And There He Kept Her is an intense, fast-paced novel that felt like it was ripped right from the headlines.
Ben Packard’s brother disappeared when he was a tween and he has been haunted by it ever since. He’s now the temporary sheriff in the small town where he spent his summers, and his cousin’s daughter, Jenny, goes missing.
Told from two points of view, this is a spooky dark mystery that would be great for Halloween reading.
Thank you to NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press and Joshua Moehling for an advance copy of the book.

And There He Kept Her is the first book in the Ben Packard Series. Sheriff's Deputy Ben Packard is investigating the disappearance of two local teens, one of whom he has a personal connection to. The story follows the viewpoints of Ben and Emmett Burr, an elderly man who encounters the teens when they break into his home to steal prescription drugs. The two teens quickly learn Emmett is more than they bargained for.

I give this book 3.5 stars rounded up to 4. The reader knows the plot of the story from the beginning, so we are just reading along as the people in the story figure out whodunit. It's not really a thriller or much of a page turner when you know so much of a story. I did like Ben and think he is a likeable enough character to keep the series going.

It was hard for me to believe this was a debut. Such a beautifully written book. Looking forward to the next book in the series.

Very impressive for a debut author. Two teenagers, Jesse and Jenny - break into a home in a remote area to steal prescription drugs but the homeowner, Emmett Burr, is not the passive, disabled, old man they were expecting. When he finds them in the act, killing one and taking the other hostage; he does so to keep his past a secret. Ben Packard, Acting Sheriff, who has returned to the area where he spent much of his youth after a personal tragedy, is on the case and determined to find the missing teens. There all kinds of interesting things happening here - drugs, murder, abduction, police procedural, secrets. If this is the beginning of a series with Packard at the center, I'll be reading more.

I really enjoyed this book!
The main character, Ben, has secrets and is a deep complex character. I just loved him!
It was definitely a "darker" read, but it was well written and fast paced. Thankful for the ARC!

Looking for a change and to move on from personal tragedy, former police officer Ben Packard moves to Sandy Lakes and takes up the position of Deputy Sherriff. The small town is familiar to Ben, his family used to holiday there in there summers when he was growing up, but unfortunately it also holds sadness for Ben, it's the last place he ever saw his big brother Nick who mysteriously disappeared years earlier, presumed drowned.

Ben's cousin Sandra still lives in Sandy Lakes and when her daughter Jenny and her boyfriend Jesse go missing one night, Ben has his first case to solve.

Jesse is involved is small-time crime, stealing bottle of pain meds such as oxy to then on-sell to the kids at his local high school.

Unfortunately for Jesse, he picks the wrong person in Emmett to steal from one night and things soon going frighteningly wrong for he and Jenny. An overweight addict who lives on his own and is no stranger to crimes himself, Emmett is one sick and twisted individual.

The storyline is told through two main POV's, that of Ben and Emmett. Although there is no big twist or reveal to the story, you know from the very beginning what has happened I still found it really interesting to see how Ben worked through the clues while seeing how Emmett tried to reconcile with the situation he was in.

I got super frustrated with certain elements of the story, in particular the storyline between Jenny and Emmett. It just didn't seem plausible a lot of the time and the dialogue was enough to make me want to throw my kindle at the wall sometimes (I promise I didn't do that) but overall I thoroughly enjoyed this one and would love to see Packard's character developed into another book.

A huge thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this one.

Multiple POV’s with one being from the villain. I love getting into the head of the villain and while you know “who done it” while the investigation was still on going it kept me interested the entire time. It was a dark slow burn, but I thought it was written really well for a debut thriller. I liked Ben as a cop and how he handled the investigation. We got to see into his past as different evidence came to light. It was suspenseful but didn’t have the unexpected twists due to the POV, but the ending was satisfying and wrapped up nicely. I look forward to this authors next book.

Thank you @poisonedpenpress and @netgalley for the gifted copy.

If I'm to believe what I read (and that's mostly thriller fiction), there are a lot of super trashy weirdo kidnapper guys in small towns with drug problems. And I kinda do believe that seems like it could be accurate. But one of the first things that really struck me when I started reading And There He Kept Her, was that it was slightly reminiscent of The Last House on Needless Street. Or at least how that book started out (fyi, read it if you haven't yet.)

This is book is it's own story. For example, it mostly centers around Ben Packard, a good-looking gay man who has taken a job as as sheriff's deputy after losing his partner working in the city. He's probably one of the unlikeliest people to move to this small town, but childhood memories and family connections (paired with the desire to escape), have led him to Sandy Lake. And he's going to do what he needs to do to crack the case.

Now, the idea of some gross old man building a room in his dusty basement is just repellant. But I guess that's what psychos do. When two teens go missing and a young girl who he really never wanted to hold prisoner becomes captive in that room, it gets interesting. Packard works against the clock to bring the girl (a relative of his), home before she dies due to lack of insulin.

This one is fast-paced and a good story, if you can stomach the psychos. Special thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks for an advanced e-galley in exchange for my honest review. This one is out now.

I thought this was going to be more of a mystery/ thriller that I was on the edge of my seat. However, it was more of a police procedural. There was no suspense whatsoever, nor any mystery.

An excellent start to a new detective series. Packard is a guy I instantly fell in love with, he's got a history that makes hum hugely mysterious. The plot was quick, pacy and full of wtf moments. The ending lends itself to lots of possibilities for the next installment. Top notch.

This is a new to me author and I have to say I am looking forward to reading more by this author! I loved this book

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this e-ARC of And There He Kept Her.

Unfortunately this was a DNF for me.

What a thrilling debut!! I thought the book was exhilarating, thrilling and just a great read overall. I hope the author continues to stick with this main character in the next book, as I feel that this is just the very beginning of the journey.

Great debut, and will be watching for the next one!

Wow just awesome twist and turns. I can't wait for the next book.... ok I really hope there is a book 2.

And There He Kept Her by Joshua Moehling is the first in the Ben Packard police procedural series. 

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Poisoned Pen Press and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.


Series Information:
Ben Packard moved to the small town of  Sandy Lake Minnesota to forget the loss of his boyfriend Marcus.   He had good memories of the area, until his brother Nick went missing in the lake, so he thought it was a good place to start fresh.  He hasn't let anyone know he is gay, nor has he let them know his previous ties to the area.   He's now Acting Sheriff while his boss goes through chemo.



My Synopsis:   (No major reveals, but if concerned, skip to My Opinions)
High school students Jesse Crawford and his girlfriend Jenny Wheeler break into an old home on the lake looking for prescription drugs.  The owner, an old man named Emmett Burr catches them, and uses an old bedroom in the basement for containment.  It's not the first time he's had a girl in there. But things are rather more complicated this time.

Acting Sheriff Ben Packard is heading the investigation into the missing teens.  Jenny is actually his cousin's daughter, so things are tense.



My Opinions:
For the first in a series, this was quite good, and left enough mystery at the end to make you want to see what happens next in Ben's life.  Ben is an interesting character, with enough secrets of his own which are slowly coming to light.

The plot was quite good, and the story was told through both Ben's and Emmett's perspectives, which made it interesting. I think Ben is going to continue to be a great protagonist.  Emmett, although the perpetrator, was quite interesting. He showed as much compassion as he did vindictiveness.  It made his actions somewhat unpredictable. Even the teenagers were not perfect, which somehow made the story more real.

Although there weren't a lot of twists (we knew up-front the identity of the bad guys), there was still enough going on to keep the reader's interest.  It was a rather dark read.

Overall, the writing was good, and I'm looking forward to the next in the series.

This one I rated 3 stars but I it left me torn - I enjoyed it more than a 3 star rating but the plot I felt was 3 stars. It was gripping and kept me turning pages but the ending was predictable. There were no twists or shocking turns that left me gasping - I think that’s why I couldn’t rate it more then 3 stars. The one thing I loved most was Joshua Moehling’s ability to create characters with depth and weave in some light hearted moments into what is at its core a dark and disturbing story. The story is well written, engaging and told in third person with multiple points of view which I always find interesting. I would recommend this book to others, however, I feel in order for me to give it a 4+ star rating I needed a twist.

Two teenagers looking for free drugs get more than they bargained. Slipping into a house they think is empty they are confronted and one of the teens die the other is captive. A mother enlists the help of a relative to find her missing daughter being held by two violent men. The story switches between the hunt for the girl and sheriff looking for her.

And There He Kept Her by Joshua Moehling was pretty unputdownable for me! Edge of my seat and high anxiety throughout! So two teenagers, Jesse and Jenny, break into a house looking for prescription drugs but the house is occupied by Emmett who has some pretty dark secrets he's hiding! Ben Packard is the sheriff who is desperately trying to find the girls even though he's got secrets of his own. I really couldn't put this one down and highly recommend it if you're in the mood for a suspenseful thriller!

A beautifully written book. Really enjoyed reading this. Thanks to publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read.

Page-turning Thriller about two teens who go missing and the cop determined to find them, especially since one is the daughter of his cousin. Kept me engaged from beginning to end!