This was a good read but I did expect better based on the title! From the very beginning we know who is holding the girl hostage which already is not my favorite because there is no mystery in that other than if she will get rescued or not! There were some twists and turns and the progression of the book makes it seem like it would be a very good crime series. The characters were great and relatable and I loved the feel of the small town. I especially loved the mention of my favorite Norwegian author, Jo Nesbø. But this wasn't a 5 star read for me because I was not captivated, nor did I want to keep reading to figure it out.

And There He Kept Her, by Joshua Moehling. Wait until you get a load of this book. Uh, it was fantastic! While reading I anxiously awaited to the end to see how it all comes together. Packard and his team were awesome.
I clung to every ending chapter as I quickly turned the page waiting for the gasping surprise of suspense. Emmett’s character was magnificent. Oh my gosh his character was like a love hate character for me. Emmett’s character was considered and written exactly for this book. Carl was a whole another load of beans that scared the crap out of me.
You will absolutely love Gary’s character. He was written so well. I could actually visualize him walking around the kennels with his glasses. The suspense was very thrilling. I loved the realism and the intense entertainment.
I can not wait to read the next book. Until next time my fellow readers… read on!

received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. A good thriller and solid characters. Emmett holds captive a young girl. However, she is not her first. He hides under the radar for years. Is this the time for him to get caught?

And There He Kept Her – Joshua Moehling

In sleepy Sandy Lake, Minnesota, two teenaged kids break into a home looking for prescription drugs, only to be taken completely by surprise when the homeowner, an obese elderly man, catches them in the act – he’s clutching a double-barreled shotgun, which he fires…twice…

It is acting Sheriff Ben Packards’ day off, although he’s already had to put down a nuisance bear, when he receives a call from his cousin, Susan. Ben learns that his niece, Jenny, seems to have disappeared. Upon further questioning, he learns that Jenny, a Type 1 Diabetic, was last seen last evening, doing her homework in her room. When Susan went to wake her for school, she wasn’t there. As she has been caught sneaking out before to see her boyfriend Jesse, Ben & Susan aren’t terribly worried at first. But as time goes by and there’s no trace of or communication from either teen, that changes rapidly.

As Ben mulls over where Jenny and Jesse may be, he heads out on a complaint call – part of an ongoing conflict between a flamboyantly gay middle-aged male, Gary and his older, very straight-laced Christian neighbor, Cora. (These two characters and their exploits provide some laugh-out-loud hilarity for readers!). Upon negotiating a truce, sort of, Ben visits Gary’s rescue kennel, and for the first time since his dog’s recent death, considers adopting another. A hint of Ben’s backstory becomes evident here and will be explained to the reader throughout the story.

Emmett Burr is an older resident who lives on the outskirts of town, who pops narcotics like candy for his chronic pain and is glad to have finally caught the kids who have been stealing his drugs. But nothing has helped much today after he pulled something trying to move the Jesse’s body out of his basement, while stashing a seriously injured Jenny in his ‘pink room’ - a hidden area of his basement he built years ago. As he waits for his meds to finally provide some relief, and his buddy Carl to arrive and help him clean up, he reminisces about the first girl he kidnapped, all those years ago…

As the days go by, Ben and his team begin digging deeper into the kid’s backgrounds and learn that Jesse was peddling pills around the local high school. As the story slowly comes to light, and the police get an idea of where the kids may have been going, their search expands. As a result, Emmett is getting desperate to be rid of the evidence, and again calls on Carl for help, with the two hatching out a macabre plan. But in return, Carl wants Jenny…

This book was AWESOME!! I was plain sucked in from the first paragraph and could not put this book down!! Ben’s character is very well-developed, likeable, and all around interesting. Ancillary characters are equally engaging with very colorful personalities. As the reader learns about Ben and what brought him back to Sandy Lake, it becomes clear that there’s more to his story that’s yet to be told…so I am fervently hoping that we’ll be seeing much more of Ben and these fascinating townsfolk sooner rather than later!! I can’t say enough about this novel – just a fantastic read!!

I received this book as an Advance Reader Copy from Netgalley & Poisoned Pen Press in exchange for an objective review. Do you love to read?? Visit netgalley.com and start reviewing books today!!

This is a decent mystery with a likable detective that could easily turn into a series. Two teenagers are missing and at first no one except Jenny’s mom is very concerned. It soon becomes apparent that this is not a run away case. Jesse and Jenny are going to rob a house of some prescription drugs but things go wrong. Jesse is dead and Jenny is being held a prisoner. There are no clues and it looks like the man responsible may get away with the crime. No one has any idea where the teens could have gone in the middle of the night without their phones. Acting sherif Ben Packard is on the case. His first leads go no where because the murderer has employed another man to get rid of the one person that knew the teens destination that fateful night. Sometimes cleaning up loose ends raises more questions than it hides will Ben find the teens in time?.

A story that kept me interested, for sure, even if it wasn’t perfect. A new acting sheriff has a big time case for a small town- the disappearance of two teenagers. The reader knows what happened to the teens immediately, as part of the story is told from the person involved with their disappearance, but gets to see the story unfold from the sheriff’s eyes. There may have been a few unnecessary characters in the book, but I was genuinely curious to see how it would end.

So this one was interesting. We know from the start who the bad guy is and we wait and watch while the police work through the case and figure it out. I feel like the book starts off with a bang. I was hooked from the first scene but then things taper off a bit and the middle drags before it comes together in a solid way. I'm keen to read more by this author though.

Review of And There He Kept Her by Joshua Moehling

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I really enjoyed this dark thriller. First can we talk about how creepy the cover is? I knew I had to read this one based on that alone. I thought it started strong. I found it a tad slow during the middle but then the end was fast paced and great. I absolutely fell in love with the characters and the small town by the end. I loved the main character, Ben, and can’t wait to hear more of his story and that of his town and it’s unsolved mysteries in the sequel.

Quick synopsis: Ben has returned to his hometown after the loss is his significant other and has been made the acting sheriff of the small town. When two teenagers go missing (one being his cousin), he is determined to find them. The reader knows they have broken into the home of an older man who is most definitely the wrong choice of a victim.

Thanks so much to @netgalley and @poisonedpenpress for the ecopy and physical copy of this one.

Loved this! Strong 4.5 stars. SO creepy. I had trouble sleeping while reading this! The creepiest thing was how real the story felt - it felt like something that could be based on a true story. So dark. Loved the character development. Sheriff Packard is great and I'm hoping this might be the beginning of a series? One potentially problematic element for some fans of psychological thrillers is that there's no who-dunnit here - you know exactly where the missing kids are and who the bad guys are right from the beginning, but you're watching the good guys stumble and process the clues and what seems obvious to the reader, the author does a great job of building tension and just the right amount of reader frustration by gradually leading Packard to the conclusion - but does he get there in time?

At first I wasn't sure how I felt about this book. It is a little on the dark side. But once I started reading it, I just had to keep going to find out what happened next and how everyone ended up. Lots of excitement and mystery to keep you turning the pages. I would highly recommend this book.

Omg. One of the creepiest books I have read in some time. Basements, locked doors and run down homes. One good cop looking to make things right. Wow. All I can say is “Good Book”.

"And There He Kept Her," pulled me in with the opening paragraph. I knew I was hooked and would most likely be missing some sleep. I was right. The story takes place in Shady Lake. Minnesota. A very small town with a quirky but very authentic cast of characters. Sheriff Ben Pakard leads the investigation of two missing high school students. Sheriff Pakard is a multilayered character with a backstory that opens up possible continuation of the series. The villain is frightening, but written with a degree of humanity that makes him so much more real. The plot is original and clever. This book is more than a story about a criminal investigation. It is a story about people, relationships and a story that makes you think. The pace is fast with excellent twists and turns. I will be following Joshua Moehling, waiting for the second book in this series.

i enjoyed the characters and overall story. Excellent writing and the story had an excellent pace. It kept me turning the pages on my kindle so quickly I could hardly keep up!

I picked this one up as I heard that acting Sheriff Ben Packard was a gay man in a mainstream police procedural and wanted to see how he fared, Although he was mostly closeted until near the ending, it turned out to be a really good book with other memorable characters and a strong murder mystery at the center. Small towns and teenage drug dealing take center stage and I would be happy to read a follow up story with Ben, his partner and his dog.

Not Knowing who was the victim and villain in this book left it interesting until the final pages. A small town mystery with modern flare, this one kept me reading to find out what on earth was going on. It was great!

And There He Kept Her
Joshua Moehling
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Don’t get me wrong, I really did enjoy this book, however I felt like the same storyline gets played out on and on… I think if the ending could of been different then this book would have been a major hit in my book…. It’s still a great read if you’re looking for something fast that will hook you, I just feel this story line gets played out too often.

Lost and Found

I listened to the audio book and read the print book together. I loved the narration of the audio book. The narrator did a wonderful job.

The story was a fast paced mystery of two missing teenagers, an evil old man, and an acting sheriff with a past and a secret. It involves burglary, drugs, torture, kidnapping, and age old secrets.

It is a bit different in how it is written as the kidnapper is known from the beginning and the mystery is the police trying to figure out how to find the missing teenagers and why they are missing.

The characters are wonderful, the parents, the dog rescuer, the cousin and the other characters throughout the book.

It is interesting which leads are the ones that lead the police to find the criminal and the missing teenagers. The significance of cell phones and surveillance cameras in the investigation.

The story was engaging and kept my interest. It was nice to have both the audio book and the print book.

Thanks to Joshua Moehling for writing an engaging mystery, to Dreamscape Media for the audio book publishing and to Poison Pen Press for publishing the print copy. Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with copies to read and review.

In “And There He Kept Her” by Joshua Moehling we get to see how both family and an acting sheriff from a small hometown come together to solve a mystery of two missing teenagers. But as the story begins to unravel all the small town secrets that its residents believed to be buried to deep to find do actually find their way to the surface.

A nice read with a number of interesting characters. It does keep you guessing until the very end.

I received an advanced copy of this book through Net Galley and this is my honest opinion.

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.
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. 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 touch upon some important themes- substance abuse among schoolchildren, seniors’ safety, kidnapping and sexual abuse and some of the scenes are more than a bit disturbing.

Oh my goodness. This is one of those books where you are always aware of who the bad guy is, without realizing that there might be more than one and guy. This one took my breath away.