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.

Dark, disturbing, twisted but highly nail biting!

"They thought he was a helpless old man. They were wrong."

Sheriff Ben Packard moves back to his town in Minnesota and soon has the most intriguing case he’s seen in a while.

Two teens, Jesse and Jenny, had their worst nightmare in front of them in the form of an old man with his shotgun. The teens break into his home to steal his pills not knowing that Emmett Burr is a retired serial killer.

Emmett’s secrets were buried in his basement for years but now the teens are know about his dark sinister past. How far will he go to keep his secrets?

Told in the POVs of the house owner and the Sheriff working on the missing teens case, slowing unfolding the darkest creepy plot you’re not ready for. The characters are all written well but Ben’s character takes phenomenal development through the plot.

The mystery is known but the suspense is still unrelenting. This debut novel is a full blast.

This will keep you on the edge!

I am disappointed with the book, as it started out pretty strong, and then I lost interest and did not finish past the half. I did not enjoy the treatment of women in the book, and I didn't like how awful the bad guys were and then they were whole sections to read! It seemed like the good characters were missing depth, although I love a good dog story, that part also seemed out of nowhere.

Thanks to Net Galley for the early read of this title!

I’m here for the dark stuff! I absolutely love a well written sinister read full of things that will give the average person the creeps and night terrors!

Two teens are looking for drugs but stumble upon a sinister secret in the basement that someone will do anything to hide!

Absolutely drawn to the characters from the very beginning. The book is paced brilliantly and full of twists and turns to keep you on your toes!

5⭐️

4.5*
Shocking, creepy and downright disturbing. Yet… absolutely unputdownable!

While breaking into a home, Jesse and Jenny find their little criminal enterprise coming to a grinding halt. Their worst nightmare comes true when they come face-to-face with the owner, suddenly finding themselves staring straight down the barrel of his shotgun.

Can they possibly escape? Or is the terror just beginning?

Ben Packard has returned to the small community of Sandy Lake, Minnesota, and learns he’s next in line for town Sheriff. Keeping his personal life private is a priority. But in a small town like Sandy Lake? Good luck with that, Sheriff.

His biggest concern right now however is finding the teenagers before it’s too late.

I’m shocked this is a debut. Brilliantly written, I was glued to every page from the start. Each character was superbly developed in full color. The storyline flowed at a perfect pace with the tension rising as the situation became more dire.

I’m REALLY hoping this may be the beginning of a new series? Or will we be treated to another stand-alone.

Either way, I’m all in!🙋‍♀️ I have a new talented author to follow.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Press Press

Thank you to the publisher for approving me!
I gave this novel five stars because it was suspenseful, gruesome and surprisingly comical. The scene with Mrs. McDonald and Packard meeting for the first time had me laughing out loud.

While reading this book, the entire time I thought I was inside a criminal minds episode! Honestly, I loved it!! The plot focuses on two teenagers breaking into a house late at night, but things start to go wrong.. Again another book where the first chapter starts off WONDERFUL and dives right into the thriller aspects. I was a little nervous about the amount of action in the beginning because I wasn't sure if it was going to be a slow build-up of what was going to happen next. I was proved wrong, I really enjoyed the character development of the detective and understanding his past life to discover how it ended up in the small town.

Overall, let's just say I'll be reading more books by this author and wouldn't mind if the detective in the story had his own spinoff of his cases. The ending left the reader to guess about certain parts, but not exactly a cliffhanger.

Cover: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Writing: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Character Building: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Ending: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Overall Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐

My take:

Thank you Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press Publishing for the opportunity to read this arc.

This book was action packed from start to finish. The story kept going and I didn't feel bored at all. I loved Packard's character and Gary was a good hoot! Great book from Joshua, hope to see more in the near future!

𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑯𝒆 𝑲𝒆𝒑𝒕 𝑯𝒆𝒓 by 𝑱𝒐𝒔𝒉𝒖𝒂 𝑴𝒐𝒆𝒉𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈

Ben Packard moves back to his small town of Sandy Lake, Minnesota to work as a Sheriff's Deputy. He soon get prompted into Acting Sheriff.

Two teenagers, Jess and Jenny suddenly get missing at the dead of one night. Ben soon find himself as the lead detective in the investigation of these two missing teens.

Emmett Burr is a retired serial killer living on painkillers when the teens break into his home to steal his pills. When they discover hints of a sinister past in his basement, Emmett makes sure his secrets won't ever be told...

The first thing I need to mention is that this book is dark. Not too dark according my taste but still really dark and disturbing. I really liked the setting. It's set in a small town. And I always enjoy small town settings. They're beautiful. I loved our main character Detective Ben Packard. The story is told from two povs; one of Ben's and the other one is from the villain. I loved Moehling's story telling style. His writing is easy and read and very good for a debut author. I LOVED our main character Ben. His character development throughout the entire book is phenomenal. And he's also queer. It definitely felt like icing on the cake.

I wouldn't necessarily call this book a thriller or a mystery. It is more like a suspense novel where we already know what happened and who did that. We know who the bad bad guy(s) are. There isn't any plot twist to speak of. We just follow our main character, who is a detective/police officer as he trys to solve the case. To be honest, I found it quite boring. Even though I think this book would make into a fantastic suspense movie, I really didn't enjoy the book. It felt too uneventful, phlegmatic and very very pretentious. It was also unnecessarily long. About 100 pages of this book could have been cut off. Specially, I hated the ending. It was so unsatisfying, only left a bitter taste in my mouth. "And There He Kept Her" is more of a police procedural than a mystery/ thriller book. If you like that type of book you might like it...Sadly, I don't like this type of book. So, I personally couldn't enjoy it even after trying so hard.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of And There He Kept Her.

This was a good read, to my surprise, mostly because the writing is good and Ben Packard is a great character.

The only thing I didn't like was that you know who the bad guy(s) are.

I prefer mysteries/thrillers where I'm kept in suspense and can solve the case alongside the detective(s).

The author spends just the right amount of time and words on character development, which is great; he describes the locals, their quirks and prejudices, their grievances, their jobs, and this development adds to the sense of the small community.

It's not easy creating a character like Emmett, and making him almost decent, pitied, at the end.

Jenny is no wilting wallflower; she's scared, but not beaten. She's vulnerable, but defiant. She's injured and sick, but never stops fighting to survive.

Ben Packard is a good guy, smart and kind, who returned to his hometown after the death of his boyfriend. He loves dogs, keeps his sexual identity close to his chest, and is good at his job.

I forget the name of Ben's capable deputy, but I liked her too, as well as the guy Ben's adopts Frank from.

So many interesting characters! It's not often when I like a main character, but when I like a main character and some of the supporting characters, too?

Wow, nice job, Mr. Moehling!

I look forward to reading the author's next book, which I hope will be about Sheriff Ben Packard.

Fantastic novel. A hometown murder mystery, featuring a new sheriff. Woody, gloomy, small Minnesota town for the setting. Wonderfully developed characters and relationships. A strong addition to the genre; highly recommend!

For some reason I felt it was going to be horror. It wasn’t, but the title and cover must have gotten that idea in my head and it never left. Looking back at the description again I realize it was never mentioned as horror so that was my mistake, ‘but’ I loved it!

A new to me author is well written, suspenseful and fed the hunger I have for the genre. This one is thriller and mystery, but it is also drama and funny in between the horror. I cannot wait to read more by this author

Thank you so very much to @NetGalley the publisher and the author @JoshuaMoehling

#MysteryBooks #ThrillerBooks #2022BookReleases #2022BookWinner #BookishThings #2022BookFavorites #AndThereHeKeptHer #NetGalley #JoshuaMoehling #2022MustReadBooks #2022MostAnticipatedBooks #BookishGratitude

This is the kind of book that will get you hooked from the beginning, because you will want to know what happens next. So well written and characters were well developed. 2 thumbs up.

Shrouded in mystery and carrying secrets, Ben Packard moves back to his small town of Sandy Lake, Minnesota to work as a sheriff's deputy. He's soon faced with becoming lead detective in an investigation of two missing teens.
Emmett Burr is a retired serial killer living on painkillers when the teens break into his home to steal his pills. When they discover hints of a sinister past in his basement, Emmett makes sure his secrets won't ever be told...
I was sold based on the premise alone and was expecting a dark and suspenseful tale. Unfortunately, it felt a little lackluster and my heartbeat stayed steady throughout. The story had a monotonous tone to it and there weren't any suprises since you already know who the killer is from the beginning. I did enjoy the storyline from the killer's perspective but when it changed to Packard's POV, It just felt kind of flat and dull at times. I just never really felt or believed the sense of urgency in locating the teens.
While this is well written, I don't see myself picking up the next book in the series. Maybe if Packard didn't come across as so uptight, my opinion could have been different. Granted, he did have reasons to be the way he is (no spoilers here), but he was missing something.
I'd recommend this to people looking for a light police procedural read with a queer cop with a tortured past and a killer who struggles between being victim to aggressor.

“Some things would never go back to normal…Some things would stay with him the rest of his days.”

Emmett Burr is a chain smoking, slovenly obese senior citizen who relies on his prescription of OxyContin just to heave his extreme bulk out of a chair. So, when he stumbles across two teenagers breaking into his secluded home, he lets his shotgun do the talking with the boy…and the girl…well, there is a special room in his basement…and there he kept her…

Deputy Sheriff Ben Packard has retreated to the small Minnesota town of Sandy Lake thinking no one will guess his secrets. But Sandy Lake is no ordinary small town, and when he’s contacted about a couple of missing teens, Sherriff Packard is led on an investigation that goes beyond potential runaways…even beyond his own troubled past…

Sandy Lake has secrets some thought long buried…until a couple of teenagers break into the wrong man’s house and sets in motion events that will uncover the truth…

Joshua Moehling’s debut novel is not at all what I was expecting when I started reading. Perhaps the cover and blurb tricked me into believing it’s a run of the mill murder mystery novel, which most will interpret it to be…but in all actuality, it’s a horror story…one where the monsters aren’t hiding under the bed or in the closet…they are walking amongst us. There is no greater monster than what one human is capable of doing to another…

Absolutely terrifying and this reader is looking forward to more thrills and chills from this author, as well as the continuation of one Deputy Sherriff Ben Packard’s tale! Loved & highly recommend!

Attention Netflix…if you are looking for a new show idea, this is it!





**I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book that I received via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. **

Thank you to NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press, and Joshua Moehling for the advanced copy of And There He Kept Her in exchange for my honest review.

This is a stunner of a debut, so first and foremost kudos to Moehling! What first gripped me about this one was hearing rumblings of how dark it was. It was in fact pretty dark and it was probably my favorite aspect of the book.

This was more of a police procedural than I was expecting but I'm definitely not mad about it! When done well, I tend to really enjoy them, and this one was definitely done well. I loved Detective Ben Packard along with the fact that this was set in Minnesota. My hometown even got a shout out! (Is this only exciting to Midwest people?)

I've mentioned in previous reviews I'm not big on trigger warnings because I don't really have them, but readers should know this one is pretty dark before diving in. (Although I feel the synopsis does a pretty good job sending that message).

And There He Kept Her will be on bookshelves June 14!

Although i enjoyed this book it was dark and creepy i could only read in the daytime! Yes i was that scared! Thank you for the arc Netgalley!

For a debut author, I must admit I absolutely loved it. It was such a different take on the kidnapping genre. Whilst I was reading it my thoughts were very grown up - the exploration into the different themes - small town, sexuality, etc was very interesting.

I will definitely look forward to any more books by this author.

I was given an advance copy by netgalley and the publishers but the review is entirely my own.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

Two teenagers, Jesse and Jenny, break into Emmett’s house to steal his painkillers to sell to other kids. But their plan goes awry when Emmett catches them, aims his shotgun at them, and keeps one of them as a prisoner in his basement. Meanwhile, Sheriff Packard is on the hunt for the missing teens in hopes that he can discover what happened to the two of them before it’s too late.

While the synopsis was intriguing, what really caught my attention was someone’s review that she DNF’d this book because it was too much for her. Sign me up! Is it bad that I’m drawn towards disturbing books?

I really like books with big plot twists, but there were no surprises with this one. It also seemed to drag on for quite some time during the middle of the book, so I found myself not wanting to pick up the book at times. Overall though, it was a decent read, and I look forward to reading more of Joshua Moehling’s books in the future!

And There He Kept Her took me by a complete surprise and shocked me to my core. I adore the characters, the feuds and the secrets. I love every single POV we hear the story from, from our lovably, interesting cop who happens to be hiding in the closet after the death of his husband in a small southern town. To the interesting neighbors, one a dog rescuer and the other.. well… she’s something.

And then we have the two teenage lovebirds. One dead. One captive. And the two men who hold the girl’s life in their hands.

This was, hands down, one of the best crime thrillers I have read in a very long time. The authentic development of the characters, the vibrant personalities and histories of every single character and how they fit into the story.

Absolutely breathtaking, creepy, and a book that every crime nerd will love. I had goosebumps for days. Brilliant work and I cant wait to see more from this author.