant to the story. The cover and synopsis drew me in but nothing about this book kept me interested.

Finally a new thriller series introducing us another complex character: ladies and gentlemen: here’s the new sheriff deputy of Sandy Lake: Ben Packard who returns back to his hometown after the tragedy stroke and shook him to the core, applying for this job for his fresh start!

Now he’s using his guns to stop wild animals to harass the townies including wild bears! He has bad memories about the town where his brother got missing and never been found! This is the very same place where his parents’ marriage has been damaged. Her sister and big brother moved to the other places and only his widowed cousin Susan who is restaurant owner, raising her teenage kid left behind as a family member.

The main reason he left his old job is not only losing his longtime boyfriend who has been shot on duty, he also dealt with condescending comments about his sexual preferences that his colleagues talked behind his back.

Now he’s the main authority in the small, conservative, religious, tight knitted town as a gay man in charge. It’s the challenge he has to accept and own.

He tries too hard to stay out of trouble, not to dig around his past but when his cousin Susan’s girl is missing alongside with her boyfriend, he conducts his investigation to find out who are the real monsters disguise in human fur.

The book is extremely intense! The monsters who keep Ben’s niece are extremely soulless, vicious, disgusting human wastes. The graphic violence, darkness of the story make you startle!

There’s no big mystery or twist! We know the perpetrators from the beginning. We just get introduced to several well developed characters and Packard’s racing against the time to find the culprits.

It was character driven, intriguing, good structured debut novel! Probably at the second book, Packard will investigate the mystery behind the cold case about his brother who is still missing! And I truly look forward to read that!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Press Pen for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

This book was excellent I look forward to reading more by this author . I had many late nights of “one more chapter “

If you're looking for a dark and disturbing book this one is for you.
This thriller will have you on the edge of your seat, I couldn't put it down.
Truly a brilliant debut, but definitely not for everyone.
I was kind of startled to know right away who the villain is, it's not what I typically enjoy but it does the job!!

I absolutely loved this thriller. It reminded me lots of good TV thrillers with grittiness and atmosphere and complex characters. I cared for all the characters and I felt like I knew all of them.

If you like stories about abduction, Silence of the Lambs and recently enjoyed Mare of Easttown on HBO, you will definitely enjoy this one. The writing is atmospheric and effortless and I loved how everything and everyone got entwined together.

Packard was a wonderful main character and I am looking forward to his and Franklin’s adventures.

I don’t want to give more away, I loved it and finished in a week! Incredible book and story.

This one was great right from the beginning. It was a real page turner and I enjoyed it. Joshua Moehling’s writing style is great and I look forward to reading more by this author.

What a heart pounding debut. Full of suspense and action it was an interesting read. Kept me intrigued with well developed characters and just the right amount of twists. The ending was gasp-worthy.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc

I loved this police procedural! The pacing of the story was perfect. At times it was a slow burning build and then it would pick up just when it needed to. The character depth was perfect and even our killer is given layers which make us think. It isn't often we get an LGBTQ+ main character especially one that is a cop. I was really surprised this was a debut because it was so well done. Would love to get more books with Ben Packard as the main character.

This book just wasn't for me. I don't enjoy books where the reader already knows the perpetrator, heroine and victim at the beginning of the book so it wasn't my preferred style of a thriller read. However for those that enjoy crime investigation books - it will be a great read for them. However it was well-written with good character development and plot movement.

ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.