And There He Kept Her was a solid debut. I loved the premise here but felt there were some missed opportunities.

This is definitely the kind of book I normally enjoy. It started off with lots of action and stalled a bit in the middle for me .

Overall I would definitely read this authors next book and enjoyed it.

Wow! What a great debut!!

Two teenagers go missing while trying to steal prescription pain meds from Emmett Burr, who is a creepy old man with secrets to hide. Deputy Sheriff Ben Packard is back in Sandy Lake with a private agenda to uncover how and why his brother disappeared but is sidetracked by investigating the missing teens.

This book is not your typical thriller. The story starts with the crime, so we know who the perp is. There are no crazy twists or big reveals. But it’s loaded with dark, creepy vibes in a small-town setting and a well-written police procedural storyline. I thoroughly enjoyed the race against time trope while Ben solves the case.

However, character development is the star of this novel. Ben is a gay cop with both emotional and familial trauma that I want to see him work through. And Emmet is an aging serial killer who I can’t help but empathize with his struggles. In addition to our two main characters, I loved all townspeople of Sandy Lake - so many interesting backstories. Linda Jones, our narrator, excels at capturing all the nuances of these quirky residents.

With so many interesting characters and a cold case that still needs to be solved, I hope Joshua Moehling will continue Ben’s journey with book 2! I definitely will be preordering the next installment!

3.5 stars. Enjoyed the storyline, small town Sheriff Packard moves back home and gets the first real crime in the area in quite some time, two missing teens. Weaves together nicely from several characters perspectives and flowed well. Quick read. Didn’t enjoy the use of g****mn throughout the book, something i find childish and unnecessary. Also don’t need to read about male to male dick pics, may just be my personal opinions there.

Thanks to Netgalley and Poison Pen press for my electronic advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

🔒BOOK / REVIEW 🔒

Ok - another #bookreview that I am completely torn on. #andtherehekepther was a decent #thriller and #crimefiction novel, but I felt like there was so much more potential 😰

I was totally ready for an insanely creepy, unsettling and graphic book. While there were definitely "moments" in the story, I was left unsatisfied and wanting more. I AM grateful though that this one wasn't completely focused on sexual assault or abuse - I was not prepared for that emotionally.

I also found myself pushing through chapters because I was a little bored. I was craving a lot more action and more focus on the #policeprocedural aspect, which definitely lacked here.

Overall ⭐️⭐️⭐️ - I wouldn't be rushing to grab this one, but if you like a bit less "gory" reads, you may enjoy!

4.5 stars

This book was quite the page-turner! What started out as a home robbery in search of prescription drugs quickly turned into every parent’s worst nightmare. The sheriff’s deputy, Ben Packard, is leading the investigation into the two missing teens involved, but trying to get straight answers out of those who knew them is by no means an easy task.

Meanwhile, Emmett Burr has been harboring secrets in his basement for decades and no one has been the wiser. But Ben knows all too well what it’s like to keep secrets, and sometimes revealing them is the only way to move forward. Sandy Lake is a small town with a dark past but soon it will all come to light.

I thought this was a fantastic book! The story was so well depicted that I felt like I was watching it play out on a movie screen. I really liked Ben and thought he was a wonderful character; strong yet low-key and private. His connection to Sandy Lake brought him back at a pivotal moment and without him the case might never have been solved.

Highly recommend!

*Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing a copy of this book to review.*

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4789831009

Note: I am unable to review on Amazon and received the following message: “Amazon has noticed unusual reviewing activity on this product. Due to this activity, we have limited this product to verified purchase reviews.”

They thought he was a helpless old man. They were wrong.
When two teenagers break into a house on a remote lake in search of prescription drugs, what starts as a simple burglary turns into a nightmare for all involved. Emmett Burr has secrets he's been keeping in his basement for more than two decades, and he'll do anything to keep his past from being revealed. As he gets the upper hand on his tormentors, the lines blur between victim, abuser, and protector.
Personal tragedy has sent former police officer Ben Packard back to the small Minnesota town of Sandy Lake in search of a fresh start. Now a sheriff's deputy, Packard is leading the investigation into the missing teens, motivated by a family connection. As clues dry up and time runs out to save them, Packard is forced to reveal his own secrets and dig deep to uncover the dark past of the place he now calls home.

This is a thrilling read.
Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start.
Love the well fleshed out characters and found them believable.
Great suspense and found myself second guessing every thought I had continuously.
Can't wait to read what the author brings out next.
Recommend reading.

I was provided an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher. This is my own honest voluntary review.

Creepy, scary, and disturbing are all words that I would use to describe this book. The scariest part is that things like this happen in the real world. This book had me on the edge of my seat while I waited to see what it had in store next. I would highly recommend this book to someone looking for something a bit more than the average thriller.

What a debut novel from the author!

Thoroughly enjoyed reading this police investigation thriller, which was much more than that. The main character was deep, well fleshed out, clever and most importantly, interesting and relatable.

The book touches on more topics in a more deep manner, rather than just skimming over the 'real issues' when writing about kidnapping, psychopaths and drug addiction in the small-town USA.

I had a great time with this book and if the author keeps publishing, I will keep on reading! :)

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC!

No matter how a book reviewer may feel about a book, we cannot simply come online and type, “Meh. It was sort-of okay. I definitely wouldn’t read it again.” That’s not what book reviews are about. That’s closer to a book opinion. That’s telling someone simply whether or not you liked the book. That’s not a review. Neither is simply reciting the synopsis. A review takes the elements of book writing and breaks down how well the book does these things (which differs from genre to genre), while also assessing how well the reviewer enjoyed the book and whether or not the book achieved the objective it set out to accomplish.

The reason I’m telling you this, which you may or may not know, is because I got frustrated thinking of what to write as a review for this book that teeters on the edge of dipping below 3 stars and just wondered to myself (in a rhetorical manner), “Why can’t I just type ‘It was meh’, and leave it at that?” Well… see above explanation. Reviews aren’t about whether or not I simply think a book is meh. Reviews are about why I think it’s meh, how it might have gotten that way, and why the book failed to elicit a reaction from me that was in any way more enthusiastic than meh.

My primary complaint about this book is that it is too long and the pacing is uneven. For a crime-suspense thriller/mystery, there is little to no suspense. Any and all attempts to create a suspenseful atmosphere fall completely flat because our villain is just so pitiful and our hero is practically the picture of a perfect county sheriff whose only “character flaw” is that he’s gay and prefers to live alone in a small town.

As a matter of fact, Amazon has this book listed as a LGBT+ Thriller, LGBTQ+ Mystery (Kindle Store), and a LGBT+ Mystery (Books)... when the plot of the book has absolutely nothing to do with the sheriff’s sexual orientation. The book is about two missing teens and the sheriff’s efforts to find them! He could be straighter than a 2x4 of solid oak and that wouldn’t have changed a dang bit of the main storyline. The main storyline remains the same: a boyfriend and girlfriend leave their houses late one night after their parents are in bed and disappear without a trace and they have to be found. Please, please tell me how this rates as a LGBTQ+ book in any manner?

My secondary complaint is the opioid-centric drug ring component of the plot. I don’t know the state of affairs in Minnesota, but where I live, almost every drug dealer has moved on from Oxy, Percocet, and Vicodin. They’re too hard to get ahold of and the ones you get off the streets are too dangerous to risk taking unless you have a testing kit. It made what’s supposed to be a present-day novel seem terribly out-of-date. If this book was set about ten years ago, maybe the drug aspect of the plot would have seemed more believable, but in 2022, it seems almost laughable.

The book just has an overall feeling of “average”. Where it doesn’t feel average it just feels “meh”. I don’t recommend the read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for granting me early access to this title in exchange for a fair and honest review. As per personal policy, this review will not appear on social media or bookseller sites due to the 3 star or lower rating.

Jesse and Jenny, two teenagers from a small rural lake town, disappear while out together one night. Acting Sheriff Packard has a hefty mystery to unravel as another teen in town shows up dead and it appears to be no accident. The locals in town seem to have a lot to hide, including the missing girl Jenny. Will Packard find her before it's too late?

I very much enjoyed this police procedural type mystery even if it's not my typical type of read. I was extremely invested in finding out what would become of Jenny and her captor as well as the angle of Packard and his personal story. Overall I found this excellent and fans of Long Bright River would likely also enjoy this book.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book was everything that you want a thriller to be - creepy, surprising and addicting. I finished it in one sitting because I just needed to know what was going to happen next. I was surprised to hear that this was a debut novel from Joshua Moehling but I am excited to read what he publishes next!

And There He Kept Her by Joshua Moehling

Nothing happens in small-town Minnesota...until it does. Two teens missing. A worried mother. The other mother just wants her missing car back.

Secrets begin to unravel as acting Sheriff Packard is looking at every angle to find his cousin's missing daughter, Jenny, and her boyfriend, Jessie. The fact that their cell phones were left behind and the car is missing are not good signs. What has happened to them?

Packard keeps getting called away from the case for other things, like the ongoing feud between neighbors Gary and Cora, who are as different as oil and water. No wonder they can't get along.

When names start to be tossed around about high school drug dealers, the case starts coming together. But, when an unexpected thing is found when they go to question someone, everything changes.

Jenny, chained in a cell in a basement, is doing everything she can to survive. She not only has to stay alive being chained to a wall but also is in a fight to stay alive long enough to get more insulin. Will Packard find her in time?

Suspenseful! Unexpected? Very realistic! Reminds me of a headline in the news!-Books and Pens on Green Gables

I was given this book to read and review.

Thank you to NetGalley, Joshua Moehling and Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

As creepy as the happenings in the pink room are, I really enjoyed this book and found it hard to put down. Returning to a sleepy lakeside town where he spent a lot of time growing up at his grandparents place, Sheriff Deputy Ben Packard is a very likable character with a few secrets of his own. Determined to find 2 teenagers who go missing, he leaves no rock unturned. I thought the book had a great pace and the characters were all well developed.

This was a great story where we know who the bad guy is almost from the beginning. The characters are well-developed and the plot moves along without any wasted tangents. The book has series potential and I can't wait to see what the author does next.

I love stories where everyone has secrets, and this one doesn't disappoint.

Very dark and disturbing crime novel. The police elements were very interesting, since we already knew the crime and who was the perpetrator.

This is not your usual edge-of-your-seat suspense as you know the perp from the beginning, but are following along with the acting sheriff as he works to determine what happened to two teenagers .

There seemed to be a lot going on, but much of it wasn’t necessary.. Others will love it, but this one just wasn’t for me.

And There He Kept Her by Joshua Moehling

Review: What a fantastic debut thriller!! I started to see some buzz around this one and was very excited to grab an early copy. Two teenagers sneak into a house to steal narcotics and encounter the homeowner, Emmett Burr, an elderly man they thought was disabled. Ben Packard, the sheriff, looks into the story and uncovers a colorful cast of local characters,and picks apart the clues to this story.

I loved so much about this book!!
Excellent protagonist, Ben Packard, a gay police officer, acting as Sheriff while the current one is in recovery
Dark, disturbing, edge of your seat feeling You know all the details up front - who the villain and victims are, what the crime is. No big twists, but I loved how we just observed the police as they figured out the mystery. It's a race against time for Ben to get through all the clues and solve it.
Great overall story structure, easy to follow, and very engaging. Fantastic writing and a chilly, small town narrative.

I am so excited that this may be the start to a series! This will definitely make my list of best thrillers of the year!

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

I’ll start with saying that I really enjoyed Linda Jones narration of this book. She switched characters seamlessly and was a delight to listen to! The story itself had me hooked from the beginning and I loved that you got to see from the bad guys point of view as well and the detective. Without spoiling anything, I will say that parts of the ending still took me by surprise and I have no doubt that others will also enjoy this book!

What a ride! This one has lots of twists and turns guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat!

I was so lucky to receive a copy of And There He Kept Her by Joshua Moehling from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review and opinion. HOLY COW! This book was fantastic from start to finish. It's so dark, twisty and you won't be able to put it down. I can NOT wait to read more by this author - so good!