I was absolutely horrified for at least 90% of this book (the other 10% was dog and dog-adjacent) which is a good thing for a thriller to make you feel 😂

I liked the alternate perspectives between the “villain” and the “hero”. It made me want to scream at the page sometimes because I knew things they didn’t and couldn’t tell them! The pace was strong, and there are just enough messy knots to be realistic for such a small town.

I was a little weirded out by the concept of Emmett being a victim, since he made the choices he made of his own volition. Sure, the kids were robbing him and that was crummy of them - but he was a truly horrific man long before they came along. Some of the violence mentioned was a little gratuitous, but that’s all a matter of opinion. A very convoluted and elaborate story! I would check out any other stories from this author because the writing style was very enjoyable.

The title and the cover were the ones that initially aroused my interest. I was enticed to find that they both proved more than fit for the narrative. On the downside, they add a see-through factor of predictability.

The omniscient writer gradually paints for us a plausible and multilayered image of a small-town community, where secrets never cease to fold and unfold. It is only the reader, though, who is lucky enough to witness and learn the truth at a satisfying pace, while the characters are slowly led to it by a realistic and intelligent police operation, almost single-handedly carried out by the charismatic Ben Packard. The acting sheriff is himself a "man with untold stories" and a complex character worthy of attention. His stern professional attitude and sophisticated righteousness shine hopeful light over the dark recesses of the story.

The account stands out as a detective story spurred by the disappearance of two local teenagers, but it goes well beyond the genre. Characters evolve without stepping outside their deeper selves, power relationships shift, social aspects are touched upon, insights into the human soul are scattered here and there, dramatic potentials are reached, plot dynamics are adeptly weaved.

The narrative is modern and easy to follow, the dialogue and character interactions have a natural flow, even when events roll out for the worst. I would have preferred a less graphic language used throughout the book. While it comes across as the genuine language real-life characters would use, I felt it was (occasionally) needlessly overemphasized. The plot is alert and tense enough to nurture the reader's interest.

Read Joshua Moehling's debut novel when you are ready to learn about humankind at its best, its worst, and its relatable in-between. The intermittent British-like humour is also something to look forward to.

Why 4 stars out of 5?
Ideas are too plainly laid out for the reader, leaving too little room for introspective, analytical approach or meanders. I was also bothered by a nagging repetitiveness in regard to certain details, suggestive of a cartoon where all clues are highlighted to make sure they do not go overlooked by the more aloof or unattentive.

I would be interested in reading the seemingly promised sequel to the novel. Ben Packard and Joshua Moehling need a second book to sort out the mysterious disappearance that occurred during the active sheriff's childhood.

My personal thanks go to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the early release sent in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 for me. It wasn’t the most thrilling story I’ve ever read but it held my interest throughout. This was an easy, fast read.

This was middle of the road for me. I never could quite get into the characters or storyline. Thanks for the opportunity to read and review.

2.5/3 stars

I wanna start by saying I loved the idea, the writing was great, but it just wasn’t for me.

I was excited at first to read this seeing as it was very “Don’t Breathe” but from the outside POV and I was excited to see as I read we also get the antagonist’s POV. But as police POVs always end up for me, I just did not care much about the people. I could see where things were going and even if there was a twist I did not see coming I just had no motivation to find out what it is.

I found our main cop, Ben Packard, the one cop POV that I actually did enjoy at times. He had an actual personality and it seemed there was a backstory we were slowly uncovering with him, but at some point I just kind of stopped caring. It was just over and over, find the kids! Here’s the guy that kidnapped them after they broke in. Where are the kids? The dude again and how he’s just a bad dude.

I will say, if I ever see anything else by our author and it sounds interesting I will be willing to pick it up because the writing was nice and easy to follow, but this story just was not for me.

Thank you so so much Netgalley and Joshua Moehling for the chance to read this early in exchange for an honest review

And There He Kept Her
A Novel
by Joshua Moehling
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for my honest review.
The book was not a thriller. It was ok though. I guess, I just didn't care for the book enough to read it in one sitting. I won't really remember it by next week.

Well well, Emmett Burr, you are quite a character !

At first glance, Emmett is a typical serial killer, living in a dilapidated house , with little to no hygiene and even less empathy towards other humans. In his basement, he has build a pink room with a sturdy lock. But that was a long time ago, and now he is crippled by back- and jointpains, haunted by the women he killed all those decades ago. And then, just like a butterfly entering a back kitchen door, there is Jenny who is trying to rob him from his oxy. Suddenly, Emmett is forced to make some hard decisions that will affect both of them.
Now, who would have thought that such a villain could be so well crafted that as a reader you can loath him, but also feel some pity, some understanding, and I even found myself rooting for him at a certain point. Kudos to the author for that!

A second character is deputy sheriff Packard, a nice and capable policeman, but with a mystery in his past that still needs to be solved. What a relief from the usual grumpy old sheriff in town. Trying to solve at least part of the things that happened in his past will certainly be the basis for the next installment of Sandy Lake. I'm looking forward to it !

Thank you to NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press and the author for an advanced copy.

A nicely written book with plenty of plot twists. Had a hard time putting it down. Kept me interested from the start!I can’t wait to see what else author writes!

I enjoyed this thriller / mystery of a book and was actually surprised to learn that it’s a debut novel.

The plot flowed smoothly with a few intricacies. Although the perpetrator is known from the beginning of the book, the mystery remains, and the plot was engaging all the way through.

The character development was superbly well done! I just fell in love with Gary. Ben was carefully crafted as a flawed but likeable man with a dark past (whatever happened to his brother?), and I can’t wait to meet up with him again in future novels.

I’d definitely recommend this book to lovers of mysteries and thrillers, and Mr. Moehling has been added to my “authors to be followed” list.

#Netgalley #AndThereHeKeptHer #JoshuaMoehling #PoisonedPenPress

3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️. I really don’t have much to say about this one. Didn’t love it, but it wasn’t the worst I’ve ever read. The story was somewhat predictable and I didn’t really like any of the characters. Emmett and Carl were gross. I wanted to skim through chapters that included them. I understand the book was supposed to be disturbing, but they were just nasty. Officer Packard was okay but the storyline of him being gay was just written so weird. By no means did I have a problem with him being gay, I just think it was very poorly written and I noticed being annoyed with how it was worked into the story. Sadly, I’m not sure I would recommend this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

To see other reviews I’ve left, please check out my Goodreads and Instagram pages:
*Goodreads - Cherihy808
*Instagram - bookworm_traveler808

This one just wasn’t for me. It was a DNF, unfortunately. But I seem to be in the minority. I just didn’t connect to the characters.

And There He Kept Her may not be a cool title, or the cover may not be the most exciting one you see, but it works. The mystery is not so much if we find out, but if the detective finds out. But the journey is exciting. Despite knowing who's done it, there are still many skeletons to dig out from the closet.. I know that the author is setting up potentially for more than one book, and I hope that he delivers.

It keeps me glued to the book until the end. There are details in the book that make Ben human, but it does not really affect the progress of the book. If you like mysteries, this is enjoyable. The pace is comfortable and not too breakneck that it leaves you breathless.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
The title, book cover & description had me so excited to request a copy of "And There He Kept Her" by Joshua Moehling. I kept checking to see if I was approved to read a copy & when I was, I couldn’t wait to read it.
It didn't disappoint, it was a
dark, disturbing, gritty & addictive thriller.
I really enjoyed all the different perspectives-from the sheriff, to the captor & to the captured.
There was great character development & I would love this to be a beginning of a new series.

A wonderfully written story of how things can go wrong quickly. I couldn’t put this book down! I found myself sneaking and reading it during work. The cliffhanger at the end was a great touch to make a person stalk the bookstore in search of the next book. This book is a wonderful companion on a lonely weekend.

I'm not certain what the point of this book was. It was an interesting enough story but I wouldn't call it a thriller. It didn't have you guessing what was going on, it was pretty obvious. No major twists or surprises. I don't understand the reason for the love interest. I'm not talking about the type of love interest just in general there was no purpose and it didn't add anything to the story. I understand this is an advanced copy but it needs another good read through to fix the multiple typos. Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for the free advanced copy. I'm leaving this review voluntarily.

this book was so good! Even though you know the culprits as the story is unfolding, It is a read in one sitting kind of book. The characters are just so damn interesting and I hope that we will be seeing more of them in the future. . I was up way past my bedtime to finish this one!

I'm not going to bother doing another recap of the plot for the book. I will say how much I enjoyed the great character development in the tale. This thriller was good, but what made it exceptional for me was the 'bad guy', the old man who has a basement. In that basement, and in his travels outside of it, we get to really know Emmett (Not a spoiler, it's always made clear who did what with which banana so to speak). The thing is Emmett is not all bad. The author's deft touch has the reader actually feeling sympathy for the devil in many places. The thrills are not just of the 'will the girl get rescued in time' variety, but also of the what will Emmett do now? Which path will he choose? Will he continue to do wrong? Or will he help her? And that has the chance to change moment by moment, driven by Emmett's fears, memories, disappointments, and loneliness. You can actually feel for the monster as well as for all his victims. I'll not lie. This book is very dark in places. If you can't handle the thought of a teenager(s) being hurt/killed do not read it. (Not saying who lives or dies or what shakes out in the end. Let's just say it's an eventful and fascinating race to the finish.) It's a compelling look at character and choices with chills and thrills. I also greatly appreciated the LGBTQ characters NOT being the ones to die (to bring them 'salvation' or whatever gross excuse is used normally). They're not caricatures. They're fully realized human beings. There's not enough of that often. Too often I see people on pages who are trapped into specific roles like the rallying cries, scape goats, or clowns. You'll not find that here in And There He Kept Her. The book is due out in June from Poisoned Pen Press. I thank them for the ARC I received in exchange for an honest review. I'm very happy that I chose to ask for this title.

link to review on Goodreads.- Was unable to post review yet on Amazon.<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58203099-and-there-he-kept-her" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="And There He Kept Her" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1643684344l/58203099._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58203099-and-there-he-kept-her">And There He Kept Her</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21552752.Joshua_Moehling">Joshua Moehling</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4572909336">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
I'm not going to bother doing another recap of the plot for the book. I will say how much I enjoyed the great character development in the tale. This thriller was good, but what made it exceptional for me was the 'bad guy', the old man who has a basement. In that basement, and in his travels outside of it, we get to really know Emmett (Not a spoiler, it's always made clear who did what with which banana so to speak). The thing is Emmett is not all bad. The author's deft touch has the reader actually feeling sympathy for the devil in many places. The thrills are not just of the 'will the girl get rescued in time' variety, but also of the what will Emmett do now? Which path will he choose? Will he continue to do wrong? Or will he help her? And that has the chance to change moment by moment, driven by Emmett's fears, memories, disappointments, and loneliness. You can actually feel for the monster as well as for all his victims. I'll not lie. This book is very dark in places. If you can't handle the thought of a teenager(s) being hurt/killed do not read it. (Not saying who lives or dies or what shakes out in the end. Let's just say it's an eventful and fascinating race to the finish.) It's a compelling look at character and choices with chills and thrills. I also greatly appreciated the LGBTQ characters NOT being the ones to die (to bring them 'salvation' or whatever gross excuse is used normally). They're not caricatures. They're fully realized human beings. There's not enough of that often. Too often I see people on pages who are trapped into specific roles like the rallying cries, scape goats, or clowns. You'll not find that here in And There He Kept Her. The book is due out in June from Poisoned Pen Press. I thank them for the ARC I received in exchange for an honest review. I'm very happy that I chose to ask for this title.

Is there something wrong with me when I say that I enjoyed this dark, gritty thriller? Did I mention dark?? Every minute I had available I was trying to fit in as much as I could and hated to put it down.

Two teenagers break into a desolate home in hopes of scoring some rx drugs. Things take a quick turn for the worst when we realize very quickly that the homeowner isn't a disabled old man in the least. We then switch gears to acting Sherriff Packard who is trying to hunt down the missing teens.

We switch POV's between the homeowner and the Sheriff which I thought was done really well and enhanced the story to see both point of views. While this isn't as much of a mystery to figure out who and why it is something that captivated my attention to figure out how it would unfold.

I'm hoping there is another book coming with Sheriff Packard, I really enjoyed his storyline and think there could be more of his life explored in a future novel.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and the publisher for a chance to read an advanced copy. I can't wait to read more from this author.

Wow, this is a truly brilliant debut thriller!
I made the mistake of starting it late at night, and finally fell asleep only a hour before my alarm went off - because i couldn’t put it down!
Flawless!
Easily worthy of 5 stars.
I genuinely hope the sequel is out very soon!

Sorry, this turned into a DNF for me. I couldn't get into it and gave it a good try but just was not interested.