Well. I wish I could say I loved this but I didn’t. I personally feel a thriller should have at least 1 twist and keep you guessing. This book did not. The villain is revealed in the first chapter and there are no twists or reveals at all. I was completely bored through the whole book. 90% of the book was small town gossip/background on every, single, character. None of which was relevant to the story. The cover and synopsis drew me in but nothing about this book kept me interested.

Finally a new thriller series introducing us another complex character: ladies and gentlemen: here’s the new sheriff deputy of Sandy Lake: Ben Packard who returns back to his hometown after the tragedy stroke and shook him to the core, applying for this job for his fresh start!

Now he’s using his guns to stop wild animals to harass the townies including wild bears! He has bad memories about the town where his brother got missing and never been found! This is the very same place where his parents’ marriage has been damaged. Her sister and big brother moved to the other places and only his widowed cousin Susan who is restaurant owner, raising her teenage kid left behind as a family member.

The main reason he left his old job is not only losing his longtime boyfriend who has been shot on duty, he also dealt with condescending comments about his sexual preferences that his colleagues talked behind his back.

Now he’s the main authority in the small, conservative, religious, tight knitted town as a gay man in charge. It’s the challenge he has to accept and own.

He tries too hard to stay out of trouble, not to dig around his past but when his cousin Susan’s girl is missing alongside with her boyfriend, he conducts his investigation to find out who are the real monsters disguise in human fur.

The book is extremely intense! The monsters who keep Ben’s niece are extremely soulless, vicious, disgusting human wastes. The graphic violence, darkness of the story make you startle!

There’s no big mystery or twist! We know the perpetrators from the beginning. We just get introduced to several well developed characters and Packard’s racing against the time to find the culprits.

It was character driven, intriguing, good structured debut novel! Probably at the second book, Packard will investigate the mystery behind the cold case about his brother who is still missing! And I truly look forward to read that!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Press Pen for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

This book was excellent I look forward to reading more by this author . I had many late nights of “one more chapter “

If you're looking for a dark and disturbing book this one is for you.
This thriller will have you on the edge of your seat, I couldn't put it down.
Truly a brilliant debut, but definitely not for everyone.
I was kind of startled to know right away who the villain is, it's not what I typically enjoy but it does the job!!

I absolutely loved this thriller. It reminded me lots of good TV thrillers with grittiness and atmosphere and complex characters. I cared for all the characters and I felt like I knew all of them.

If you like stories about abduction, Silence of the Lambs and recently enjoyed Mare of Easttown on HBO, you will definitely enjoy this one. The writing is atmospheric and effortless and I loved how everything and everyone got entwined together.

Packard was a wonderful main character and I am looking forward to his and Franklin’s adventures.

I don’t want to give more away, I loved it and finished in a week! Incredible book and story.

This one was great right from the beginning. It was a real page turner and I enjoyed it. Joshua Moehling’s writing style is great and I look forward to reading more by this author.

What a heart pounding debut. Full of suspense and action it was an interesting read. Kept me intrigued with well developed characters and just the right amount of twists. The ending was gasp-worthy.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc

I loved this police procedural! The pacing of the story was perfect. At times it was a slow burning build and then it would pick up just when it needed to. The character depth was perfect and even our killer is given layers which make us think. It isn't often we get an LGBTQ+ main character especially one that is a cop. I was really surprised this was a debut because it was so well done. Would love to get more books with Ben Packard as the main character.

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

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