Ben Packard needs a series of his own. ASAP. This hit all of your detective thrillers (decided that were calling it that now) bullet points you would want. It has the gore, the dirty pieces of the crimes, the interesting back story and development of the protagonist and it is all done in a debut.

I’m a fan, I need more!

A dark mysterious thriller that was so hard to put down! Jesse and Jenny, teenagers up to no good. Jesse breaks into a older man’s home in hopes to steal medication. Jenny runs in behind him, worried about Jesse just as they both find that the home owner is anything but a weak old man. Emmett Burr makes you feel as though he’s not only a murderer, and crazy to the core but also a protector at same time. Knowing Jesse is gone, Jenny plays her cards right almost befriending Emmett in a way. I love that the first chapter sucks you in right from the start. There are major complex characters and this author was great about filling you in on each one’s back story so that you feel like you know them. For a bit there I was confused on who’s who but picked it up quickly as I kept reading. Ben Packard was strong and steadfast all while being sensitive and struggling with his own past demons. I have to admit Ben was admirable to me! I enjoyed this book in its entirety! I can not wait to read more from this debut author!
Thank you Mr Moehling and Netgalley!

The plot is quite good -- two teenagers chose the wrong house to rob, with deadly consequences for one and traumatic consequences for the other, as the homeowner, Emmett Burr, has some rather significant secrets that he will go to great lengths to hide. The search for the missing teenagers will turn up a number of secrets in this small Minnesota town, with profound consequences for a number of residents, including acting sheriff Ben Packard. However, what makes this book standout is the characters. Some of the characters feel like they were inspired by the comedic crime thriller "Fargo". Some of the characters, based on how they are described, would fit in well in the "Freak" show section of an early 20th century traveling carnival. There are also some very colorful characters, especially Gary Bushwright, who has quite an interesting professional history. Even Emmett Burr, one of the villains, is portrayed in a manner that reflects moral ambiguity. He has done some evil things, but he also has a protective and caring nature at times, and life circumstances have made him into somewhat of a pathetic, almost sympathetic, character, especially when he is contrasted with his associate, Carl, who is evil incarnate. Ben Packard's decision to move to Sandy Lake was influenced in part by past events involving his family, and the book is written in a manner that suggests there could be a sequel that delves more into his past.

I received a copy of the e-book via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

First and foremost, a large thank you to NetGalley, Joshua Moehling, and Poisoned Pen Press for providing me with a copy of this publication, which allows me to provide you with an unbiased review.

New to the work of Joshua Moehling, I thought that this book would make for an interesting read. I was pleasantly surprised as to how smoothly things went, with a dark thriller that carried me through to the final page and left me wanting more. Moehling does well to paint a sinister picture with this story and has me wondering if I ought to return to explore more of his work in the months to come.

When two teens target a house in a remote community, they are hoping to score something to help with their drug high. Little do they know what awaits them there, or that the proprietor has a plan of his own. Wanting to keep the past hidden, Emmett Burr will stop at nothing to silence the teens and keep the past cemented there.

Ben Packard hopes a fresh start in Sandy Lake, Minnesota will help his demeanour. Working as a sheriff’s deputy, Packard hopes to bring security to the community and rewrite his own personal narrative. Leading the investigation to to the two missing teens, Packard is prepared to pull out all the stops and show how effective he can be. With few clues and leads drying up faster than he can process them, Packard will have to rely on his gut and intuition, which is anything but stellar.

As the story reaches its climax, those involved show how a spine-chilling tale can truly grip everyone. A mystery and thriller like no other, Moehling shows that he has what it takes to stand next to others in the genre and make himself known. Easily the best thriller I have read in a while by an author worth of more attention.

Joshua Moehling may not have been on my radar before, but this novel has surely made me take note. I enjoyed the perspexctive he offers throughout and the dedication to the genre exhibited in the story. An eerie tale with some strong character development, Moehling taps into the inner soul of both character and reader, offering a story that will make people take note and want to know more.

While it would be easy to focus all my attention on Ben Packard, I found that there were a handful of great characters who emerged throughout the reading experience. There is a little backstory involved, as well as some great development, all of which feeds into the larger =narrative to keep the story moving, Moehling does well to proponent the reader with something worth their time, without bemoaning too much of the personal lives of the characters involved. I am eager to see how he addresses his characters in other publications, as I was left feeling as though it was a unique approach to much of what I have read lately.

The key to a great story is pulling the reader in from the opening pages. I was hooked before things got too far along and could not get enough. The narrative clipped along and left me fully engaged by the first few chapters, though I was able to steer my way through the plot with some ease. Great characters, developed effectively, kept me on track and the twists came just as I needed them. I am eager to see what else is out there by Joshua Moehling and how this compares to it. Hoping others will discover and devour this book as well, allowing the conversation to grow swiftly.

Kudos, Mr. Moehling, for a great piece. I am pleased to have stumbled upon it and cannot wait for more!

I'll admit, I was both immediately intrigued and also wary with the way the story began. It's one of those books where it shows you the killer's perspective right from the start.

But I was not disappointed. This book drew me in. Packard was an enjoyable character and the world of Sandy Lake had plenty of interesting side characters to entertain. It pulls on your emotions, making you feel sympathetic for the killer and question things as you read.

I felt the intensity escalate as I read the book and by the end I could not put it down.

Definitely an enjoyable read, and I'm hoping we get to read more about Packard and Frank in the future!

And There He Kept Her: A Novel by Joshua Moehling had interesting and realistic characters. The book had a good setting with believable scenarios. There was not too much extraneous information or descriptions, which I appreciate. The story was good but a bit slow. I did really like Packard and always love when dogs are in stories.

I would recommend this book.

@PPPress #NetGalley

"He wasn't sure but he tought the walls were painted.....pink. The color had peeled away in places, leaving discolored spots that looked like scabs. He saw a thin mattress covered in dark stains on a metal frame. A heavy chain hung limply through a steel ring bolted on the wall at the head of the bed..........He blindly reached for the inside door handle to pull it shut again and found there wasn't one." And There He Kept Her.

I was hooked from the very start. The story unfolds effortlessly with impeccably drawn characters, each and every one of them, even the minor characters. Moehing writes so well he doesn't have to give us lengthy, wordy descriptions. Their actions, the way the talk, how they look and dress reveal who these people are and how they live. A couple of high schoolers, a boy and a girl, break into an old guys home to steal his perscriped drugs to supply the supplier because he owes him. Not a good idea, not a good idea at all, and things go downhill quickly. Everyone seems to have secrets, some very nasty secrets. The hunt is on to find these two teen-agers when they don't show up at home or school. They leave no clues behind as to where they could have gone, but we, the readers, know exactly where they are and this is what makes this story a realy page turner. The lives of everyone in this small town weave together in one way or another and interconnect.

The author seems to be setting up a second novel built around Deputy Ben Packard and his search to find out what happened to his brother years ago when his brother disappeared and the case went cold in this very same small town. At least I hope so because I will definitely read anything this author writes.

If you like dark, disturbing police procedural stories then this novel is for you! Joshua Moehling’s debut, And There He Kept Her, is a great start to a series. I was immediately immersed in this story. I felt like I was watching a scary movie while I was reading the scenes of what Jenny and Jesse were doing at Emmett’s. Even though you know who the bad people are, and there are some very bad people in this small town, you don’t know how it will all play out. I couldn’t wait to keep reading so I could find out. I also really like Ben Packard as the lead character and look forward to finding out more of his past. I am a huge fan of these kinds of series and am really looking forward to what comes next. Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC!!!

Enjoyable. well written but wasn't on the edge of the seat reading. ii wanted a little more. It had the potential to be a 4-5 star read

And There He Kept Her by Joshua Moehling is set in a small town in northern Minnesota where almost everyone knows everyone else. The story centers around a new acting sheriff due to the illness of the elected sheriff and is replete with murders, missing teenagers, girls/women disappearing, drugs (sale of and use), secrets, quarreling neighbors, homosexuality, etc.

Most of the characters are not likable and several of the situations depicted are either irrelevant or downright silly — bow and arrow, three legged dog and reading of David Copperfield to an imprisoned girl*s captor.

I thank NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to read and review an advance reader copy of a book that I found to be tedious reading.

And There He Kept Her is the debut novel from Joshua Moehling. a dark, sometimes disturbing with a pinch of humour page turner.
This novel really encapsulates the small town feel of Sandy Lake where the protagonist Ben Packard has moved.
The story follows Ben as acting sheriff as he investigates the disappearance of two local teens.
As the readers we already know what has happened to them and as such this novel reads more as a police procedural/ dark drama rather than a mystery thriller.
I really enjoyed the character development of Ben with snippets from a tragedy in his past and a more recent tragedy both of which serve as the catalysts for his return to Sandy Lake.
Ben is a really interesting protagonist and I hope that the author has plans to create as series with him.
Overall this is a really well written novel, creating and atmosphere that is intense and unnerving

Thanks to poisoned pen press , NetGalley and the author of the opportunity to read this novel early.

Packard had been hired by Stan Shaw, Sheriff of Sandy Lake eighteen months earlier as an investigator for the Sandy Lake County Sheriff’s Department, but for the last four months, he’d been serving as acting sheriff.

Six months after the death of his lover Marcus, Packard saw the job posting for a deputy in Sandy Lake, Minnesota, the same town where he’d spent his summers as a child.

His cousin Susan Wheeler tells him her daughter Jenny is missing. Jenny snuck out the previous night and didn’t come back. Her mum doesn’t think she ran away because Jenny didn’t take her diabetes kit with her. She asks Packard to look into Jenny’s disappearance.

The reader learns early on that the teenagers have been kidnapped by a man named Emmett Burr who’d do anything to protect the secrets he’s been keeping in his basement.

An interesting small-town police procedural. Definitely recommend this book.

Thank you to Joshua Moehling, NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the arc of this book

This was a really solid police procedural! I thought the mystery was really interesting and well done. I loved Ben and would definitely read more books with him!

Thanks to Netgally for an advanced copy for my own personal review.
This books makes my heart beat faster than another suspense book. I really get involved in the story of Sandy Lake. It seems to me that you have everything in one story,
For me there are two important character in this story
For example, police officer Ben Packard has a story behind him that make you cry, has some drama but at the same time you have this man so brave and so on earth that you have the hole package.
Two teenagers are missing in the town so, he has to find them before something bad happen. In his past he lost someone who truly love so, the ghost of this lost chase him.
He has to fight with his own demons, and also has to cover a "secret" that he has no decided yet if he want to reveal or not.


Furthemore this new hero, you have the bad guy. Emmet Burr who is someone so wrong. In his past he did atrocious thing thinking that he did nothing wrong. But he kept and hide women and now that he get older there is nothing good in his life, nothing new, nothing that worth the effort to focus. But then
but then in a flash he does something that will change his peace of mind forever.

You will never be dissapointed with this book, you will enjoyed I recommend it 100%

Two teenagers attempt to break into a senior citizen’s house to steal prescription medication only to be interrupted by the homeowner, Emmett Burr, who is armed and ready to take on the trespassers.

When two teenagers go missing in Sandy Lake, Minnesota, Sheriff's Deputy Ben Packard (acting Sheriff on account of the previous Sheriff’s terminal illness), leads the investigation into their disappearance. The case is also personal on account of one of the teenagers being the daughter of his cousin. As the story progresses, we find out more about Ben's personal life and his family's connection to Sandy Lake including a personal loss from his childhood and the mystery surrounding the same. Secrets from Emmett's past are also gradually revealed. We also get to meet some of the residents of this small town as the police leave no stone unturned in tracing the whereabouts of the two missing teens.

Dark and disturbing, And There He Kept Her by Joshua Moehling is a well-written debut that I am guessing will be the first in a series. The story is told in a third-person narrative style and switches between Ben’s and Emmett's PoVs. The author successfully weaves in some light-hearted moments in the narrative with the small-town dynamics and an interesting cast of characters among whom are two neighbors who require police intervention to resolve their feuds! The author does cover some important themes- substance abuse among schoolchildren, seniors’ safety, kidnapping and sexual abuse and some of the scenes are more than a bit disturbing. Having said that, I do not consider this book to be a “thriller” in the true sense of the term. Yes, crimes are committed –as sick and disgusting as one might imagine, but the reader knows everything from the get-go - where the missing teenagers are, what happened to them and who is responsible! So all we have to do is follow the police as they uncover the “mystery”- no twists, no shocking reveals and therefore nothing much that makes this book stand out. The police procedural angle was well executed and the Deputy Sheriff’s trials and tribulations in navigating through his not-so-competent department, the gossip mill and speculation about his personal life while dealing with his own personal tragedies made for an interesting story.

While I enjoyed the read and truly liked the main character, I can’t say that this had me on the edge of my seat or rapidly turning pages to find out what happens at the end . Thus, though this is a well-written book, I cannot give it more than an average rating.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the DRC of this novel. All opinions expressed here are my own.

I liked that you know the "bad guy" from the start, but you don't know how it's all going to turn out. I was invested in the characters and how it was all going to end. You get a hint of mystery from our acting Sheriff's past that keeps the door open for a future book(s).. I enjoyed the book and am interested to see what's in store for Ben and the residents of Sandy Lake in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC.

A taut thriller that will keep you up! The debut offering from author Joseph Moehling is a tightly written, complex mystery that you will not want to put down. When two teenagers, Jesse and Jenny, go missing, Deputy Sherriff Ben Packard, new to Sandy Lake, is on the case. Packard’s character is well defined and immediately likable. While we know early on who the bad guy is, and what happened to the teens, the storyline is fully engaging. The author switches the point of view from Packard to the teens, to Emmett Burr, the scary serial killer, as the novel progresses. Through those different viewpoints, the plot comes together smoothly, with a satisfying ending. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It’s hard to believe this is a debut novel! Many thanks to NetGalley, Joshua Moehling and Poisoned Pen Press for the advanced reader copy.

At first, I would like to thank NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the oportunity to read this book.

Now let's start

In the begining of the book we see two kids trying to break into a house in a search for drugs, but the owner's has a secret to hide inside his basement, so this simple act of burglary turns into a nightmare for those teenagers.

The book is well buildt, it is good to see the bad guy's perspective, to analyse his thoughts and what has he done in the past. Detective/Sheriff Packard is another great character, his past is somehow developed in the book, but no completely, we are probably going to hear more about that in another book.

Overall it is a good and entertaining book.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars. This was a pretty great read; it had a lot of action from the beginning and I read this in just a few sittings, but I wasn't super attached to the story - in fact, I set it down for a few days to devour another book instead. But I actually really did enjoy the read, especially the main character. I would definitely read another one with Ben Packard! I'd love to see how his story continues.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this book. Unfortunately, this is a DNF for me, as it did not hit the right notes with me.