3.5 rounded to 4 for Goodreads/Netgalley

"Solitude is dangerous to reason, without being favorable to virtue... the mind stagnates for want of employment, grows morbid and is extinguished like a candle in foul air."
- from Acencdones of the late Samuel Johnson

When I read the synopsis for this book I was very excited !! It reminded me of the plot for the movie DON'T BREATHE.... I was a bit disappointed. This book is told in the third person from the POV of Ben Packard, the acting sheriff assigned to the case due to family ties... and Emmett Bur, the "bad guy" I really loved Ben's character, he was very relatable- he had secrets, a traumatic past, learning how to be comfortable in his own skin, and passionate about his work- also LOVED the LGBTQ+ rep he provided (AND GARY- HONEY!!!!) Emmett however didn't do it for me. He was an overweight sickly man who had some kids taking advantage of his situation and at most times I found myself feeling sorry for him rather than despising him as the main villain of the book. The book also started off a little slow, so the main action, for me anyway, didn't pick up until about 60%. Luckily I also got the audiobook, and was able to listen while I read and that helped a lot. Overall, a good debut, was just hoping for intensity from the "bad guy" and a quicker pace.

Thank you Poisoned Pen Press, Netgalley and Dreamscape audio for advanced readers copy and listening copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

An interesting read, not an absolute favorite, was not an “I can’t put this down” but drawn in enough to finish. I’ll have to read more of this author. Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for this ARC opportunity!

3 out of 5 stars. A bit darker than I anticipated it being, but I enjoyed it regardless! Two teenagers break into Emmett’s house to steal prescription drugs, and things escalate quickly. If you are into thrillers, I think you will enjoy this one. Kept my attention but did take me awhile to finish.

Thank you to NetGalley for a free eARC copy of this book, in exchange for my honest review.

I was delighted when I started reading and this book took place in Minnesota! Moehling did an amazing job with this debut novel. The readers were presented with the solved mystery very early on, and it was fun to watch law enforcement figure things out step by step... infused with their everyday lives and struggles.

This was a great book to lose myself in after a stressful day at work.

I hope Moehling keeps writing, he is very talented!

I enjoyed this book. It was a bit of back and forth but was done well so that everything made sense and stayed in order. I wouldn't quite call it a mystery. I think suspense would cover it. Sometimes I have a hard time writing a review as I don't want to ruin the story for anyone. This is one of those times. I would definitelyrecommend this book.

Quite dark and claustrophobic in parts, this highlights the depraved depths that people can, and do, go to, especially some. Such as Emmett Burr. The lesson here is to know without a doubt whose house you are breaking into... Or better yet, just don't do it. You never know what you might find.

Ben is a revelation, endearing, flawed, and quirky, I hope we get to see more of him.

Three stars.

With thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC.

A complex story about the true nature of evil. A story about two teenagers who break into a house in search of prescription drugs. Emmett Burr, the homeowner, has secrets he's been keeping in his basement for a very long time. He will do absolutely anything to protect those secrets.

Four solid stars for this debut novel. The mixture of suspense and funny was just the right combination to keep a reader turning the pages. I would be very disappointed if I wasn't able to read about Ben Packard and his brother in the near future....wink wink.

As always thank you Net Galley for allowing me to get any early copy of this book.

Thank you Joshua Moehling, Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press, for the advanced copy in exchange for honest review. All thoughts are my own and left voluntarily.

The very first chapter gives us an understanding to what happened with the kinds and who the murderer is. What we don't know is how Ben Packard, the acting sheriff in Sandy Lake, will get them back.

Story is being told by Ben's and Emmet's pov, which actually worked very well in this situation. Pacing for this story was jumping between slow to medium. Yes, it had disturbing characters, mystery and somewhat suspense, but it was somehow not enough for me. I will say that for me, Ben was the reason that I kept reading this story. He has a personal link to the missing girl and he has his own personal trauma to deal. All he wanted was a fresh start and uncomplicated life, while living in the small Minnesota town of Sandy Lake.

I think Ben's character has a great potential to be explored in the future books. It could be something similar of what Jo Nesbø is doing with Harry Hole detective character in his series.

And There He Kept Her is Joshua's debut. I did like this book in general and I know his stories will become even better with the next books. I liked his writing and mood setting that gave us more vivid imaginary of disturbing, creepy yet realistic in some ways scenes. I wish you luck with future projects J.M. ! :)

This was a decent mystery/thriller novel, but the writing style wasn't quite my cup of tea. I found myself putting it down for long periods and not gravitating back to it. Not sure if it was the book or if I'm just in a bit of a reading slump. I do appreciate the LGBTQ rep and think it's great when authors give mystery novel characters an actual persona with details and character traits instead of solely using them to tell the story.

I’m in the minority here but I had to DNF this book after 25%. When you know who was captured, and who did it in the first 10% the rest of the book better be gripping. This book was not! It was all over the place and just blah. I found myself dreading reading.

I enjoyed this read! About 50% of the way through I wasn’t sure if I would end up liking this read or not. It definitely kept you on the edge of your seat and hoping the sheriff would come out on top!

And There He Kept Her is a captivating debut by author Joshua Moehling. Two teenagers break into a house looking for drugs, but no one could imagine what was to follow. An edge of your seat read I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will watch out for more by this author. If you are a reader of this genre, be sure to grab your copy Joshua Moehling will definitely be an author to watch.

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Pres and Netgalley for this ARC.

And There He Kept Her is told from alternating POVs. There's Ben Packard, the acting sheriff who's trying to start afresh in this small town and the actual serial killer he has no idea he's supposed to be catching.

I ended up enjoying this book, not for the mystery aspect but because Ben was such a good character to read. Just full of trauma and dry humour...I loved him. I'd read more of these books for him and that 3-legged dog.

The reason I didn't love the book was that it just wasn't the type of thriller I expected.

From the first chapter, you know where the kids are- you never wonder who the murderer is or even his intentions- that's told to you almost immediately. What you don't know is that the suspense comes from what this book sets up. This book just opens the door to something bigger. And There He Kept Her is the first book in a series.

I have no idea if the author will continue to use this method of storytelling in future novels but I'm not a fan of the 'reader knows what's going on from the get-go and is just waiting for the main character to catch up' strategy.


sidenote that has nothing to do with the book review: theres a line in the book where one of the teenager says, 'the old magazine was from 1981 more than 20 years before I was born...made me realise that this is the first time I'm reading a book and characters in it who are my age are adults and not teenagers :( life comes at ya fast

Hi! And There He Kept Her by Joshua Moehling is a thriller revolving around two missing teenagers and the police investigation into it. Sounds like it could be the beginning to a great thriller, right? And it probably was for a lot of people if I were to guess from the multiple 5 star reviews on GoodReads. On the other hand, I decidedly did NOT enjoy it.

Book Review-

The book started off slow but seemed interesting which made me want to keep reading. And I really wanted to enjoy it, I did. But I wasn’t able to enjoy the storyline or even like the characters (not even one).

My main issue would be the lack of suspense in the story and that I couldn’t connect even remotely to the characters. The facts are laid out to you right at the start so I was definitely expecting some unique aspect as to how the story would proceed but I ended up skimming multiple chapters just so I could get to the end.

Now, about the characters. They were definitely well-drawn up but there was no relatability to ANY of the characters that make me want to root for them, feel sorry for them or even hate the bad guys (which, by all means, I should but I was genuinely just indifferent).

I really didn’t enjoy this book but it did have a few aspects I liked (like Frankie- dogs are ALWAYS redeeming) so all-in-all I would give this read 2.5 stars.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my free e-ARC of this read in exchange for my review. (This book was published earlier this month.)

When two teens make a very bad decision to steal drugs from Emmett, they end up in dire and deadly circumstances. The title of the book pretty much gives away what happens there.

Ben Packard is the sheriff's deputy investigating the case and he also has a personal link to the missing girl. He's relatively new to the small town and brings his own secrets and hurts with him. I really loved this character and I found his personal situation just as interesting as the missing person case he worked on. I'd like to know more about this character as he works through who he is and what he wants in his life. He's also lived with a bit of a mystery surrounding an old case that would be great as a follow-up book to this one.. hint, hint.

The story unravels nicely, and what I liked the most about this book was that it kept me interesting all the way through -- the pace of this book was just perfect for this reader and I was almost sorry it was over because it was a great ride through this small town mystery.

I did find that some descriptions were overdone -- I don't need every single thing described to me. The mood was well done with a very creepy vibe that captured the girl's plight very well. But the non-stop smoking made me feel like I needed to take a shower and fumigate my clothes. I got it, it was meant to be that way but after a while it did start to grate on me.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story and recommend it if you like this sort of story. The characters are interesting, the pacing is terrific right up to the final pages and it left me wanting more of Ben Packard and his world.

4 Stars ~

Jenny and Jesse chose the wrong old man to mess with. They thought breaking into this seemingly vulnerable old man's house to steal his prescription medications would be easy. They couldn't be more wrong.

Following Detective Packard and (old man) Emmett Burr, as timelines overlap in the attempt for Packard to find the missing teens and for Emmett to figure out what to do next.

This was a very enjoyable read, and an ending from about 80% onwards that was just *chefs kiss*.
I did find a little in the middle was a slow burn, but still good building up until the ending.

Hoping for the story to continue with another book, following Packard whilst he tries to find out what happened to his brother Nick all those years ago.

Thank you, NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC, in the return for an honest review.

This book gripped me from the start. Fast paced and a little. Characters I liked and some I didn’t. About half way I started to lose interest but not too the point of ditching the book. The end was just meh for me. It felt like a lot of others I’ve read before it. Nothing original. I’m not saying it was bad, I finished it but I was hoping for a little something different. It’s a good beach or airplane read.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest opinion.

Well, this was a disturbing book. And There He Kept Her is one of those books that has so many different things happening, but they all successfully flow together to make for one hell of a story.

The story begins when local teens Jesse and Jenny go missing and the town's acting sheriff, Ben Packard is notified by his cousin (Jenny's mom.) The story picks up fast and doesn't stop with the twists, turns, and connections until the very last page. Learning how each of the characters is connected was really interesting. While this is a mystery, it's also a domestic thriller and a police procedural.

Major trigger warnings too: addiction (drug and alcohol), overdose, murder, suicide, kidnapping, gun violence, and others.

Overall, this is definitely a mystery that will keep you turning the pages.

4/5 stars

Thank you Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for the eARC!

I really enjoyed this book. Jesse and Jenny are two teenagers in love who make a very wrong choice. Jesse decides to get involved with selling drugs to fellow school mates. To get the drugs he has to break into the homes of people who are prescribed the drugs and steal them. He made a huge mistake when he broke into Emmett Burr's house. Emmett Burr is an old fat, stinky, chain smoking man who is in a lot of pain. He wakes up during the robbery and shoots Jesse dead and hides Jennifer in a room he made years ago. Little does he realize that she is an insulin dependent diabetic and a smart young woman. Right from the beginning you know what happened and who has the teenagers but you don't know just how the police and sheriff will find them. Ben Packard just started acting as interim sheriff when the teens become missing. His brother, Nick, also was a missing teenager in Sandy Lake. Ben decided to move back to that area because a job opening was available and he was hoping to start a new life after losing his partner. The book keeps you turning the pages and you will not be disappointed in how everything unfolds.
Thanks to #netgalley, @poisenedpenpress and @jmoehling for an ARC of this great read